Thomas Family Road Trip: Mackay (29/3/12

Sunday, 1 April 2012

Mackay (29/3/12 - 1/4/12)

Our drive from Kinka Beach to Mackay was the biggest day of driving we have done for some time. Mackay is 366kms north of Kinka Beach, so we were in the car for over four hours. A bit hard to take! There is very few towns between Kinka Beach and Mackay and the highway is mostly inland.

We had sunshine the entire way and every day in Mackay was warm and sunny. Hopefully we have left the rain behind us!

Mackay is a huge place, with a population of close to 120,000. It is predominantly a coal mining and sugar growing area. As a result it is a "boom" town and there is a huge lack of housing and because of this alot of workers live in caravan parks. We experienced this on our first night in Mackay at the park we stayed at. Thankfully, Simon found a great park (Seawinds Caravan Park) on the northern beaches and we moved there for the next two days. No comparison at all. This park was right on the beach (Black Beach), we had a huge site with nothing but grass between us and the beach, it was so well maintained and quiet. One of our favourite caravan parks of all time!!

Given our piece of paradise, we did very little in Mackay other than hang out at the caravan park and the beach. Black Beach is a beautiful beach, just a shame you can't swim at northern Queensland beaches due to the jellyfish and other nasties. We did take the kids to the Mackay Lagoon, a free council run pool. The kids had a ball despite sharing it with heaps of school kids on their last day of term excursion. We enjoyed lunch at the local food court. Not too flash, but it kept everyone happy as there were so many choices.

Other than that, we did a fair bit of relaxing and we gave the car and caravan a good clean. The kids made some new friends (Sarah, Emily, Tim and Jayden) and spent most of their time with them playing ten pin bowling, riding scooters and the skateboard or playing games. Simon and the kids built a HUGE sandcastle at the beach. Simon thinks he shovelled two tonne of sand! The kids were so proud of themselves.

We reluctantly left Mackay on Sunday and we say reluctantly as we knew it would be very hard to top this caravan park. Despite this we, especially the kids were looking forward to getting to Airlie Beach as we will be able to stay put for eight days and enjoy all the activities on offer at the park.

Until Airlie Beach, take care and Happy Easter (just in case we don't update the blog until after Easter). We hope you all have a safe and relaxing Easter, filled with lots of easter eggs and hot cross buns.