As we arrived into Mackay last night, it seemed that every second building on the highway was a motel. Although not the same, it reminded me of ’The Strip’ of hotels along Highway 494 in Minneapolis. The place where we are staying just blended in to the continuous stretch of accommodation signs and we had to do a U-Turn and loop back again to reach it.
I’m thankful for having a non-driving day today. It gave us a chance to relax, get up late, catch up with a few pieces of laundry and give the car a wash. I have lost track of which weekday it is and I’m happy that it’s Sunday. It’s a good day for looking around the city with a lot less taffic and more parking places than on week days.
Our first stop of our sight seeing was at the Marina. Some of the most attractive new areas, and the city’s major play and entertainment areas are at Harbour Beach and the Mackay Marina. It has a mixture of industry and modern tropical living with a vast number of high rise apartment blocks being built over the last ten years. The breakwater is 1600 metres long and has been extended a number of times. It provides a good long view over the port and marina buildings.
The port here operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and extends over a large area under the direct control of the North Queensland Bulk Ports Organisation. The Mackay region is the largest sugar producing area in Australia, and the port hosts one of the world’s largest bulk sugar terminals. The region also supports the nearby Bowen Basin and Galilee Basin coalfields, which produce most of Queensland’s coal.
The nearby beach has a long stretch of golden sand, and judging by the distance to the water at the time that we visited, this area has rather large tides. I found some interestng patterns in the sand where water soaked from the sand into the water
The water looks idyllis until you see the warning signs reminding you that crocodiles are in the waters around here.
Of course, there are a number of similar historic buildings in this city as in other places that we have already visited. This building looks too small to be the Town Hall for such a large city. It was the Town Hall from 1912 until 1975 when it was replaced by the modern Mackay Civic Centre.
The Customs House was completed in 1902. It was built to collect interstate excise on the local rum production. The exterior and interior of the building are substantially as they were when constructed. Exterior features include the curved entrance colonnade, “roughcast” stucco panels, Queensland coat of arms and tuck pointed brickwork.
Around the corner from the police station is the courthouse. Although there have been some changes over time, the major buildings remain and include the police station, built as a court house in 1886, the current court house, built in 1938, and two brick police residences from 1936-7″.
Next to the courthouse is the old Commonwealth Bank building. It is now being renovated. It has large Doric columns on the ground floor with cast-iron columns and balustrades on the first floor. It is the oldest commercial building in Mackay and was constructed in 1880 for the Australian Joint Stock Bank. It is a typical bank of the era. That was the time when the bank manager was an important member of the community and banks actually provided customer service.
On our way to the supermarket to top up a few of our lunch and breakfast supplies, we stopped at the botanical gardens. These gardens showcase the tropical flora from Mackay and the Whitsunday Islands, along with other beautiful Australian native and exotic plants from similar climates around the world. They are fairly new – only opening in 2003. They have three kilometres of walking and cycling trails, wetland boardwalks, and a cafe and gallery that is perched high above the wildlife filled lagoons.
Definitely changed since my days there.