Mackay: catching up with relatives.

The last article was written by Rod.

...a writer I am not...so you will have to put up with an abridged account.

After a week in the bush in the Clermont goldfields, minus any nuggets for our fossicking efforts, we headed to the coast to Mackay to visit Rod's brother, Kim, and sister-in-law,Tracey.

On route we camped overnight in a lovely little spot called Eton, about 40 minutes out from Mackay on the Peak Downs Highway.The campsite we had selected in the dark turned out to be the local recreation grounds (we left early the next morning before the local sports heroes arrived).

We arrived on the Sunday of the Queen's Birthday long weekend and spent a very relaxing 3 days with them...doing a bit of sightseeing and generally couch potatoeing.

Mackay is quite a modern looking city and, surprisingly, was quite cool at night...even for southerner's like us.

On the way to Hay Point coal loading facility, south of Mackay, I saw my very first black cockatoos (not called that I'm told.. there's that bird thing again). After chasing them all the way down the road they finally allowed us close enough for a few photos (taken by Rod).

Hay Point Services: operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Has two berths, one loads 4,000 tonnes per hour and the other 6,000 tonnes per hour. The facility has over 20 kilometres of conveyor belts.