The Road to Rocky

Left Mackay on Sunday the 26^th and stopped at Sarina, about 40km down the road. We did the Sugar Shed tour. This whole area is sugar cane country and the tour was all about how sugar cane is farmed, harvested and processed. It is an eye opener if you don’t know anything about it. We also got to try their schnapps and other liqueurs and spirits and chutneys etc.

We had to wait about an hour for the tour and did not get away from Sarina till around 12.30pm. We hadn’t had lunch so decided to not try and make Rockhampton that day. Would not have made it till 5pm. Our friends and neighbours who had invited us to Strathmore Station told us about Flaggy Rock. It is about 65km past Sarina and 200 from Rocky so it was a well placed stop. For $10 there was no power and water but there was a very large area with beautiful grass, showers, toilets and a pool (although it wasn’t hot enough to have a swim).

It was a beautiful day and we were there early enough to have a sit in the sun and read. Then time for a walk between the sugar cane plantations. There were a couple of brolgas feeding out in the paddock. I heard them before I saw them with their distinctive sound.

You don’t often come across rail lines which are not electrified and are so accessible. So I thought I would rekindle a practice that I got up to with bro-n-law Ross, ie lying on the tracks or on highways around the country. This rail line was just begging to have someone lay on them.

Mackay

Thursday the 23^rd June we left Airlie Beach. Before leaving one of the park workers said that Eungella National Park was worth having a look at as well as Cape Hillsborough, both of which are closest to Mackay as a place to base ourselves. We originally planned to drop in to Mackay for a quick look and move on. So we left Airlie with an open mind.

About two thirds of the way down the Bruce Highway to Mackay a tyre blew on the van. When we realized it had blown we were in a really bad spot with drop offs on both sides of the foad. Thank goodness for dual axles. We drove on 500 metres to a driveway of a property and got off the road. I changed the tyre and there was no question now about where we were going. Mackay is a big town so perfect for getting the tyre replaced. A quick look at Wikicamps and booked in to Blacks Beach Van Park.

 

It turned out that this van park was the best one we could have stayed at from what we could see. The first photo is looking back into the park and the next is from the same spot, looking the other way. Then photos up and down the beach at low tide.

 

I got the tyre replaced at Mengs Tyres nearby to Blacks Beach (recommended by the van park owners). For $175 I got a Dunlop All Terrain tyre. It was a second which has only done 14km. What happens is the local mines buy their vehicles and replace their tyres straight away with special mud tyres. So the tyre places have access to seconds at a great price. I am working on replacing all the tyres on the van with all terrain tyres.

After we had arrived, set up and had lunch we took the wrecked tyre to the repair place to find it was closed, which was really strange on a Thursday. I made a phone call to find that everything was shut as it was a public holiday in Mackay for the Mackay show. Apparently this happens all over QLD. Random public holidays in random towns for their shows.

So we took a drive to Mackay Harbour and Marina. It is a pretty big deal there.

 

Friday we headed out to Eungella National Park. There is a town on the way called Marian where Dame Nellie Melba lived for a couple of years. The house she lived in has been preserved and is the Information Centre but is very much celebrated and displayed as the house she lived in. Melba was a very big deal back in her day. Her face is on the $100 bill and she was the biggest thing in music at the time and she put Australia on the map for many people around the world.

A young guy and his wife serving coffees from their little coffee van at Melba House recommended checking out Eungella Chalet (which is the pub) and have a look at the history but don’t bother with about the food there. Go and visit Broken River and see if you can see some platypus but don’t bother going to the dam. So we did all that. The Chalet is at the top of the escarpment, as is the little town. The view is terrific.

 

Took a walk through the rainforest. Very nice, so cool and quiet.

 

At Broken River we did see some platypus come to the surface several times. It was really cool to see them. You can never get a photo of any value as they are so small and by the time you focus your camera they are gone.

 

We then went down the escarpment back to the town of Finch Hatton. We had lunch at the Criterion Hotel which was another good tip from the young bloke at the coffee van near Melba House. It started raining by the time we got to Finch Hatton Gorge so we gave the gorge walk a miss.

Then back to the highway and we dropped in to the Leap Hotel. At the rock overlooking the hotel an aboriginal woman leaped to her death holding her baby. The baby survived. The woman was running away from aboriginal police. There are stories posted on the wall of the pub explaining and commemorating the story.

 

Saturday, after picking up the tyre and a bit of maintenance around the van we took a drive to Cape Hillsborough. It was nice but not a place I would bother staying at. The drive there and back was the best of it. We did enjoy the mangrove boardwalk.

We have enjoyed our couple of days around Mackay. Time to move on, heading for Rockhampton.

Airlie Beach & The Witsundays

Tuesday, the 14th June we moved on to Airlie Beach and stayed at the Island Gateway Caravan Park. A good park only 20 minutes walk from the CBD and only $36 a night with the Top Tourist discount. After settling in we went into town for a simple feed and I played poker with Derek. It was a bit of fun.

On Wednesday morning Jan & Ross and I met up with Kay & Derek in town and walked along the shore.

Wednesday afternoon Linda flew in and I picked her up from the airport. Kay and Derek found a great apartment for only $115 in town. So after picking her up we went with Jan & Ross to the apartment. Drinks and nibbles followed by dinner downtown. These are their views.

We were waiting for good weather to take a tour out to the Witsunday Islands and Thursday was still raining occasionally. So went with Jan & Ross for a drive to Hideaway Bay and Dingo Beach. Montes resort at Hideaway Bay is a beautiful spot. You think you are on an island with the setting there. We sat and had a coffee looking out this setting.

Followed by lunch at the Dingo Beach Pub.

We went back to Airlie Beach and caught up with Kay and Derek for drinks at the Abell Port Bar. They were leaving the next morning so we said our farewells but Linda and I will be staying with them at Noosa is a few weeks.

On Friday we had a look around town and had lunch at a pub and drove to Shute Harbour. Photos of Shute Harbour.

Saturday, the weather was good enough that it was time to take a cruise to Hamilton Island. Photo as we came into the harbor.

The views from One Tree Hill and lookout. Great place to have a coffee.

Then down to the ocean for a swim and then a swim in the pool. The swim up bars are cool but a bit of a novelty I think.

The beach is a good spot to relax.

Then for a great steak lunch at the tavern.

The trip home.

Sunday was spent just trying to keep dry. It started raining overnight and did not let up all day. This rain had come across the state and even dropped 100mls in Longreach. We went to the shopping centre with Ross and Jan. There was a blackout there as well as the van park.

During the night we started getting water in through the roof. No not the front four seasons hatch that leaked before. Derek had done to good a job fixing that. The water was coming through the other hatch. Possibly the same problem. So I borrowed the parks ladder and found similar problems as before. I bought a tube of silicon and borrowed the silicon gun and covered up some gaps. One gap was around the TV cable grommet which my mate had John had rung me about when he read the blog and saw I was having a leaking roof. He has found they often are the culprit with leaks so I plugged that up. Hopefully fixed. When we get to Noosa we will do a full repair job.

Monday morning we said farewell to Jan and Ross. They only had a couple of weeks left of their holiday and had to move on but we still have about 7 weeks left. We are going on a cruise to Whitehaven Beach on Wednesday so we have some time to kill today. So apart from fixing the leaking roof we went into town. Linda had not been in town when we did the walk along the foreshore so we did that. This time though it was now beautiful weather. We stopped for a couple of drinks and lunch at the Sorento Bar at Abell Point where we had farewelled Kay and Derek. It is the best spot in Airlie Beach in my opinion.

On Tuesday Linda and I relaxed up till mid afternoon and then went back into town and back to the Sorento Bar, Abell Point and had a couple of sunset drinks. Beautiful weather again today.

Wednesday and we got picked up at 7am and taken to Shute Harbour. We boarded the Reef Cruises big 2001 catamaran for a three island cruise. 

Unfortunately there was a lot of cloud. I couldn't believe that we had that weather when the forecast had been so good and we missed out on the cruise the day before because we did not book ahead. We were hopeful the cloud would burn away and blow away and it did eventually, by about 1pm. So half the day was in beautiful sunshine.

We motored out to Witsunday Island, went ashore and walked up to the lookout over Whitehaven Beach. It was beautiful but under grey cloud it the colours were dull. We went down to the beach but I could see there was a break in the clouds and headed back up to the lookout. We were then blessed with some great views in beautiful sunshine. I was so disappointed with the earlier views, but so relieved to see it in the sun.

We then moved on to a little island opposite Hayman Island. Cannot remember the name of it. We snorkeled here over some beautiful coral and tropical fish. It was fantastic The sun came out whilst I was snorkeling. Linda took the option of going on a glass bottom boat.

Then onto Daydream Island. They were feeding fish when we arrived. I got to see a bunch of sting rays up close and in a different way than ever before. The resort is nice but the views from the beach are better.

Once we finished at Daydeam that was it and we returned back to Shute Harbour. We docked around 5.30pm. So it was a full day cruise from 8am to 5.30pm. They served morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea and it was all good stuff. They also served a complimentary tequila sunrise. It was $180 per person and such good value. What a great day.

That ended our Airlie Beach and Witsunday experience. Amazingly good.