Ever wondered what owning your own private island feels like?

On a tropical Queensland island, surrounded by the white sand of a long and deserted beach, I'm all alone... except for Gary.

Thank goodness for Gary. I'm not much of a fisherman but he, on the other hand, has managed to get some live bait from an inland stream and, rod in hand, is now reeling in a king threadfin salmon from the surf. "That'll last a month!" he declares triumphantly. I won't be here that long. He will.

Gary is the manager here at Cape Keppel Beach, the small luxury lodge tucked away on the northern tip of Curtis Island. For my two-night stay, he's the only staff member here... and I'm the only guest. We have most of the island's 45-kilometre length pretty much to ourselves (if you don't count the brolgas in the nearby wetlands) and are making the most of it.

Tearing down one of the island's beaches on ebikes, we swerve onto an exposed sandbar that the incoming tide is already lapping against. We jump into a 4WD and bump along a dirt road to explore through mudflats and forest. And amongst the mangroves, we putter in a dinghy to check crab pots, but somehow find neither crab nor bait.

Even at full capacity, Cape Keppel Beach is designed to feel isolated. The lodge opened last year and consists of just a homestead on a hill and four cottages by the beach. There's no catering, so you'll generally cook for yourself (thank goodness for that salmon!). And other than being welcomed and farewelled, you may choose not to see any staff for your whole stay. Cape Keppel Beach calls itself "Queensland's best kept secret" and I can see why. The luxury comes from feeling like you own a private island for a few days, secluded and serene amongst endless natural beauty.

Waving farewell to Gary, I leave Curtis Island the way I arrived - on a 17-minute scenic flight to Rockhampton. From the air, looking across the natural beauty of the coastline, I can see plenty of seclusion and serenity. For some reason, the Capricorn Coast doesn't get quite the same influx of visitors as other Queensland holiday hotspots, yet it offers just as much. A perfect example of this is just to my north, visible from the light aircraft. It's the small town of Yeppoon, where I'm extending my stay for a couple of nights. It may not be a 'secret' like Cape Keppel Beach, but I realise as I drive into town that I don't know what to expect here either.

Yeppoon's easy rhythm takes over immediately. The focus of the town is the 400 metres of Main Beach, which is separated from a row of casual hotels and eateries by a large foreshore precinct with a grassy amphitheatre, a colourful playground of water features, and walking paths beneath the trees. If you follow the trail past the sailing club, you'll come across the Yeppoon Lagoon (a joy to say aloud), the large manmade pool that's free for everyone. A lifeguard watches over the swimmers, while a handful of palm trees are reflected in the baby-blue water.

Look out to sea from here and you'll see the silhouette of Great Keppel Island on the horizon. There was a time when many people coming to Yeppoon were just using the town as a launchpad to the island's famous resort. Visitor numbers have markedly dropped since those operations closed but you can still catch a ferry or join one of the tours that leaves from the marina.

You don't need to leave land to explore the best of the region, though. A string of beaches south of Yeppoon offers golden sand, warm water... and few people. Between the beaches are fragments of Capricorn Coast National Park, beacons of green eucalypt and scrub on the hilly headlands.

I hike up to the Fan Rock Lookout to see the spectacular hexagonal columns formed when molten lava forced its way through layers of stone 60 million years ago. A bit further down the coast, I take the path up to Bluff Point for views and birdlife. A sign tells me that "living conditions here can be pretty rough - but the critters that live here are just as tough". Perhaps I should tell them about the luxury lodge at Cape Keppel Beach, just 35 kilometres away.

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Coastal trails, hiking trails, discovery trails. I do so much along the coast that I've hardly got time to do exactly what you're supposed to do: relax. But at least there's a bit of downtime at my lovely accommodation of Seaspray Yeppoon before dinner (which won't be caught from the surf). With only eight apartments, Seaspray almost feels like a large family home, with a grassy garden set right on the edge of a secluded beach.

I pull up a chair on the lawn and watch the sunlight disappear over the water, the distant islands disappearing into the dark. Peaceful, quiet, it's almost like I'm all alone... without even Gary.