Mackay to Bundaberg.

We left Airlie Beach and headed on down to Mackay which really is not a touristy place but had a very good sports club which did a mean chilli and mango crab. We went to the Eungella National Park on a hunt to find platypuses. We started at Finch Hatton Gorge where we visited the Araluen Falls and then on to the Eungella Township where we were nearly guaranteed to see platypuses but they must have been on holiday when we got there. Not one to be seen although there were plenty of turtles and bird life. It was then down to Yeppoon and Emu Park on the coast and then inland to Rockhampton. Rockhampton is the beef capital of Australia and has concrete bulls dotted around the town. It also is the eastern coast start to the tropics. It has a beautiful botanical garden but not a lot else. Our next stop was at the town of 1770 where James Cook first landed in Queensland in 1770 hence the name. We were going to do a trip to Lady Musgrave Island for some more snorkelling but the boat was full and we didn’t really want to stay another night so we carried on down to Bundaberg. Just east of Bundaberg is Mon Repos beach and Turtle rookery. We (actually I) thought that it would be wonderful to see the loggerhead turtles either laying their eggs or hatching and running to the ocean. It was a long night but eventually we were taken down to the beach to see a nest that had already hatched but they had held back some baby turtles so we could have a look and watch them run to the sea. They are so cute but they only have a 1 in 1000 chance of making it to adulthood and returning to breed themselves. We had a look round Bundaberg but didn’t get to the distillery where they make the Bundaberg rum.