Zenitude: Around Mackay region

Mackay Marina is located a bit far from town and even though there is a bus that takes you to the main shopping areas we decided to rent a car to move around. We did a good weekly deal with Budget rental car in town. The bus took us to Canelands Shopping Centre which is a huge and modern mall. Mackay area seems to be booming and has grown in the past years so everything we need we can find here. From the mall was an easy walk to the rental car office. Mackay is a great place for provisioning before going island hoping and also there are several places worth visiting.

Pioneer Valley and the Eungella National Park

With promises of seeing great subtropical rain-forest, waterfalls and the famous platypus in Eungella (pronounce it Yangala if you want to be understood) we left one morning for the 1.30 hour drive to the town of Eungella and from there on a winding scenic road to the park entry. The drive from Mackay is nice as it passes through the sugarcane fields with their charming country townships, where the farms are linked together by the local sugarcane train.

We took lunch with us and plenty of water, which was good as the only café in the park was closed that day.

We were not disappointed, it’s a magnificent rain-forest with outstanding trails and views, however no platypus came to swim in the Broken River to fulfill the tourist office promise. After lunch we walked an easy trail that took us to a beautiful water fall and as per the guide recommendation, once in a while along the way we stopped, looked up and listened to the birds.

On our way back we stopped at the Pinnacle Hotel to buy the famous Pinnacle Pies for dinner, they are worth their fame, big, juicy and delicious with a really yummy dough.

Looking Up

Always .....

..... wanted to do this

Up the river

A wild turkey

No platypus but little turtles on the Broken River

Cape Hillsborough

Two days later we packed our lunch again and went to visit another national park a bit north of Mackay, Cape Hillsborough. You can follow an easy track to the top for outstanding views of the coast and then visit the beach where one can, at low tide, appreciate the huge tidal range and the work of art left by the hundreds of little crabs as the water recedes.

We were supposed to see lots of wild life including wallabies but the park was full of kids in school holidays and there was not an animal to be seen, except for the only one we saw eating in the road side when we left.