Camilla Beach/Mackay
Trip Start
Mar 09, 2008
1
30
43
Trip End
Dec 10, 2008
Mackay,
Queensland,
Australia
Monday, June 23, 2008
4:43 pm
Sitting on the floor of the van in Central Tourist Park, Mackay
We did our (much needed ) laundry after our excellent camping experience on Clairview Beach (between Rockhampton and Mackay along the main Bruce Hwy). A free camping site in Camilla Beach, provided by the Clairveiw Shire right on the BEACH!! It was great and we now know that we can go 3 days without power, no problem at all! (it was a beautiful place! We drove down a sandy road, that went on for about 2 or 3 kilometers, and it was ALL free campsites! Alot of the little roads in from the sandy track were really deep with sand so we had to pick a spot that was a little more hard packed. But the area was gorgeous! All of the sites were beachfront, some with no trees in the way and some with a few
Watching Keir Fish
. All of them had firepits too. The beach was awesome! At low tide it was all just sand flats, probably something like a kilometer out, we walked along them after fishing one evening. It was like a spa treatment for our feet! Another clay mask treatment please! We had a fire everynight, which was a treat. Not very many places allow open fires, as it is so dry. One night, I think it was our last night there, we saw the most beautiful moonrise! Huge moon and very orange, but the coolest thing was that the reflection was on the sand flats. It looked like a staircase to the moon. I think so far this place was the coolest! It was free, on the beach, it didn't rain, had a firepit, not too busy, and exactly what we have been looking for!!!!)Now we are in Mackay. We walked into town today and experienced our first bus ride in Australia.(if you give them a bill they'll give you change!!! AND every stop is a different price! ) It is a really quaint town, it reminded us both of Kelowna for some reason. ( Unfortunatly, We were staying in the ghetto...my fault. I chose the caravan park, because the brochure said it was the 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 that went along it. (And the icing on the cake was when Erik called us!! Yay!)
We went out for lunch today for the first time as well, not a fancy place at all, Subway to be exact, and today is Meatball Monday, so for under $10 we both ate our fill :)(our first eating out and we ended up at subway...hmmm, backpacker budget I guess.)
Tonight, after a bit of a snack we are going to see the new Indiana Jones movie at the cinema, we are both looking forward to a little entertainment
Keir fishing
! (a treat!! We deserve it!)(I didn't know where else to put this but there was a small little creek just by our campground that we walked over, and there were a whole bunch of turtles! I can't remember ever seeing so many before in the wild. It was a bit sad though, as they were covered in green swampy guck, but I guess they still looked happy! Turtles are cool! Can't wait to see them in the Whitsundays!!)
Hope everyone is doing just great!
Miss you all,
Keir and Kylie
