Day 208
Monday
24 July 2017
Mackay
We were awake with the sun this morning, so I took advantage
of the time and stayed in bed reading my book until 8am, when we both got out
and busy. I didn’t bother with breakfast, as we were heading for a dim sum.
After a shower and a phone call to Ballsy for his 50th Birthday, we were on our way to town.
I set the new GPS to give us our directions and w made our
way to the centre of town, parked and began walking. It was only 9.30am and we figured
the restaurant wouldn’t open until 10am.
We walked down the main street admiring the art deco
architecture present, it gave an arty feel to the town and with their public
art works, it was quite a pleasant streetscape.
We made our way to Sam’s Singapore restaurant only to find it
didn’t open until 10.30am, so a further 30min of walking around the streets was
in order. We did notice that many of the pubs in town had a strong following of
patrons out the front, just waiting for the doors to open, so they could begin
guzzling the beers and sit at the pokies for hours, a bit sad really.
We managed to walk away the 30min and returned to the
restaurant just as they were setting up. We made our selves at home as we
waited to be served, then it was a wait for the food to be produced. It wasn’t
your usual dim sum house with no carts, everything cooked after it was ordered,
as a result our meal took forever and I ate ravenously, seeing I had skipped
breakfast. I was however, happily full by the time we were done.
We returned to the car and drove out to the Mackay Marina
precinct. We watched a ferry being lowered into the water from a yellow, sling
crane just waiting for it to go kersplash, but it was lowered without a hitch.
Paul was desperate for a drink as is usually the case after
a dim sum, so we did a quick pit stop for a beer at Sails, admiring the
basketball paraphernalia they had displayed on the wall.
We completed a lap of the marina, before returning to the
car and driving out on the sea wall that contained the marina. Paul was
interested in finding a place to fish should he feel inclined at sometime. We
continued our drive to the northern beaches stopping at Blacks Beach first. We
walked the sandy hill to where we could see, the water was murky and not
inviting like Airlie Beach. The boards at the start of the path mention sea
turtles using the area, but we saw none.
We also checked out Eimeo Beach, where we had to drive Mango
Ave, a heritage listed street that is lined with massive 80 year old mango
trees. The esplanade was a little easier to navigate hear with a path and
grassed area. We then moved on to Dolphin Heads, but there wasn’t much to take
in at this spot.
Having had our beach fix, we returned to the caravan park,
where we set about finishing our cleaning of the van. It was certainly better
for it, but some marks just would not budge. Of course once the van was cleaned
we had to do the car as well. We had them both sparkling. Probably won’t be
done again until we get home.
I spent some time going through the photos for the day while
Paul read and then at 4pm we decided to head out for a walk around the
Botanical Gardens. Another van resident had told us this morning he had seen a
platypus yesterday and I was eager to try a catch a glimpse myself.
We began our walk looking out from the observation decks of
the wetland area below, but saw nothing, we then walked the myriad of paths
along the edge of the wetland and then up through the gardens. Paul rang Errol
to get a bike update as we wandered.
We returned to the viewing deck, but again saw no sign of
platypus below. We walked the path in the opposite direction before doubling
back and returning to the car and then home.
We decided to stop in for afternoon drinks with Bob and Ivy
from Jurien Bay. They needed their CB checked, which we did for them and then
we settled in to swap stories as we enjoyed our chosen beverages.
By the time it was dark, it was time to say goodnight and
head back to the van to organise dinner before settling in for the evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment