Judy & Brian Tour Oz

  Sarina Qld 9th August 2924 We were supposed to stay at Mackay, to be close to Parkrun in the morning. We had booked into Bakers Creek Caravan Park, but it turns out to be out the back of the industrial area, looked filthy, full of permanent camps and totally uninviting. Even I wouldn’t feel comfortable staying there. Other parks in Mackay demand a two night minimum, so our options were Sarina, 30km south or Rockhampton, way too far south. Fortunately Sarina had a spot left, so we booked that and headed out of town. We have stayed here a few times now. The van park is pleasant with a big grassy site for us. After some lunch we wandered out to Sarina Beach, where there is a nice hotel and a good view out over the ocean. Still a bit windy though and hard to spot whales with all the whitecaps. The park has a sausage sizzle on Fridays, so we went over for a hour, had a snag and a bit of old chat. The oddity of this place is that it has weird animal statues throughout the park: ele...

Sarina Qld Friday 26 August 2022 (225km) Just for the record, the roadworks stared at Bowen and ran for at least 50km, all posted at 60 kph whether they had started any actual work or not. Sarina was picked out as an overnighter on our way back down the coast, but the town is close enough to Mackay for me to go in and do a Parkrun. I've done this one before and its quite pleasant as it follows the lagoon round and through the Botanical Gardens. Not that you’ve go time to stop and admire, still trying to get back under 40 minutes. Made it in 42 mins flat, so its not so bad. After Parkrun (which starts at 7am in Qld) we normally find ourselves looking for breakfast before we drive back to our van. This time we ended up back in Sarina, the only place open for food was the restaurant at the Motel, which proved to be quite good. Sarina also has a lovely heritage precinct that includes museum and a Sugar Shed, which is attached to the very much operational sugar mills. They run tour...