Our four days in Mackay seemed to pass quickly. We discovered we were in huge sugar cane growing area with ships coming into the port to load up with sugar or molasses. Also a little south of Mackay is an enormous coal loading facility where the ships are loaded out at sea by a conveyor belt system, hence all the ships anchored offshore waiting their turn to load – more than 30 of them.
We first caught up on some much needed sleep, then spent the weekend cleaning, then exploring the marina area on our bikes, then visiting some of the cafe’s and eateries. After the weekend we took the bus into the township of Mackay to restock our supplies. There were no real handy places to have our repairs done so on the Tuesday we refuelled SHAMAL and headed out to explore the southern Islands in the Whitsunday Group. Our first night was spent at St. Bees Is. We arrived just on dusk and anchored in a sheltered bay, well that was till the wind turned during the night and we woke early in the early hours of morning rocking and rolling about. At daylight we up anchor and moved on up to Shaw Is and dropped anchored in a lovely sheltered bay along with another seven boats. We took the tender ashore and explored the beautiful white sandy beaches. Next day it was on to Hamilton Is where we picked up a mooring and again went ashore. Hamilton Island is a resort Island with high rise buildings, restaurants, clubs, shops etc along with all the tourist things, and a million tourists!! We took the free bus around to have a quick look which dropped us off at the lookout. Here we had quite magnificent views looking down on the beaches and out over other Islands. It was a lovely evening with the sky turning a glorious shade of pink as the sun was setting. We walked back down the hill to the township and bought a takeaway meal and sat on the waterfront watching the day workers packing up and the night life begin.
Next morning we set sail for Airlie Beach sailing into Shute Bay on the way for a look. By 2.00pm we were on a mooring buoy just outside the Able Point Marina at Airlie Beach, kindly given to us by friends we have made from the Boat Shows we have done both in NZ and here in Oz. They own a Charter company here. We took the STB trampoline, which we blew in heavy seas just before we came in through the Barrier Reef, and the sail bag ashore to be repaired, hopefully we should have them back before the end of the week. Our other jobs will have to wait till we arrive in Townsville.
We have taken our bikes ashore and explored the local area – also to get some exercise. On Sunday Alec had us biking for miles checking out where the sail bag repair place was. We nearly crossed the State!! I was exhausted that night.
Yesterday we had the first bit of rain since arriving in Oz. It is much cooler here so we are looking forward to heading North after a visit to more of the Whitsunday Islands. It really is a cruisers paradise here with so many beautiful Islands and bays to visit. We will be heading out to the famous Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island next.
OK this is just a short note which I am sure you will be pleased about, so will sign out for the time being.
Love from the Admiral and the Captain
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