About Mackay
Mackay was established in the 1860s and quickly became the centre of Queensland’s sugar industry. Fertile land along the Pioneer River proved ideal for sugar cane, and the region grew into one of Australia’s most important sugar-producing areas.
Today Mackay balances its agricultural roots with a modern coastal lifestyle. The marina and harbour bring visitors heading to the nearby islands and reef, while the city itself has a relaxed tropical feel. It’s a practical working town with palm trees — and still proudly known as Australia’s sugar capital. 🌴🌾
Credit: chatGPT
Our visit
Nikki vaguely remembers stopping off in Mackay on her journey up the east coast in the 80’s, but couldn’t remember much about it. Our hotel was basic, but comfy, the first room we have stayed in that didn’t have a balcony, and we headed out on arrival for a quick explore before dinner.
It was not long before Nikki proclaimed the place was a ‘dump’, and not at all the bustling town you read about. In part this may be because we are visiting in the low season, but there were numerous empty shops and closed restaurants and bars. We did find a nice bar though overlooking the Pioneer River, the Red Dog Riverfront, where we had a couple of cold schooners.
We opted for an Indian for dinner at aahaar, Steve had Vindaloo (of course he did), with Nikki opting for Chicken Tikka Masala, correctly described as being invented by the British and, to be fair, it was pretty good. Afterwards we went in search of an open pub, which per previous posts is not as easy as you would think.
The hotel receptionist had mentioned there was a very popular bar called the Austral Hotel, so we crossed our fingers and headed that way. We needn’t have worried, as on arrival we found out that it stopped serving drinks at 3am and closes at 5am, entirely due to the gaming room and ‘Pokies’ which you find in bars all over Australia. To say we were underwhelmed by the experience would be an understatement and we headed back for an early night, partly because there was a planned power outage the next day starting at 8am, and we didn’t fancy hefting Nikki’s large suitcase down 4 flights of stairs.
Hamish says ...
Mackay, from our brief visit, really did not seem to have much to offer. On this occasion, Steve was pleased we did not have another couple of days here, because we had scratched the surface and were not that keen on what we found!
What's next
We now head to Yeppoon which we are really looking forward to, and the home town of one of our friends Clay. It’s a long drive, just under 4 hours, so our early start puts us at an advantage and we will share the driving today as we return to head south on the A1.