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 28th 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…
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