Australia: Airlie Beach to Sarina

We were really looking forward to heading over to the Whitsunday Islands while we were in the area, but unfortunately we had caught the tail end of a cyclone so it wasn't ideal weather for a beach trip. Instead, we spent a quick day in Airlie Beach, looking in the shops and spending some time at the lagoon.

The next big thing we wanted to do was watch kangaroos and wallabies feeding on the beach at sunrise at Cape Hillsborough National Park. There weren't any free camp sites near by, so we stayed at Bloomsbury BP rest area and woke up at 4am to make the hour's drive to Cape Hillsborough. It was worth the early start though - around 20 wallabies were spread across the beach and we were some of the first people to arrive. After about an hour, the wallabies started drifting off and it began to rain, so we headed back to the van and had a quick nap before getting back on the road.

Our next stop was Mackay for a couple of days, where we drove through Mango Avenue (a road lined by mango trees), headed up to Lambert's Lookout, explored Canelands Central Mall, and stayed for a few hours at Bluewater Lagoon - yet another free public swimming pool, this time with three pools, including a kid's fun pool with slides!

We ended up staying an extra night as we had seen posters for an Italian Street Party and wanted to see what it was like. We spent an hour or so wandering down the street and seeing all the various food stalls. There was also a stage set up, sponsored by local radio, where various acts would be playing across the evening, and we watched a couple ballroom dancing to song after song in the middle of the street - very impressive!

We made a quick stop in the small town of Sarina as we had heard that the tour of the Sugar Shed was highly recommended. As Queensland produces around 95% of Australia's sugar cane, we thought we should probably visit. It didn't disappoint! A small group of about six of us were shown into a small movie room where we watched a short video about the history of sugar cane farming and the process of making the sugar. We were then guided around various equipment outside and we learnt more about how the farming equipment and techniques had developed over the years, as well as the lives of the farmers. Next we were shown inside the building where the sugar was made and were told in more detail about each stage of the process. We also got to try some sugar cane juice; something we had been missing since leaving Asia. Our final part of the tour took us back into the movie room, but this time we got to try various spirits that were also made at the Sugar Shed, with some 'fairy floss' (candyfloss) to finish. We think the tour must have been overrunning slightly because we had barely finished each taster before we were being passed the next one! We decided it was probably a good idea to take a short walk through the town and grab a local pie for lunch before attempting to drive any further...