We did do the 'Ho Hum' about whether we would stay in Mackay, as there didn't seem to be much information around on tourist attractions and nothing much on the web.  But we decided that it was a bit further than we wanted to travel in a day to Rockhampton, so we would stay 2 nights in Mackay.  After the midgies in Airlie Beach we searched the web for a park on the coast and found the one at 'Blacks Beach', which had pretty good reviews on Trip Advisor.  Very pleased with our CP choice.  It is about 14kms from the town centre and has beach frontage.  Not a very big park and they are in the process of putting in a new swimming pool.  We went for a walk along the beach this morning and there are some lovely homes built right on the edge of the ocean.  Large rocks have been placed all along the top of the beach.  Why can't that be done at Drummonds?  Yesterday I found a hairdresser to tidy up my caravan hair!  Peter filled in the extra time he needed to 'hang about', with a massage.  Doesn't seem to be getting his seniors discount though Bill!  Today we packed our lunch and decided to see what we could find of interest in Mackay.   Peter's comment later this afternoon was "We could have given this town a miss"!  But I did get a good haircut!  The population is supposed to be 120,000 but it doesn't seem that big.  We think when these figures were published it was of the whole Shire, not just the town.  Once again lots of money has been injected into a waterfront precinct.  In Mackay it is along the bank of the 'Pioneer River'.  If you walk the complete walkway you will have completed 15,000 steps.  We are seeing more and more emphasis on ways to encourage people to get those 'steps' happening each day.  When we went to the 'Botanical Gardens', there were similar signs on the walkways there.  The walks are part of the 'Bluewater Trail' and it provides a 'ring of activity' around 'Mackay's City Centre'.  The formal section of the 'Botanical Gardens' were okay, but nothing spectacular.  From there we went to the 'Orchid House' in the 'Queens Gardens' and missed out by a day, in seeing the towns annual four day orchid display.  The orchids that were there were still very nice.   Next year on the fourth weekend in September, Mackay will be hosting the 'Australian Orchid Display' if anyone is travelling this way then.  We went out to the Wharf and Marina area before lunch.  There was a lookout named 'Lambert's Lookout' that provided great views up and down the coast.  Peter had the binoculars out and counted 27 ships waiting to come into the harbour.  The 'Port of Hay Point' is one of the largest coal export ports in the world.  It comprises two coal export terminals, Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) and Hay Point Coal Terminal (HPCT).  Mackay is the most southern, Queensland sugar cane milling town and you are able to tour the mill in Mackay.   Mackay has been nicknamed 'The Sugar Capital of Australia' because the region produces a third of Australia's cane sugar.  We ate our lunch beside the 'Pioneer River' and it was obviously a popular spot for the town's workers to visit at lunchtime.  I walked down to investigate where a pathway lead to and what the structures were about and found that the area was called 'Sandfly Creek'.  Not sure that we would have stayed if we had known that the area was named as such!  We are still scratching our 'Airlie Beach Bites'! 

To complete our 'Mackay' experience we just happened to find 'The Best Place in the World to Have a Drink'!  Well that is what the sign said on the drive up to the 'Elmeo Pacific Hotel'.  We found that the sign wasn't telling lies!  Beautiful views from up there and the drink was good too!   Lots of photos of flowers in this blog.  Something very different!  26 photos