August 29 & 30 Mackay

Not a lot going on the last couple of days. Actually I’m feeling a bit bored with it all – I think our original idea of moving on to Rockhampton today rather than Monday was the right one. We tend to be doing things just for “something to do”. I also feel a bit guilty for not being at home to help Graeme out with his deck – next time Graeme! LOL

Yesterday we needed to restock the van with food so had a shopping expedition to a centre nearby where both Coles and Woolworths are under the same roof – now that’s quite handy and allows you to gather the specials from both without too much hassle.

We visited Goose Ponds which is to the south between our caravan park and the river. In February Mackay experienced major flooding and a 2 m crocodile made its way into Goose Ponds. All attempts to catch it failed. The local Qld Parks representative was on the radio a couple of days ago and said that it hadn’t been since early August and they’ve concluded that it has managed to escape via a nearby creek. That begs the question as to whether it’s still a threat – I wouldn’t like having a house with a creek nearby. The “No Swimming” sign in the photo certainly understates the situation.

For lunch yesterday we found a very pleasant spot down by the marina. Plenty of very expensive boats on display and some equally expensive high rise units along the marina as well.

The Farmers’ Market at the showground was this morning’s first up activity. We picked up some vegies but it still wasn’t up to the standard of Dubbo’s. It was very popular however and by the time we’d arrived, a bit after 8 am, some stalls had already sold out.

Today was also northern beaches day. Nothing special but still nice. Next to nil surf all the way along so it would be no good to Matthew – the presence of the reef offshore inhibits the development of waves. I remember in 2001 when we went to Port Douglas and we were amazed to see no surf, something we just take for granted. I’ve been told the surf “reappears” again down towards Bundaberg so we’ll just wait and see.

We’d been told to check out the Eimeo (pronounced eye-mee-oh) Hotel while we were up that way. It has a beautiful view out over the ocean and coastline. Lunch was pretty good too!

Tomorrow we’ll give the van and car a bit of a clean up. There’s a bit of duck shit to get off the van too. Then on to Rockhampton first thing on Monday. We’ve booked in there for a week but might reduce that to five days after our experience here. Then again we don’t want to be “on the road” when our next grandee is born!

August 28 Mackay

Today we decided to explore the area to the south of Mackay. Apart from the fact that there was more sugar cane we were amazed by what we found at the Dalrymple Bay Coal Loader. It’s the largest coal-loader in the southern hemisphere and is just huge although it’s difficult for the photos to do it justice. A few numbers might help!

In the photo, the distance to the top of the “T” section of the loader is 3.8 km while the top of the “T” is 1.2 km in length. The trains which bring the coal to the stockpile are 2 km in length and hauled by up to 5 engines. A train can be unloaded in 50 minutes and the facility can handle 25 trains a day.

Dalrymple Bay has occasionally been in the news for the waiting time ships experience. I don’t know what it is at the moment but mum said she could count 31 ships!

We had lunch at Sarina Beach – a nice, little seaside village which looks like time has passed it by. The beach is a site for turtle egg-laying and hatching – October to March, and has specially designed street lighting so that the turtles are not disturbed. Mum and I both agreed that we’d love to be here when the hatchlings are making their way to the sea.

We’d also love to be here when the mangoes are ripe. I imagine mangoes would be as cheap as chips as there are mango trees everywhere. Just about every farm, house, whatever, has a number of them and quite frequently they’re just growing along the roadside.

August 27 Mackay

A low activity day – sat around this morning while mum washed and then went down to the nearby shopping centre to find a Post Office and also found a Gloria Jeans!!!!! This afternoon we paid a visit to the Botanic Gardens and exercised our legs by walking around for a couple of hours. We decided to stay on here for two more days so will leave for Rockhampton on Monday. Staying for a week reduces the rate somewhat as we get the 7th day for free. We’ll be staying at the Big 4 in Rockhampton for either 5 or 7 days (decide finally when we get there) and then will move on to Bundaberg. Now a whinge! Since the Farmers’ Market in Dubbo we’ve been unable to find a decent fruit & vegie outlet – the best available has been either Woolies or Coles. We asked here today and were told where to go, only to find the most pathetic quality – worse than the big supermarkets, in fact it made them look good. No where have we come across anything to equal Leisure Coast or Crinis. Another plus for Wollongong! Ducks! There’s a resident flock of Blooms Whistler ducks in this caravan park. They are really quite pretty and have free rein throughout the grounds. During the day they spread out but come about 4.00 pm start gathering near reception for the ritual daily feeding frenzy (see photo). There’s also a number of lorikeets turn up to take advantage of what’s on offer. You can probably guess the downside of having all these ducks around – duck shit everywhere! Footwear is compulsory!

August 25 & 26 Mackay

Some light rain as we were packing to leave Proserpine made life a little uncomfortable and turned the dust on the car and van into mud. Once we got on the road the drive to Mackay was uneventful and about all there was to see were sugar cane fields and more sugar cane fields.

Finding the caravan park was a bit of a challenge as it was well off the main road and for the first time getting the van on the site proved to be a bit difficult. All was well in the end.

Mackay hasn’t grabbed us in the same way that Townsville immediately did. Despite that it’s quite a nice place. The shopping facilities we’ve seen are excellent with a good mix of businesses in the CBD plus a large major shopping centre (Woolworths, Super IGA, Big W, Target etc) only a couple of blocks away.

About a week ago Bluewater Lagoon was opened. With three pools and a water play area similar to that on the Strand in Townsville, it’s going to be very popular in hot weather. Admission is free and when we were there two lifeguards were on duty. I know it’s the tropics and it’s supposed to be warm enough to swim all year round but I can’t help thinking one of these facilities would be a great asset in Wollongong.

Mackay doesn’t have a pedestrian mall but the main street is set up as I imagine they’d like to do in Crown Street – lots of pedestrian crossings and speed humps means any traffic is slow moving. In Mackay the traffic is in both directions while I think Wollongong’s is supposed to be one. I can’t see why something similar wouldn’t work at home.

Today we headed about 80 km west of Mackay to Eungella (pronounced Young-g-lah) National Park where we enjoyed a couple of walks through the rainforest. The highlight however was seeing a platypus in the wild for the first time. We could have joined a platypus tour for $75 each so felt quite pleased that we’d made a sighting on our own.

The drive to Eungella was through the Pioneer River valley with sugar cane fields as far as you could see. As harvesting is in progress it was quite interesting. We saw cane being harvested, carried in bins by tractors and then transported to the mill by train. The rail-lines used by the trains spread across the area like a spider’s-web with the main track following the road we were travelling on. It amazes me that the bins don’t topple over as the distance between the rails is really narrow.

For the second day running mum was able to have a training swim in the 50m heated pool. She’s at last making up for all she missed out on while we were out west.

August 24 Proserpine

Well, today we had a really interesting day exploring Airlie Beach. It is a very pretty place – lots of water, islands and boats of all descriptions. When we arrived the tide was out so the beach etc all looked a bit yucky – the difference between high and low tide is quite large and as a result, at low tide the mud and rocks are exposed. Nevertheless we had a good walk around the township and water-front. We were especially impressed with Airlie Lagoon – it consists of a number of swimming areas, a bit like the one at Riverway in Townsville, surrounded by lawns, picnic areas, BBQs, play equipment etc. The water was pretty cool and combined with a cool breeze didn’t entice many people into the water although there were lots of sunbakers. We took our costumes but didn’t feel like swimming. Airlie Beach is a typical resort type town – lots and lots of accommodation places. The shops were either clothing, food or tour booking places. The people we saw basically fell into two categories – the young (teens & early twenties) and the old (like us). We’d been told that Airlie was essentially a backpackers town and I wouldn’t disagree for one minute – they were EVERYWHERE! We’ve always found that wherever there are backpackers you can usually find cheap eating joints and cheap internet. To that I should add lots of public phones – it seemed like one for every five backpackers. The hillside in Airlie is amazing – the apartments and units are just built up and up and up. There must be some amazing views and probably some amazing rental prices. While Airlie Beach is tourism dominated, the adjoining town of Cannonvale contains all the usual shopping outlets – supermarkets, hardware etc. Going by the construction underway more shopping facilities are due to be added shortly. After lunch we headed to Shute Harbour from where the ferries depart for the Whitsunday Islands. There were some great views. Feeling energetic, we decided to walk to Coral Beach (no prize for guessing why it’s called that) and then on to a lookout over the North & South Molle Islands. It really was worth the effort of walking the 4 km. After the walking around Airlie plus the hike to Coral Beach I think we should treat ourselves to a Sizzlers. Only one problem, there isn’t one. We’ll have to settle on spaghetti instead.

August 23 Proserpine

It was a bit disappointing to have to leave Townsville but on the positive side the car was heading south, towards home!

It was an interesting drive to Proserpine. From Townsville to just south of the Burdekin River there were widespread areas of sugar-cane interspersed with mango orchards. The bridge over the Burdekin is a beauty – 1103 m long with ten main spans. The bridge joins the two communities of Ayr and Home Hill – both quite pleasant looking places. We pulled up to get a photo and while walking down a steep embankment I put my foot in a deep hole covered with grass to crash quite ignominiously. The end result was a few abrasions and a sore right knee. I suppose it could have been worse – a broken leg would have put mum in the driver’s seat.

Just north of Bowen we passed through a lot of vegetable areas and stopped at a roadside stall to pick up some reasonably priced fruit (pineapples, rockmelons, oranges and mandarins) and vegies.

Bowen was a huge disappointment – a very daggy looking town and apart from the harbour and fishing didn’t appear to have a lot going for it. We couldn’t even find an Information Centre until we left town and discovered it a few kilometres south.

As we approached Proserpine we were back into sugar cane country. Between Townsville and Proserpine we counted 6 sugar mills! Proserpine isn’t anything great – just a smallish town with a population just under 5 000. It serves as the commercial centre for the Whitsundays.

We had planned to go into Airlie Beach, the jumping off point for the Whitsundays, and spend a few nights there but it was suggested to us that there’s not much there to see and do. As a result we opted to stay here and will do a day trip into Airlie Beach tomorrow. Alongside the caravan park there’s a heated pool which is free for park residents. Mum took advantage and had another training session.