On to Mackay

On October 27 we stopped in at beautiful Airlie Beach and spent the day swimming in the waterfront lagoon pool and admiring the sensational views of islands and sailing boats. In the late afternoon we continued south and camped at Halliday Bay, near Seaforth and the Cape Hillsborough National Park. The beaches were lined with paperbarks and coconut palms, and in the morning we saw the tracks of a nesting Sea Turtle along the sand. Our next stop was Mackay where we checked into a caravan park at Black's Beach that had been recommended to us. The "village life" at this park was quite busy with several families staying there and a number of permanent residents who worked on the coal mines. Mackay has become very expensive as there is a shortage of residential accommodation. Every day we walked along the beach several times, and Ashleigh and Hannah played with their new village friends. On Halloween the kids all dressed up and went 'trick or treating' around the park (many times). We are still ploughing through all the candy!