Alara Plaza Motel Mackay

... one had low trees the other was full. A pub at Walkerston 11 km West of Mackay offered a camp at the back of the pub, but we couldn’t find the pub, so now we are beginning to get into trouble, it looked like we would be camping on the side of the road somewhere. We passed a guy working on his motorhome and asked him if there was any free camps around, he pointed us in the direction of Kinchant Dam. On ...

Hi to all,

Sadly we are on our way home and our trip is coming to a close, but the Queensland coastline has refreshed us a quite a lot. We have arrived in Mackay just north of the city at an excellent little caravan park right on Blacks beach. The tiny caravan park is home to some very large paperbark trees that shaded the entire front of the park and the pristine beach was only 100 steps or so from our caravan. You wouldn't believe it, two caravans down from us were a family we ...

... of season so we didn't get to sample any:O( Now, was I stretching in the picture or trying to hold the thing up ??

... single beds (ie not bunks - no headbumping or people stepping on your feet in the night!) with proper bedding, air conditioning, and mini fridges to keep drinks cold in your room. The showers and toilets could do with a bit of a refit, but they're clean, if a bit old. The only downside is there's no window in this room, because it's in the centre of the building, so it's just four tiny skylights, but they let in a decent amount of light. So it's all good.

... few drinks one of the women wanted us to stay on her boat, her husband was having none of it. We met Rosco from Moscow here, he was some character. It was one big strange experience, but very funny. In fairness to all the people we met, they could not have been nicer. We followed the directions to where we were to sleep but could not find it. We ended up heading back into town and parking around the back of a petrol station. Free camping was by now becoming a bit of a pain.

... cheap and we fitted in pretty well. A walk into town revealed another free lagoon next to the river (really good idea these free lagoon's). It wasn't as good as Airlie's but it was still big and had a small slide. We abused this later. We had a wander into town first and realised everything was shut as it was Sunday. What scared us the most was that the pubs shut on Sunday's too here!!! All down the main street ...

... closest to town, and I thought it would be nice to be able to leave the van all set up and just walk rather than packing everything up. It still ended up being a walk in, that's why we took the bus on the way back! heh heh) Mackay only has like 2 buildings over 2 stories and lots of shops and restaurants. They have a really nice river that runs along one side of town and looks really refreshing (totally wanted to jump in!) and no sign of crocodiles! And a nice walkway ...

Once again, I apologize for being so infrequent with my updates. A lot happens in a month, even when you're predominantly settled! Well, last time I wrote I was happily settled into my little village of Avalon. I liked my job, was saving up money, making friends...life was good. Then came the trip up to the Gold Coast to visit the Canadian, Josh, whom I travelled with in New Zealand. I was excited to get out and see more of Australia. The trip ...

Hi everyone, \We're way behind on map and pin entries now - it's the cost - Oz is like the UK. We've also been out a lot too :-). We've had the camper van for 2 weeks now (Ames calls it Norman?!) and all is going well. It's pretty comfy inside and we just cruise along at around 90 (km!). We've come about 2300km south so far (I'm writing from Noosa). Most ...

... views north and south. We saw 2 snakes both were about a metre in length and olive in colour (Ryan nearly stood on the second one was he was in front). Cape Hillsborough is a lovely place to visit. It is a glorious day yet again with the a gentle seabreeze keep everything very comfortable. Dinner, you guess it, a bbq. Statistics/Information Weather: Wonderful; 25 degrees with slight breeze No expenses today Camping: Free