Delights of Mackay

With the best part of a week in Mackay, our main focus was catching up with my brother and his beautiful family. With one young man proudly two, and his younger brother just starting to wiggle around the house, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in this house of love and laughter.

We also managed to get out a bit too, and re-discovered a city that has retracted from the excesses of the mining boom, returning to its good natured North Queensland roots. 

Having dropped in at Mackay somewhat regularly over the past 15 years or so, I really enjoyed exploring some parts of the city I never knew existed... and if I'm completely honest, I probably wouldn't have been interested in 15 years ago, such as the Botanic Gardens.

We enjoyed strolling through the Botanic Gardens.  The tropical plants are so different to the ones at home, only adding weight to Jo's requests for a greenhouse!

I enjoyed the fernery, especially since the last time I had seen the old timber piles from the harbour, we had berthed alongside them!

The Bluewater Lagoon with playground and water slide was a hit with the kids.  Similar to the water parks all up the coast here, it provided hours of free entertainment... And the coffee from the little kiosk wasn't bad either.

But the swimming here wasn't a patch on the chilly but refreshing Finch Hatton Gorge just out of town. 

A short walk and we found ourselves by a clear pool under a nice little cascade.  I must admit it was too cold for me, but Jo and the kids had a swim.

Our next adventure was on a flying fox, slowly making our way through the rainforest canopy. Dave and Donna made sure our Forest Flying experience was heaps of fun, conquering the fears of even the most timid of adventurers, and tempering the enthusiasm of Mr No Brakes!!

The experience was unforgettable, and the observing the curious flying foxes just meters away was simply delightful.  Mr No Brakes even decided to slow down and enjoy the second of the zip lines... It must have been good!

For the night we braved the historic Eungella Chalet.  Eungella Chalet overlooks the Pioneer Valley, and is perched literally on the edge of the escarpment.  The view is magnificent, the menu honest and we were thrilled that we shared this part of the adventure with the cousins.  The kids had a wonderful time playing on the lawns, while the bigger kids enjoyed a catch up over a quiet drink.

There are platypus in the rivers up here, and if you have two young infants who wake at the crack of dawn, you will be rewarded with sightings.  If you have bigger kids who sleep to a more civilised hour, and insist on breakfast before leaving, you will be disappointed in the platypus sighting stakes.

That said, we enjoyed a stroll through some of the rainforest up here. The Eungella Fan Palm is only found here in this patch of ancient remnant rain forest.

Finally for a special treat we took the kids to the movies.  The movie chosen was terrible. But they loved it. Thankfully they missed some (most?) of the jokes in it... Phew.

Before we knew it, our time in Mackay was over. We made an early departure again, and made steady progress to Caloundra, the blue Falcon proving eminently suitable as a highway conveyance.

We had a wonderful time with my brother, his wife, their two beautiful kids, end the extended in laws in Mackay.  It was now time to return to Rocky and Matilda to start our camping holiday!