Today we wanted to explore the Mackay CBD and as a basis we used the Mackay Heritage Walk and Art Walk guides. In all the Mackay Heritage Walk guide lists 20 buildings which provide a good introduction to Mackay's architectural heritage. Despite being settled in 1862, many of Mackay's earliest buildings were destroyed in a devastating cyclone in 1918 and so several of the buildings are rebuilds from the 1930's Art Deco era. This makes the style of Mackay's CBD unique for a Queensland city. The Art Walk guide lists 22 art installations distributed around the CBD and nearby areas.

First we came across the Elton John mural which was commissioned when Elton John's tour visited Mackay in 2017 and is a tribute to his 1973 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road song and album. Back then streets were renamed in his honour, with concertgoers walking down Elton John Drive to get to the concert, while cake shops made Rocket Man cakes.

The Upon the Levee Wall is a 300m long mural which tells the story of Mackay's river port settlement from the early indigenous inhabitants to early European settlement, the arrival of South Sea Islander indentured labourers, other waves of migration, early industry through to modern-day Mackay.

We followed the Art Walk tour to the Artspace Mackay, Mackay's regional art gallery, in search of three of the art installations, but after viewing The Elemental Labyrinth at the gallery's entrance we decided to take a look inside. And what a great decision that was, with us finding it hosting the "On Yer Bike" exhibition. This consisted of a collection of 14 motorbikes, together with photos of the owner shown with their bike and a storyboard relating the owner's story. On one storyboard we learned that there used to be beach racing for motorbikes on Grasstree Beach, a beach we visited yesterday where we enjoyed an ice-cream and couldn't have imagined then racing motorbikes disturbing the idyllic view.

Adjacent to Artspace is the Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre and outside the Centre was where we found the last installation on our Art Walk itinerary. It was a collection of sculptures depicting local wildlife. Made from a Camphor Laurel tree removed from the local historic Greenmount Homestead, the collection consisted of a joey kangaroo, emu chick, sleeping wombat, cockatoo, fruit bat, lorikeets and possums, but apparently there was also a scrub fowl which we must have missed.

It had been an enjoyable day taking in some of Mackay's architectural heritage, art and culture, particularly as the wind had moderated and temperature was a comfortable 27°C. So it was back to the van after picking up a few groceries.

Dinner was pan fried crumbled whiting fillets with a Caesar salad followed by banana and ice-cream.