Stirling to Palm Cove Day 8

August 11th 2022

This morning is Amanda’s Birthday since we don’t have far to travel we can afford to relax a little. The unpacking and repacking on a daily basis is a bit of chore reminding us why we like to go somewhere and stay put for awhile. Mackay is about 333 kilometres north of Rockhampton situated on the Coral Sea at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. The town is best known as the sugar capital of Australia producing more than a third of Australia’s sugar. Once we hit the road about 9.00am the open land continues with cattle stations, then moves into denser forested areas giving hints of the rain forests further north. There are number of State Forest’s along our route, Aricia, Eugene, Mount Buffalo, Glencoe, Collaroy, Rosedale and Kelvin but Sugar cane slowly becomes the prominent feature of the landscape the further north we travel. Sugar trains with long runs of linked cages full of harvested sugar cane snake their way through the fields making their way to the local refinery. We turn towards the east at a town called St. Lawrence (Population 235) that takes us to Clairview (Population 145) for our first glimpse of the Coral Sea. From there we travel inland again until we reach Mackay, the road doesn’t follow the coast exactly but there are plenty of signs pointing the way to secluded beaches and camp sites at varying distances off to the east as we travel, no doubt local surfers and off roaders know these sites well. Cape Palmerston National Park has amazing beaches that stretch for kilometres but for caravaners and campers only, no luxury hotels in this neck of the woods. The road, known as the Bruce Highway is a busy one between the two towns of Rockhampton and Mackay. The traffic is thick with all types of caravans, winnebago’s and four wheel drives towing trailers and pop up vans, we even spot and old converted bus towing a trailer. The grey nomads and the young international travellers are all on the road heading north this morning. The huge road trains that keep the area stocked with all the essentials manufactured down south are also on the road making the going a lot slower than we have experienced over the past days. Never the less after a couple of comfort stops we arrive in Mackay around 1.30pm, after refuelling, (I’ve switched to 98 octane my fuel usage as dropped now averaging about 1000 kilometres a tank) we look for our accomodation at the MacKay Marina Village, we’ve splashed out for Amanda’s birthday with a room over looking the marina and the coral sea.

Before dinner we take a stroll along the beach walk that runs along the development here, the beach is pristine against the blue of the Coral Sea. At the Marina end their is a small village of restaurants and pubs to service the local inhabitants, Boaties, Yachties and tourists that stay in the area. Right at the very end is a lighthouse, a curiosity that local people thought well worth saving.

The prefabricated lighthouse came to be constructed in 1885 on Pine Islet in the Coral Sea and part of the Percy Isles some 120km east south east of Mackay. After the Eastern and Australian Company’s steamship ‘Normanby’, en-route from Hong Kong to Brisbane, ripped her hull open on the then unknown and uncharted rock now known as (Pine Islet).
The Manned lighthouse operated for just on a century until 27th August 1985 when, as part of the Federal Government’s policy of automation and unmanning, the kerosene powered light, the last in existence in Australia had its light extinguished, but not for good. After strong lobbying to retain the historic structure in the region by locals they had their reward when the Federal Department of Transport in December 1986 agreed to transport the lighthouse from Pine Islet to Mackay.
After a lot of effort by a wide range of groups and individuals, the restoration of the lighthouse to full operational status came to fruition in late 1995. Formally opened on 20th January, 1996, However new plans for developing the marina site meant the lighthouse could not be opened for public viewing in its then location and another relocation had to be affected. Finally the plans for the marina upgrade became public and the lighthouse had to be relocated. It was not until September 2002 that the lighthouse again moved intact to its present site and once again shone its beam again on 29th December, 2002.

Lighthouse Facts
The Tower: Dimensions: 35 feet (10.7 metres) in height
15’4″ (4.67 metres) base diameter
11′ 6″ (3.51 metres) diameter at balcony
Construction: Timber frame, wrapped externally with rivet jointed iron plates bolted to an iron bed plate secured to bedrock with 1½” bolts.
The Light: Originally an oil wick burner lamp using whale or vegetable oil, this was replaced in 1923 with a silk mantle type 55mm incandescent kerosene vapour burner.
700mm focal radius catadioptric revolving lens with four fixed sections and four flash panels.
The rotation mechanism is clockwork, wound every two hours.
Power: Fixed White 22,000 candle power and Flash 209,000 candle power. Visibility: 21 Miles.
Significance: Pine Islet Lighthouse was the last operational kerosene light in Australia.

As we walk back to our hotel we notice the yachts in the marina, one stands out from all the others with the mast the tallest in the marina. On closer inspection we see it is the 100′ Super Maxi Black Jack that gained line honours the Sydney to Hobart Yacht raise in 2017.

We have finally reached the Coral coast and tomorrow we travel further north to Townsville for a two night stay, we will catch up with some friends also travelling north by caravan via a different route and go on a whale watching expedition. Stay tuned.