From Mackay to Ayr

We left Mackay earlier than our nornal departure time and began our drive north to Ayr. There is. nothing special to report about the first stages of our day other than we drove through may kilometres of sugar cane fields. Occasionally we  crossed a narrow guage cane train line and saw some wagons loaded and ready to go to the mill.

We had a quick ,look at the town of Proserpine but thought we could explore more of it on our way back south in a few weeks.

Eventually, we took the turn off to Airlie Beach as we could remember a rather unique coffee shop that we had visited on our last trip up this way a couple of years ago. We couldn’t find it but we ended up parking in a car park in the centre of town and getting a takeaway coffee from one of the shops in the main street. 

I guess that once upon a tme this place was a quiet sea side village, but no more! The hillside of apartment buildings that you see as you enter the town is the first sign that this is a popular resort town. The main street was full of people, it was hard to find a parking place and there seemed to be crowds everywhere. After buying our coffee, we found the hotel where we last stayed and then headed out of town to get away from the overwhelming feeling of being crowded out. As we left, we found the coffee shop which was located on a different road than that on which we entered the town. We found a place near the marina to drink it and then decided to get out of the town as quickly as possibel.

I found a beach on the map some distance away called Dingo Beach and we drove the 30 odd kiloometres around to it. Where there is no sugar cane growing this area is used to raise beef cattle. 

Dingo Beach had some picnic tables right on the beachfront and we were able to have a relaxed picnic lunch using our own picnic supplies. We found a table next to a flagpole and plaque commemorating those who seved in Australia’s military. They must be a patriotic bunch in this area as quite a number of houses had the Australian flag flying near their gate.

We will have to refresh our picnic lunch supplies when we get to Cairns. We won’t need to make our breakfasts while there and we will surely be able to buy lunch when we are there.

Just near Dingo Beach was Hideaway Beach which provided some views across to a number of small islands.

We then set our GPS to take us further north to Bowen. We only stopped for a quick look at the town, as again, we have planned a two-night stay on our return drive. We look forward to exloring it then. It’s a charming old-style town in an area where the rest of the world has moved on. For complex reasons, the constant stream of travellers and backpackers heading north tends not to pause in Bowen. One survey found that only 6% of the one million travellers on the Bruce Highway turned off to go to Bowen. We did drive past one interesting old pub that had some character.

Just before reaching our stopping place at Ayr, we came across the little town of Home HIll. It’s located on the southern side of the Burdekin River, 12 km from Ayr. It has the most complete and gracious “Comfort Stop” we have ever seen. In a large building by the railway station the building offers toilets, hot showers, barbecue facilities and a parent’s room complete with free Wifi. I think that evey caravanner on the road had stopped there to yake advantage of these facilities.

The bridge to the south of Ayr on the Bruce Highway, known as the ‘Silver Link’, is over a kilometre long and since its construction in 1958 it has ensured that the town has not been cut off by the floods which occur on the Burdekin River most wet seasons. 

Originally, it was thought that the bridge could not be built in its present location. No trace of rock could be found on which to build the bridge foundations. In 1946, two Government engineers visited India to inspect a number of bridges built on sand foundations. The same technique was used for the Burdekin Bridge and it is the only bridge in Australia not built with a firm foothold.