A relaxed and slow start to the day. We have planned to do the Sarina Sugar Shed tour at 11, and it is about an hour up the road, so no point in getting away too early. We make use of the shower, yes there is only 1, and pack and get ready to go. I must say for $10 this place was great to stay at.
We arrive at Sarina just in time for the 11am tour. We’re ushered into a theatre and get a 10min promo video of the sugar industry and the local district, then a talk about sugar production, the guide was quite knowledgeable, but after giving what must be the same talk 4 times a day, for god knows how many years, it seemed to be “phoned in” a bit.
A short drive up to the outskirts of Mackay and we stop at a great little park for a late lunch. After lunch we look for a place to stay. I had checked a day or so ago and most of the National Parks in the area that offer booked sites (as opposed to the first in best dress sites), were all booked out, probably due to the QLD school holidays have started this week.
I must admit this is where apps like wikicamps and campermate really come in handy. Anyway after reviewing a few sites we called up the Haliday Bay Golf Course and RV park (who would ever thought these two would go together). They said that they don’t take booking, but they had plenty of room and it should not be a problem.
We arrive, get a beach front site, unhitch and go for a quick drive over to Cape Hillsborough, it is so nice to drive for a bit without the van attached. Seems like the car has grown two more cylinders. There is a 1.5km 4×4 track down to a place called hidden valley, I couldn’t help myself. It was pretty simple, testament to this was the Britz van driven by some backpacker I passed on the way out. 4×4 was apparently optional.
Cape Hillsborough Beach
Later on Justine and the kids took a walk along the beach, all the way to the far end. The kids like exploring the rock pools.
Just before dinner at the golf clubhouse, we see a bunch of wallabies start to invade the course. Caitlin is pretty impressed with them. The wallabies are less impressed with Caitlin
As well as the wallabies there were these birds, called Curlews. They are a little freakish birds, a bit like really small emu, after dark they are scuttling about, running 5-10m in one direction then darting off in another, in the moon light you can’t really see their legs, so there appear to be these legless bodies darting around the campground, quite amusing.
Curlew