~~oOo~~
CARMILA
~~oOo~~
The drive from Island View Caravan Park near Yeppoon to Mackay is 4 hours. As this is a long way and we have consistantly blown our budget on accommodation at caravan parks due to having to deal with constant rain and thus avoiding free camping, I took the opportunity to free camp for 1 night at Carmila Hotel along the way. As you can see, it has been wet here too and as such, the Hotel was turning people away from their free camp out the back. But as we were such nice people... 😉
they said we could camp over here close to the railway line.
Well, we spent a fortune here on food and drinks. But we regained a lot of that back as they had a Friday night meat raffle, and guess what? I was the first one they picked out. Yep! I won a meat tray that probably would be around $50. So for $15 worth of tickets from our pocket money, we cleaned up anyway.
😊
The fish that we shared for dinner was absolutely fresh as!! A huge hunk of local Mackeral and it was juicy!
I totally recommend this place for a free camp, great food & wonderful company!
~~oOo~~
SARINA
~~oOo~~
We had to kill time along the way before we could book in to Mackay, so we took a deviation to Sarina Beach. Yes, the rain was coming in again, but we did manage to cook some sausages from our meat tray win at a BBQ alongside the beach here.
Still, there were some surfers out there. Tough lot they are.
After lunch, we took a random drive to check out more beaches and discovered a nice camping area right behind the dunes. This looked like a 'local' secret. Handy to know.
Well, I missed a pic here of the Big Cane Toad. Yep, on the main street of Sarina there is a Big Thing. I did see it though, so technically, I can place a 'Shutterstock' pic on my site. Thanks, Shutterstock.
~~oOo~~
THE PARK, MACKAY
~~oOo~~
For $40 a night, it was ok. The Park is located about 10 minutes from town, but has a Woolies close by and the airport is a hop, skip and jump from here.
It seems that we were given one of the most difficult spots for hubby to back into. It was on an angle and he tried a few times to line the van up, but there was a tree and another caravan in the way opposite, so hubby just gave up and parked where the van landed. I would have to say that he did a great job under the circumstances. What I didn't like was the owner of the van opposite was looking from his black screen netting. He thought I couldn't see him, but I saw the feet lol. Consequently he got a little drawn out look from me that would have made anyone cringe.
😠
There were a lot of permanent residents here. Some of which aren't really (how do I say it?) house proud?
If I was the ower, I would be kicking a few out. Anyway, there was a pool, but it was a long way from our site. You needed to drive there to get to it I reckon. Plus, getting out of The Park was a bit of a challenge too. You could not turn right as there was an island in the middle of the road. So we had to turn left, down the road, turn right, go up the road and do a Uee to get back onto the road to go into town. What a pain!
~~oOo~~
MACKAY MARINA
~~oOo~~
We had a fabulous lunch at the Mackay Marina.
We drove along this most unusual breakwall that had a road on. Mmmm, interesting. See video below. Then, back along the Marina we found a place that looked good for lunch.
The Deck restaurant was a good choice. We shared oysters kilpatrick and a steak. The oysters were awesome, plump, packed with bacon, onion and a thick sauce on top. Steak was done to perfection and the gravy was thick and tasty. Chips were crispy and cooked just right and the salad was fresh. The only thing that disappointed us was the lighting was too mute. With bright sun outside, they needed to make the lighting a bit more bright to compensate. But still highly recommended.
~~oOo~~
SLADE POINT LOOKOUT
~~oOo~~
I was really looking forward to checking out Mackay. Well, I can now say that I was a little let down. To be honest, I really don't think Macky has much going for it at all. Still, you need to experience it to satisfy the curiosity.
We took a drive to Slade Point to check out the Water Tank Art and Lookout.
The Water Tank Art was really nice. Lookout? Just another one.
~~oOo~~
MACKAY BLUEWATER LAGOON
~~oOo~~
The first time I experienced a free water park in Queensland was in Cairns.
Now, it seems, everyone is jumping on this idea. We have one in Brissy and one in Redcliffe. Now, I see that Mackay has one too. We checked it out.
Unfortunately we didn't bring our togs, but it was free and looked pretty good.
We parked across the road at the big shopping centre and walked right around to find the entrance. Along the pathway, we could see the river which was nice with the sun glistening on the water.
~~oOo~~
BIG & LITTLE THINGS
~~oOo~~
I am getting good at snapping off shots of Big Things! Hubby doesn't really like this and consequently does not stop. But that is ok. I can work with that.
😜
So, here is Mackay's version of the Big Banana. LOL.
Ok, it's a cool Nana. 😎
Across the road from the Marina is a park, and I spied a couple of Big Things. The Big Fred and the Big Snoopy. I am not sure if they have made it to the Australian Big Things Map, but they are on mine. 😄
Cute story. I was in the park, being inconspicuous..... and taking photos of the Big Things.
Then a couple of locals ran up and asked if I could take a pic of them. Yeh, why not? ....
I hope their parents don't think anything otherwise?...
It's a sad day when you cannot enjoy the moment with young, inocent children.
Small things? You say?
Yep, I now have a photo of the smallest roundabout in the world.
And there were another couple that rolled up to take a photo too. So we assisted eachother to take photos. 😁
~~oOo~~
MAPS
~~oOo~~
VIDEO
~~oOo~~
No comments:
Post a Comment