Mackay and Kinka Beach

Mackay was much bigger than we thought with plenty to do (as long as you don't want to go for a swim)! We soon got a look at the town centre which is quite old and starting to become overtaken by the massive shopping centre in another part of the town. We had to drop Mel off at the airport who unfortunately lost her Pop "Ronald Thomas" early in the week and was flying back to Sydney, then on to Wollongong to deliver the eulogy at his funeral. So the next 3 days Dad was chief entertainer, chef, taxi, teacher, timekeeper, swing pusher, dish washer, bike fixer, hook baiter and sook squasher! But to their credit the kids were awesome for the whole time! 

Not happy about the Lagoon being closed for maintenance

The rest of that day we had the task of picking out a new bike for Cammo to replace "speed", doing the groceries and finding our way out of the shopping centre! That is normally Mel's job! Separating the kids into different beds worked a treat as Dad, watched the footy, had a few mid strengths and built the new bike swallowing plenty of bugs courtesy of the swamp out the back of the van park. 

The next morning Glenno, Taylah and Cammo went on a big ride. Mackay has an excellent loop of the city, probably about 25km all up but we rode from the awesome 3 tiered blue water lagoon (closed for maintenance) to the botanical gardens and back, along the river, probably covering over 10km. The kids were tired but not tired enough for an hour at the park before lunch at the shopping centre where dad made them eat something different than nuggets and chips. Taylah was really good at catching up on a lot of homework in Mackay, spending most of what was left of that afternoon writing in her journal, and doing online 'mathletics' and 'reading eggs' while Cammo, you guessed it, rode his bike around the van park. Speaking of the van park, we stayed at the big 4 (only because we were members) and were told that the new pool and splash park would hopefully be opening on Monday (2 days time), but it was nowhere near finished and probably won't be open for weeks. However, it was being renovated and will probably look great in a few years, but still has a long way to go. The new 9 hole putt putt course was good fun however (for 10 minutes!), enough time for Cammo to learn how to NOT use his feet to kick the ball into the hole.

Cam's new bike "Dragon" on our big ride

Watching turtles in the Botanical gardens

The next day, Great Poppy's funeral day, we did what Ron would want us to do and went fishing off the old bridge that once was the Bruce highway over the Pioneer river. He would not be happy to know that we didn't catch anything but he would be happy to know that Taylah showed great patience and persistence, and even had a go at casting the line out. Cammo lasted 5 minutes and was throwing rocks and jumping over imaginary spider webs. We did get plenty of bites though which kept Taylah interested. Then we went to another skate park which was a little too big for our novice kids, and too dirty, grotty and badly graffitied. 

I took this shot within the 5 minutes Cam was sitting down

In the afternoon we got out the boogie boards and checked out Mackay beach, which was deserted apart from a couple of topless sun bakers and one other family obviously also from Victoria (because they were swimming). The kids caught a couple of nice waves and then had a go at standing on the boogie boards until they got knocked over! Unfortunately due to low tide the water was too far away from the topless sun bakers for Dad to get a good look!

Shallow Water surfing at Mackay Beach

The next morning we went to a great park at the Mackay Marina, obviously there to keep all of the hotel guests and their kids happy if they weren't out on the water in one of the 1000 boats in the harbour. We picked up Mum from the airport after lunch, the kids couldn't control themselves running through the "no entry" sign to giver her big hugs! We spent most of the afternoon showing mum all the things we had done over the last 3 days and giving her a quick tour of Mackay, now that we were locals!

At the Marina Park

Hooray!!! Mummy is back!

Our next stop was "Coolwaters Holiday Park" Kinka beach, about 4 hours from Mackay. Nestled between two very rich and thriving towns of Yeppoon and Emu Park. The van park was another of what we are calling "super parks" which means to a child they have an in built water park and awesome facilities and totally worth the extra $15-20. A small price to pay for entertaining kids while adults relax, or join them on the slides, to tire them out enough so they fall asleep straight away. We got there too late for the splash park and slides to be open but the kids still had a swim (too cold for the adults). In the morning we investigated the beaches close by which were a little disappointing, not to look at but no waves and a long walk doesn't look that inviting. We strolled along the Main Street of Yeppoon and were amazed by how big, modern and thriving it was. After much nagging from the kids we spent most of the afternoon at the slides and splash park, a few beers and wines with Jim and Cheryl, a couple we sat with on our Big Fury boat trip, then a late dinner and settled in to the slow regular tunes of the fat bloke next door snoring all night.

Kinka Beach, Bruce and Great Keppel Island in the background

The superpark pool

The superpark slides and splashpark

TIP: Ear plugs! 

When asking for a caravan powered site with children, do so at your peril. In our experience this has worked both ways, sometimes they give you the ones with the most room, away from everyone, but sometimes they give you the one near all the permanent bogans and Mel has been fantastic in getting drawn into a conversation with all of them!!!

Having lunch at Gladstone Marina