Day 73 - Mackay, Queensland, Australia
Well we were up and about again this morning early and on the road again before nine.
The drive that took us down to Mackay was only a short’ish one again and we covered the 156 km in around an hour and a half.
The scenery on the way was sugar cane field after sugar cane field and it was only once we got closer to Mackay that we starting climbing through lush hills bathed in trees. It was dramatically different to what we had got used to travelling along the Stuart Highway in the outback.
Now Mackay is one of those places you visit because you don’t want a long drive and its on route. The guidebooks were all very clear that this was a day stop so we were not expecting much when we pulled into the campsite about 2km out from the city centre.
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Trevor & Jonathan’s World Trip 2010
Walking into town it was like stepping into a huge building site! The town is divided by the Pioneer River and we were on the wrong side form the centre. The work was all to do with a new bridge being built directly next to the only existing one so we by passed the cranes and lorries and eventually made it in to town.
Now the town centre was actually a revelation, not because it had great shops or there was something crazy going on, the shops were to be honest drab but the architecture was stunning.
It looked like the town had been built from a 1930’s art deco guide as all the high street stores had amazing cornices and headstones all painted the obligatory pastel shades. If any of you have been to south beach in Miami along Ocean Drive and seen the much heralded art deco buildings there, this was just as good but in a non flashy we are in the middle of no where Australia style kind of way.
They are clearly spending money in Mackay, we then set off on a quite newly constructed path that ran the length of the town alongside the Pioneer River that was all fancy promenade paving with driftwood sculptures. When all this work is done I think that Mackay will well and truly make it on to the map and be a place to come to but for now it’s very much a work in progress.
We stopped off at Caneland shopping centre (called Canleand due to all the sugar cane they grow in the area) to pick up some provisions and then is was back to the van for washing and dinner.
We didn't make it out to the marina or to the beaches that lay on the outskirts of the town and opted to get ahead of ourselves and head down to Rockhampton tomorrow as that is a much longer drive.
We leave Mackay (pronounced Mackai for some reason????) with a feeling that in a few years time the guide books will be a lot kinder about it’s plus points and it will find it’s way onto the backpacker trail.