Day 68 Saturday, 16/7/2016, Mackay, Oh Lord the sun is shining…briefly 21 degrees

We wake to the sound of silence, no relentless drumming on the roof. It rained for 36 hours.

Lunch is at the Austral Hotel downtown with the Sugar City Pioneers. A great lunch, nice pub and good company. We laughed and chatted for hours and then a cake was produced for Woody’s birthday. How nice is that?

To finish off F & L who are in the underground coal mining industry took us out to Hay Point coal loading wharf which is one of the largest in the world. Loading 130million tonnes of coal onto 900 ships annually. The wharves stretch almost four kilometres out to sea and the ships were only just visible in the mist. Back in town we went up two lookouts to get a good perspective of the city and even drove along a road named in honour of F’s Dad. Mackay harbour also has a sugar loading wharf.

What a day and the rain tried its best to hold off. We are going to have to work very hard to pay these guys back when next they visit Melbourne.

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