It was a long weekend in Queensland, with today (Monday) being the Queen's Birthday holiday and so there were plenty of 'locals' packing up to leave the caravan park. It was just a short 157km run down to Mackay this morning, but because of the long weekend there was plenty of traffic on the Bruce Highway. However the traffic was moving at about the 90kmh we usually travel at and so it wasn't too much of a problem. Just on 11am we arrived at Mackay Blacks Beach Holiday Park and set up on Site 57 which gave us a view over the Coral Sea from the van.

So we are staying at Blacks Beach, one of Mackay's Northern Beaches, about 10km North of Mackay. From the caravan it's just a 20m walk to the beachfront, a section of the 6km beach which makes it Mackay's longest continuous beach.

We went and did some grocery shopping and then enjoyed a nice lunch using the salmon left over from last night's pizza in a roll with onion and herb cream cheese. 

After lunch we drove to the Mackay Tourist Information Centre located on the other side of town, only to find a notice saying it was closed - not sure if that meant just today or forever, but it was a bit frustrating given how far we'd driven and the 'i' sign was out on the roadside. Perhaps we're not the type of tourists they cater for as since we hit Airlie beach we've got the impression that the main interest is in shipping tourists off to one of the Whitsunday Islands. So unfortunately we couldn't pick up a copy of the heritage walk guide, but driving back through the CBD we did see the historic Town Hall.

From there we drove down to the Mackay Marina where there were hundreds of boats moored and one wonders when they all actually get used. At one end of the Marina there is a lighthouse. This lighthouse was constructed in 1885 at Pine Islet in the Percy Iles some 120km ESE of Mackay. The manned lighthouse operated for just on a century until 27 August 1985 the kerosene powered light was extinguished. Strong lobbying to retain this historic structure resulted in it being relocated to Mackay in 1986. Its restoration was completed late in 1995, but due to redevelopment plans for the area it had to again be relocated, that being completed in 2002.

Having seen it from the caravan park, we chose to go 'home' via Slade point. Here Lamberts Lookout provides great views along the beach and out to the Cumberland Islands. It is a popular spot for watching whales on their migration North and South, but it's the wrong time of the year for that. However we could see at least 20 ships anchored out in the Coral Sea, we presume waiting to come into the Port of Hay Point, 30 km South of Mackay, which is one of the biggest and most efficient coal ports in the world.

Dinner was the remainder of the meat balls, again cooked along with potato and carrot in the Weber in a tomato, olive and chilli sauce. Dessert was pineapple accompanied by rice pudding.