Blogs from Makay, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

We first met Pat and Marian on our WA trek last year. A shared adventure to Wolf Creek Crater began our friendship and travelling together for 16 days cemented it. We parted having different destinations and time commitments. We just ‘hit it off’ with each other and were looking forward to catching up again as they continued their journey through SA on their way back to Qld. Tragically Pat passed away as they continued to travel in WA. Marian lives in the Pioneer Valley just out of MacKay so our visit to Tristan and Zoe gave us the perfect opportunity to catch up with her again. It was just like old times. Marian lives on an elevated mango farm with a stunning view of the Pioneer Valley. Mountain ranges in the distance framed the checker-board sugar ... read more

Nettes Stadtl, leider is grad Regenzeit und ich wurde schon mehrmals eingewassert ; ) Doch hatte a schon schoene Sommertage und sah schon wieder viele coole Tiere, wie Kaengoroo, Wallabies, Obossum, Hai,...! ... read more

300 kms round trip to Mackay to pick up a mate from the airport who has come over from WA to stay on Hamilton Island for a few days ... Had thought of staying over there too, but at $768 for a three night room, I reckon that Airlie is the place to be.. Mackay is a real “mining” town, servicing the local coal industry, along with a modern shipyard, although still has a lot to offer the tourist. Should be well used to the trip as I return to the airport on Friday and back again to collect Mia on Monday. I am so excited about Mia arriving, and it looks like there will be plenty of work here for her. The more time I am spending in the Whitsundays’ the more I have the ... read more

Hi all, since our last blog Carissa and I have made our way up to sunny Mackay QLD. At this point I must apologise for the lack of contact, turns out our wireless broadband is not so wireless. Not to worry… Since leaving Asia behind us we were home for a brief stint to celebrate a friends wedding (congratulations Ollie &Aanika) before journeying North to the Central Queensland coast. Carissa flew up ahead to start working early and I drove up over a period of 4 days. Props to Stan and Pauline at Arrawarra, Ed at Brisvegas, and Julieanne and Alan at Gladdy for your kind hospitality. Mackay is a regional centre that has grown significantly in recent years largely due to the continued mining boom in and around the region. Carissa is working at one ... read more

Mackay Another day, another town, with only 5 weeks to travel from Cairns to Sydney in Martha (our campervan) our East Coast tour is somewhat whistle stop. One main road connects the two cities and with most towns and cities worth seeing just off this road, it makes map reading a doddle even for someone with my horrendous sense of direction. On day 10 we reached Mackay and after a few false starts found a decent van site. We began the roadtrip with romantic delusions of pulling up to deserted roadsides with private beaches and spending the night alone, the reality is that the van needs power to get the ceiling van Matt has installed to work, the fridge dies without power for extended periods and those romatic spots are not only dark but toilet and ... read more