7th July 2026: awoke in Airlie beach caravan park to gentle steady rain. The curlews stood very still all around our van, unperturbed by the rain. We set off to head to Proserpine-much more as I remembered it when I spent the night on Proserpine railway station some 50 years ago! Queensland weatherboard simple housing still prevails.

We then continued down the Bruce Highway - single lane with overtaking lanes at regular intervals-to Mackay where we drove into the city and walked around to get the feel of the place. 

Nic then wanted to visit the Hay Point lookout to see the huge coal loading facility operated by the Qld government The road up to the viewing are had a > 20% gradient so we were forbidden from taking the caravan up, so we walked! There were 2 wharves one is 1.8 km out to sea and the other is 3.85km long!!this is the largest metallurgical quality iron ore facility in the world ( suitable for steel making)

We then drove as close as we could get to the facility before returning to the Bruce Highway once again through many many sugar cane plantations till we came to the Cape Palmerston turn off. We secured a non powered site at the Cape Palmerston Holiday Park, bordering on bush through which we took a 100 meter walk to the deserted beach, just as the sun was about to set. We walked along the beach almost to the end in one direction.

As soon as we arrived we had set up Starlink so that we could wish our granddaughter Frances a happy 3rd birthday!

I cooked a pasta dish with onions, celery, corn, tinned salmon in a cheese sauce for our dinner. 

Proserpine Railway Station unchanged in 50 years
Fish bone sculpture in Mackay representing maritime interests and Yawi people being great fishermen 









?? Cotton Pygmy goose- really a duck!







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