Rockhampton, a small city in central Queensland, has several places worth visiting as a family. Aside from a few weeks in the Central Queensland Highlands, we spent most of the recent winter in the Rockhampton/Yeppoon area and are excited to share our top picks with you. If you’re only there for a short visit, don’t miss Mount Archer, the Kershaw Gardens, or the Capricorn Caves. Read on for the full details of activities and things to do in Rockhampton with kids.
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Kershaw Gardens
Wowsa! Kershaw Gardens is definitely high on our list of the best places to take kids in Rockhampton. There’s something for everyone, with lovely gardens to wander, a water play area, a fantastic playground, and a couple of pretty waterfalls.
We haven’t seen a playground of this standard for a while. It’s up there with some of the best playgrounds in Singapore, the Margaret Mahy Playground in Christchurch, NZ, and Fethi Bey Parki in Fethiye, Turkiye. Features include a climbing net, hamster wheel, and pedal cars that run around a track.
Mount Archer | Nurim Circuit, Lookouts, and Other Walks
Mount Archer is a must-visit destination for any Rockhampton itinerary. You can drive to the summit, and at 600m above sea level, the views are breathtaking.
From there, it’s up to you how you enjoy the setting. The Nurim circuit is a good place to start. It’s a 500m boardwalk with spectacular vistas. There’s also a nature-inspired playground the kids will love.
For those who want to go a bit further, two family-friendly walks start from the summit. Choose from the Grasstree Lookout (840m return) or the Sleipner Lookout (3.4km return).
We decided to do both, since they’re in the same direction. We stopped at the Grasstree Lookout first, then continued on to Sleipner. The trails are easy to follow.
Our daughter forgot her shoes (seemingly a common occurrence these days) and managed to walk all the way there and some of the way back. The path is a little stony for bare feet in some places, so she got a bit of piggyback support on the way back!
For anyone seeking a bigger adventure, there’s a long-distance trail from the summit, approximately 14km one way, so it requires some planning and preparation.
Rockhampton Botanic Gardens
The Rockhampton Botanic Gardens is a must-visit destination for families. It has an incredible, big playground with plenty for all ages, a war memorial, a pretty lagoon, and several gorgeous gardens to explore.
The Japanese Garden is super beautiful with its pond and waterfall. Check out the Tropical Fruits Garden and the Murray Lagoon (a nice spot to watch the sunset). Plus, take time to marvel at the diverse and impressive array of trees.
The Botanic Gardens are also home to the Rockhampton Zoo, which is free to visit. We generally don’t visit zoos, but we discovered so much around the gardens alone that it was definitely worth at least a few hours.
Rockhampton Museum of Art
The Rockhampton Museum of Art is worth a visit if you have a budding artist in the family. Entry is free, and you can pick up a booklet at the entrance explaining what each art piece is about.
Fitzroy Adventure Playground
We loved spending time at the Fitzroy Adventure Playground at Riverside Park in Rockhampton. It has a great riverfront location, good play structures and slides for bigger kids, plus a section for little kids.
The playground is very close to the Rockhampton Museum of Art, making it easy to combine both into one outing.
Archer Park Rail Museum
The Archer Park Rail Museum is a worthwhile place to add to your Rockhampton itinerary with kids. Sunday is the best time to visit so you can have a little ride on the steam tram, which used to run in the early 1900s.
The museum is small but has several artifacts from the rail industry, and supporting information boards. You can wander through old sleeper trains and talk to your friend in another room on an old telephone. Romy had to ask which end of the phone to put to her earđ
Rockhampton Library
Although we don’t normally feature libraries on our destination posts, we really liked this one, so thought it was worth a mention. Sometimes quiet downtime is just what a traveling family needs, and for that purpose, Rockhampton Library delivers.
One of the library’s notable features is the selection of games and puzzles. It’s not just that they have games and puzzles, but they’re already set up, ready to play on the tables as you walk through the door. Families with younger children will also love the kitchen play area and toys on offer. The library is big and digital nomad-friendly, with plenty of designated workspace if mum or dad need to get things done.
Capricorn Caves
We loved our visit to the Capricorn Caves near Rockhampton/Yeppoon! We did the 45-minute Cathedral Cave tour, which is perfect for all ages and a great introduction to the caves’ beauty.
Although there are more adventurous cave tours on offer here (The Capricorn Explorer and Capricorn Adventurer), we still got to make our way through a tight space, discover various parts of the caves, and walk across a suspension bridge, which was fun.
Our favorite part was experiencing the cave in pitch blackness with all the lights out!
We’d definitely recommend visiting the Capricorn Caves if you’re in the area.
Mount Etna Caves Trail
For family-friendly hiking trails near Yeppoon and Rockhampton, try the Mount Etna Caves Trail. It’s pretty close to the Capricorn Caves, so a good walk to take after your cave tour.
The trail is mostly steps and relatively easy, with about 120 meters of elevation gain. It took our family about 45 minutes to get up and down.
The trail doesn’t go quite to the top of Mount Etna, but instead to Bat Cleft, the home to the largest known breeding colony of microbats in Australia.
There are a couple of good lookout spots near the top of the trail and pinnacles of ancient limestone karst at Bat Cleft.
Other Activities and Things to do in Rockhampton and Nearby With kids
Rockhampton has some other attractions we didn’t get to this time around. You may also want to check out:
- Rocky Climb for indoor wall climbing and bouldering.
- Rocky Bowl and Leisure for Tenpin Bowling, laser tag, glow-in-the-dark mini golf, bumper cars, and arcades.
- 42nd Battalion Memorial Pool for aquatic centre fun, including big slides. This is also known as the south side pool. There’s also an aquatic centre on the south side (2nd World War Memorial Aquatic Centre), but it doesn’t have the big slides.
- Rockhampton Heritage Village, which has an incredible collection of vintage vehicles, houses, hospitals, schools, etc.
- Mount Hay Gemstone Tourist Park, which is about a 30-minute drive from the city. Here, you can hunt for thunder eggs and take some home! We would have visited, but didn’t prioritize it as we had recently done the tourist version of gem fossicking in the Central Queensland Highlands.
- Mount Morgan, which is a little over a 30-minute drive from Rockhampton city. Places to visit include the Mount Morgan Dam, Frank Golding Lookout, Arthur Timms Lookout, the Mount Morgan Explore Center and Railway, and the Mount Morgan Historical Museum.
We hope you now have some fantastic ideas for things to do with kids in Rockhampton and nearby. Have an incredible trip!
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