We spent 2 nights in Mackay on our way to Airlie Beach, this was 2 nights too long ! The caravan park was awful the worst we have stayed at. It was tiny and full of 'workers cabins' with fairly unsavoury looking tenants the sites were no more than just a patch of grass and dirt with no character what so ever. Couldn't wait to leave. Mackay had nothing to offer either although we didn't go to the beach which I believe is quite nice.
We weren't sure what to expect at Airlie Beach. One because we had never been that far north before and two because cyclone Debbie has hit Airlie Beach just 5 weeks
earlier. As we were approaching Airlie Beach from Proserpine we started seeing the damage, stripped & fallen trees littered the roadsides. There was a huge vacant block of land about 1 acre with mountains of 'mulch' about 2 stories high. This was from the fallen trees & branches that council and SES had mulched. Locals could deliver their garden debris free of charge. They could also collect the mulch to use to help rebuild their gardens. The caravan park was beautiful like a resort with an amazing lagoon pool, full of huge palm trees. A lot had been stripped of their leaves but there were still plenty with all their branches.Not too far from the park is Cedar Creek Falls a lovely waterfall with a swimming lagoon at the base. The water was freezing which didn't seem to bother the many European back packers that were swimming and jumping from the falls.
Airlie Beach main esplanade was a bit sad with their Major Lagoon pool fenced off & closed for
repairs & also quite a few of the restaurants & shops closed looking like they hadn't been touched since the cyclone. Locals told us they're still waiting for insurance claims to be approved.
A couple of guys Trent & Shane set up camp with a couple of swags across from our site. They were mates going on an extended fishing trip. They were very friendly and would ask what was for dinner when I would be cooking outside on the Weber. One night I was making pizza so I told them if they bought the ingredients they could cook their pizzas on our Weber (unfortunately I didn't have enough stuff for them). There was a Coles next door so they went over and bought everything they needed for their pizza's and they joined us for tea. We discovered they were the same age as Colin and Tim which amused them so they started calling us Mumsy and Dad. They had chartered a fishing
boat for the next day and invited us along but we preferred to eat fish rather than catch it we declined preferring to spend our day lazing by the pool. They returned late the next afternoon with a bounty of Coral Trout they had caught. Trent had filleted the fish & we had a beautiful meal of Coral Trout that night for dinner. It was easily the best fish I've ever eaten. As they were travelling light with just an esky they left us with the rest of the fish which we really appreciated. We really enjoyed meeting them & have stayed facebook friends.
We went for quite a few drives including Proserpine and neighbouring Shute Harbour which was very badly affected by the cyclone there were still yachts perched on the side of the road & three mast poles sticking out of the water at the wharf which looked very bazaar.
Next stop ....Townsville
