DAYS 5-6 (30-31 December 2023) LAST POST: Rockhampton Coast & The Journey Home.

 Welcome to the LAST POST of MC-GLAD-ROCK 2023 !!!

 

What a way to farewell the last two days of 2023 !!! We drove 445km from Mackay to Rockhampton with the last 80km along the coast north of Rockhampton. We encountered a series of treks to viewpoints and beaches of aqua green magnificence. The coast is rugged and features several granite outcrops (large rock like mini-mountains) right on the ocean. We visited the following sites: Emu Park Lookout (Off Paradise Way), Kinka Beach, Causeway, Capricorn Coast NP Car Park (Walk Buff Point Scenic Walk circuit to Turtle Island Viewpoint & Lookout), Kemp Beach, Shoreline Coast Parking (Walk to Double Head Viewpoint and Fan Rock Lookout), Wreck Point Lookout, Yeppoon Main Beach, Spring Head Lookout (get there via Adelaide St).

 

Yeppoon is a fancy seaside town exactly like Terrigal in near Sydney in NSW. It was a shocking 38C & 75% Humidity that day and hardly anyone was in the terrific aqua green water !!! We asked the two young girls that served us ice cream if there were really stingers in the ocean and they said that they had never seen any or heard reports of people being stung. Another Queensland conspiracy ???

 

The highlight of our coastal adventure was easily the trek to Double Head Viewpoint and Fan Rock Lookout followed by a swim in Kemp Beach. Fan Rock is a huge wall of horizontal slabs of rock that were formed 60 million years ago when lava spewed up from the coast into the adjacent ocean essentially solidifying in slabs. An amazing site – similar to the vertical pipes in the Tasman National Park of Tasmania. Kemp beach is super calm and super warm. Quite a few people were swimming there so we figured it was free of stingers. What a shame that you cannot just swim with confidence during summer in Queensland !!!

 

We celebrated our return to Rocky with a huge dinner at the classic Criterion Hotel – fantastic food and atmosphere. We got here in an Uber series 3 Tesla which was absolutely space age inside with its entire roof made of tinted glass. Quite impressive. As we finished dinner in the Criterion, a huge storm broke out with heavy rain, gale force winds and lightning flashes every 10 seconds. We rushed to the door to view this spectacular cyclonic sight. All the locals just carried on eating and chatting – hard to believe that these conditions are commonplace in this part of the country. Another Uber to the hotel to be upgraded to a 2-bed apartment and watch our favourite comedy “My Cousin Vinny” which we watched with bubbly and our newfound Bundaberg Ginger Beer flavoured Kettle Chips !!! So Queensland !!! They were simply delicious.

 

Most of the last day of the year, 31 December 2023 was spent flying home. A drive to an absolutely empty airport, farewelled our pearly white 4 cylinder Camry before boarding a QantasLink Dash 8 Q400 to Brisbane then a Qantas 737-700 to Sydney to celebrate New Years Eve with Patsy and Nikos in Portland Street Dover Heights.

 

We drove a grand total of 1,443km.

 

We hope you enjoy the images of our last day and it has been a pleasure bringing you the images of a hot and humid summertime adventure in Mid-North Queensland which is MC-GLAD-ROCK 2023 !!!

DAYS 3-4 (28-29 December 2023) Mackay City, Hinterland & Coast.

The drive from Rockhampton to Mackay is a whopping 338km much of it surrounded by sugar cane and distant hills. There is not much visible coastline. The highlight was crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. We spent most of the 28^th of December driving up and visiting the city itself.

 

Mackay City (Pop 77,848) is relatively rebuilt having been partly destroyed by cyclones so there are very few colonial buildings left. The city centre is a simple grid and easily covered in 2 hours. The only downsize is the extreme heat and humidity of 37C and 70% makes that 2 hours feel like 2 years in hell !!! The highlight for us was Victoria Street, which is like a pedestrian mall covered in trees and lined with cafes, pubs and shops with a very relaxed atmosphere. Colonial buildings are few and nowhere near the grandeur of those in Rockhampton. Even Gladstone had better colonials than Mackay. We visited the following landmarks: Mount Oscar (City Views), The Big Banana (Statue), Viewpoints on Pioneer Promenade in Caneland Park to Forgan Bridge, Old Customs House & Chasely House & Sculptures at Forgan Bridge, East Gordon St, Victoria St, Courthouse, Police Station, Clock Tower, Eighth Lane Mural, Fifth Lane Mural, St Patricks.

 

Friday 29 December 2023 saw us visit the hinterland and coast around Mackay. The one thing in common with both is sugar cane. It is everywhere. If they could grow it on hills and mountains they would. The hinterland is super green and still super hot and humid. We drove through the Eungella Valley surrounded on both sides by cane and ended up rising to 865m to view the valley looking back to the coast – superb. We then headed to the coast passing 3 major sugar refining plants. The coast itself is aqua green and the bitter-sweet irony is that you cannot swim in it unless you have a stinger suit in summer. We tried to hire stinger suits but the only place that does this in the city was closed for holidays until 9JAN24 !!! I managed to find two beaches with stinger nets but the enclosures were too small to do my 2km swim so I had to settle for the standard splash and play. The water was incredibly warm (probably 28C) but not so clear given the wind that day. The highlight was the clear cold fresh water holes and cascades in the Finch Hatton Gorge, which involves an easy 1.3km trek each way. We spent the entire day visiting the following attractions: Peases Lookout, Goodes Lookout, Finch Hatton Gorge (Araluen Cascades), Seaforth Beach (Net), Halliday Bay & Beach (Net), Cape Hillsborough NP (Twin Beaches Lookout), The Blue Lagoon (Lake), Dolphin Heads, Lamberts Lookout.

 

The highlight meal was Bundies Steak and Egg Surprise, which he cooked in our mini kitchen. The strangest most Queensland meal was a chicken parmi with meatballs in it !!! Mackay was also a Dag Dancers Delight having danced with a giant toad and giant banana !!! Summer is not the time to visit Mackay. It is way too hot and humid and you cannot swim anywhere on the coast without a stinger suit. I got up at 5:50am for my 10km runs and it was still humid and in my case there was no breeze making it very tough to run comfortably.

 

Mackay is definitely on the rise with 95% of Australia’s sugar coming from Queensland and foremost this area. Mackay & Queensland are the world’s 8th largest sugar producer. Combine that with coal and tourism and that spells jobs and a future.

 

Enjoy the visuals of Mackay and surrounds…