Prosperous Mackay Qld, and Clever Mr Fixit: Sunday, Monday 29, 30 July 2012

Our impression of Mackay is that it is a prosperous big town with evidence of coal mining causing this prosperity. The Central Caravan Park in Mackay where we stayed has lots of permanent mining residents there. This Park has a great camp kitchen area, huge, clean and well-equipped. And the bathroom area is the biggest we've seen on our trip so far; Dave took a photo of the mens, same as for the ladies. So many showers and dunnies to choose from! It's funny how varied the facilities at caravan parks are. Some have the thinnest toilet paper that makes you use ten times more paper, some have fancy facilities including wall-mounted hair dryers and paper towels. I don't care how old a caravan park is, so long as their facilities are clean, and most are nice and clean. I got a cranky upset email from the owner of the Park in Winton that I dobbed in to the local health inspector; too bad! No excuses for running a filthy dirty caravan park! I'm glad they have been made to clean their act up for us tourists.

For the first time on our trip we have seen lots of motorbikes around in Mackay, could the sunnier weather have something to do with this?

I was very impressed with Dave this Sunday morning at a big Bunnings store; he knows exactly what bits and pieces he has to buy in order to fix my fly-away bike pannier. My hero! Having been a manual arts trades teacher for 32 years has something to do with this. Anyway, my Moto Guzzi is now fully equipped with fixed bike panniers, strengthened bolts and to make sure, each pannier is held in place by tie-down strapping. If it wasn't for the terrible Queensland country mining roads full of potholes and patches, we wouldn't have to be doing the repairs!

We have enjoyed having a look around Mackay, though it's not the most touristy place. We did find motorcycle shops in abundance, and Dave now looks really spiffing in a brand new pair of black "bull- it"riding cargo jeans, with special safety linings. His old Kevlar cargo riding pants were tattered and he was looking like a beggar in them. He threw these in a rubbish bin after getting his new pants.

Even though we are in "the Sunshine State", it's still cold, though the sun is shining. We have been using our little electric fan heater in our tent at nights. I'm so glad I have taken my thermal gear along on this big Oz trip!

We even managed to find a couple of oriental supermarkets in Mackay with our favourite Chinese teas in one, and so we are now fully equipped to go travelling further northwards, next stop will be Airlie Beach and a boat tour of the Whitsunday Islands. And, hopefully, some warmer sunny weather!