Mackay
We're now in Mackay, after driving through Emerald (famous for the largest Van Gogh sunflower painting), Tablelands National Park (where I did a short run to the Two Mile Falls), and staying in Rockhampton last night. Drove up Mt. Archer for views over the city, then had a really nice walk through Kershaw Gardens, before trying to find an internet cafe without much luck.
Thought we had a really nice spot by the river to camp, but got attacked by tiny mosquitos all night which wasn't that pleasant. I had a great run along the river and back through Kershaw Gardens in the morning, and PD got online at the library (so we were both happy!) before we drove north to Mackay.
We're staying with friends of PD's parents here - once again, so nice to have a proper rest and catch up with washing and e-mails! Paul is manager of a sugar mill which we got a grand tour of two nights ago - it really was quite interesting to see how it all works. On average, 1800 tons of raw sugar are produced each day, but at the moment its a little less (around 1400 tons). An amazing amount of power and heat is generated - it was roasting just walking around :) I would share more of the vast information we discovered, but at risk of Paul reading my blog and realising I've got all the facts wrong, I'll just leave it at that..!
Yesterday we went to Eungalla National Park, where there are meant to be loads of platypus. We did a nice walk through rainforest and up to 'Surprise Lookout', then came back around dusk to the Broken River viewing area. We saw a couple of tortoises, and we think (!) we saw a couple of platypus swimming around in the water too. I think we were unlucky not to see more, but it was a nice area anyway!
We're moving north again today and planning to do a Whitsundays sailing tour with some snorkelling and possibly diving in the next couple of days. Thanks loads to Paul & Debbie for having us here - it's been extremely kind of them.
Thought we had a really nice spot by the river to camp, but got attacked by tiny mosquitos all night which wasn't that pleasant. I had a great run along the river and back through Kershaw Gardens in the morning, and PD got online at the library (so we were both happy!) before we drove north to Mackay.
We're staying with friends of PD's parents here - once again, so nice to have a proper rest and catch up with washing and e-mails! Paul is manager of a sugar mill which we got a grand tour of two nights ago - it really was quite interesting to see how it all works. On average, 1800 tons of raw sugar are produced each day, but at the moment its a little less (around 1400 tons). An amazing amount of power and heat is generated - it was roasting just walking around :) I would share more of the vast information we discovered, but at risk of Paul reading my blog and realising I've got all the facts wrong, I'll just leave it at that..!
Yesterday we went to Eungalla National Park, where there are meant to be loads of platypus. We did a nice walk through rainforest and up to 'Surprise Lookout', then came back around dusk to the Broken River viewing area. We saw a couple of tortoises, and we think (!) we saw a couple of platypus swimming around in the water too. I think we were unlucky not to see more, but it was a nice area anyway!
We're moving north again today and planning to do a Whitsundays sailing tour with some snorkelling and possibly diving in the next couple of days. Thanks loads to Paul & Debbie for having us here - it's been extremely kind of them.
posted by Mhairi
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