July 16, We finished packing up and left Keppel Sands at
10am. Today’s trip was only a short drive, so we decided to go via. Emu Park
and Yeppoon, to refresh our memories of these 2 Towns. We were surprised to
find that Emu Park was a good sized Town, on the beachfront, that had a Super
IGA and would have been a few Klms closer to Keppel Sands than Rockhampton,
just for Supermarket Shopping. We drove around but didn’t recall ever being
there before. We travelled 18klms on and arrived in Yappoon, which did bring
back memories of our last visit. The Keppel Bay Plaza was new to us, so after
filling up with petrol, I found a place to park the car and caravan in a back
street, and we did our big food We pulled into The Marlborough Motel and Van
Park just before 4pm and booked in. This Park is right on the Bruce highway, so
as you can imagine, we had the big trucks roaring past all night. There was
nothing flash about this park, so it was pick your own site, stay hooked up if
you want as long as you don’t block the roads. They were renovating the men’s
amenities block, so the ladies had been re-signed to say “Uni Sex”. This was a
first for us, all in together but there wasn’t any problems, I just don’t know
who came in and used the toilet while I was having my shower. We were surprised
how many Vans pulled in to stay over at this very “out of the way” Caravan Park.
We went to the Restaurant at the Park for dinner and found it excellent. I had
the “chicken 
paragama” and it was delicious and so big that I couldn’t fit in
dessert, while Val had “prawn cutlets” with salad. There was a flock of very tame
guinea fowls running around the Park after everybody that they thought would
feed them. It looked so funny to see them run like mad then follow people
around, you would have to see them yourself to appreciate the humor. shop, at Coles. We used our navigator (Doris) to get back to the Bruce Highway. We were a tad concerned when Doris had us do a right hand turn and go through a few little Villages, on a narrow but sealed road and were relieved to see the sign saying “Bruce Highway”. We pulled into a big roadside rest area (Joan Tierney Park) and made lunch in the Van, before carrying on to our Caravan Park at Marlborough.
July 17th, After an early night and no packing up
to do, we were able to get on our way at 9am, heading for Mackay. We have been
having great weather, lately, so arrived at Mackay, after a pleasant drive.
Unfortunately the street that our Caravan Park was in was blocked off, as they
were doing roadworks. It was one way, opposite to the end we were at, but after
a bit of driving around several blocks, we arrived at Central Tourist Park, and
booked in. I realized that this was the same Park that we had stayed at the
last time we stopped in Mackay. After lunch I carried on with setting up and we
were all done before dark, ready to enjoy our 2 week stay here.
July 18th, We just chilled out today, walked
around the Park and wondered why they had such huge amenities. This Caravan
Park has had the same owners for 46 years. The amenities block was built to
withstand Cyclones and Tornados and are big enough to shelter all the guests in
the Park, if need be. There are 18 showers and 21 toilets in both the men’s and
woman’s blocks, plus 12 wash basins. The reason being, that, 46 years ago the
rule was one shower/toilet for every four people. The Laundry has 11 washing
machines and ten dryers. There are 38 big green “Otto” garbage bins, all in a
row along the back of the Park. Looks very funny! I took a few photos. On the
roof of the very long amenities block, at each end, there are 2 huge loud
speakers. I guess we will hear the Cyclone warning and Val will be first in the
Block, with a cask of wine and a chair. 
July 19th, We went to the Caneland Central Shopping
Centre, in Town, which was a huge shopping complex, as you would find in any
City. Val went to Specsavers and they virtually rebuilt her broken glasses, at
no cost. We wandered around for hours, I found a lot of time to read my
western, and after a coffee/tea and cinnamon toast break, we did some food
shopping and went home.
July 20th, We had a big day out today! We started
of with a drive down to Mackay Harbour and Marina, the rock wall around the
Marina is so wide it has a 2 lane road running out to its end. We timed it
perfectly to see a tanker being pushed out by a Tug then heading out to sea. It
reminded us of Newcastle, to see the line of waiting ships on the horizon. The
Marina was huge with lots of boats at the berths and Resort Accommodation in
the precinct. Next stop was the Food and Wine Festival at Queens Park, where
parking was hard to find. I had to drive around the block twice before we
struck someone just leaving and grabbed his spot. We were lucky, as we only had
to cross the road to get to the Park. It was very busy, we think the whole of
Mackay’s population had turned up. It was a big affair, market stalls, lots of
food outlets, entertainment on centre stage, train rides for the kids and 2
large licenced areas for beer and wine. We were disappointed that there wasn’t
any food or wine tastings, which we had expected. We still enjoyed our visit
and had some lunch/coffee from the food trail and sat in the shade of one of
their huge marquis to eat and listen to the music. Around the entertainment
area we had a green crocodile talking to all the kids and 2 guys dressed up as
girls on stilts, talking and waiving to everybody. The most amazing thing we
saw was a woman being fully body paint decorated. We left the Festival and went
to the Visitors Information Centre, on the southern side of the City and picked
up some brochures and maps. On our way home we called in to the North Mackay
Bowl Club, which was in the same street as our Caravan Park and had been
recommended for it very good food. It was a nice looking Club, the menu looked
good and we had a chardy and a flutter. The wine was good and we had a good run
on the Pokies, although we didn’t win. We sat and watched some of the bowlers
having a game on their indoor greens before heading home. It is an indoor
bowling club and we had to laugh at ourselves, when driving in to Park we
thought their indoor green rinks were a covered car park, Ha! Ha!
July 22nd, Val was fired up today, to get into making her “Home Made” Jams and Pickles for selling at the Markets, as we travel around. So, we drove into Town to find “Payne Packaging”, the only supplier of glass screw top jars listed in the Phone Book. Their address was “the bottom of Victoria Street”, so when we reached Victoria Street, we just turned left (not knowing which way was the bottom and having no number) and drove to the bottom of the street and found that we were at the low numbered end. No sign of Paynes! OK, let’s check out the other end of this street. When we got to the high numbered end of Victoria Street, we found a dead end, a vacant plot of ground at the back of Caneland Central Shopping Centre and definitely no Payne Packaging. I pulled over and Val ran into a Tyre Place and asked the dis-interested Salesman, who was talking with a friend, was this the top or bottom of this street? and did he know where Payne packaging was? He had no idea but this was the top end! Back we go (to what we now know is the bottom of Victoria Street) down past all the Shops that we are now getting to know well and still could not find the mysterious “Payne Packaging”. I parked the car and Val went into the nearest Business and asked the question and sure enough, across the street, up a short driveway is where the packaging place is located. No big sign out front, listing the businesses in this little complex, but jammed up in a corner, not visible from the street was Payne’s. We were shown into their (small) wharehouse and shown the 375ml. glass jars that Val wanted but there was a problem!! They were completely out of the metal screw top lids! They are expected to come in next Wednesday, so that put an end to Val’s plans. Not to be too put off, Val said “let’s check out the Fruit and Vegie Shops that we listed from the phone book”. First on our list was “Mifsud’s Fruit Barn” at 34 Nelson Street, when we got there it was a building site, in progress! So we asked the Traffic Controller where Mifsud’s had moved to? He was clueless! So, on we went to “Vegies Unlimited” at 303 Nebo Road. To get to this shop we had to travel to the most southern side of this Town, anyway their bulk buy of 3 kg of oranges were cheap. Now we went back to the City to find “Growers Own” in River Street. Doris (our navigator) was totally confused by the road changes, but eventually we found Growers Own, who are just getting organized to sell to the Public and were able just to give us their price list but it was a bulk supply outfit. In other words, they want to sell goods by the case, not what we were wanting. We did find out that Mifsud’s were in Albert Street, so went there to check it out and Val thought they were a bit high priced for what we want. We stopped off at the Sydney Street Markets to pick up a few items before heading home.
July 24th, We have now been here a week, so I’ll
post this today before you all get too bored to bother reading.
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