Many backpackers drop $400 on 2-3 day Whitsunday sailing trips, but that seemed like a bit much to me, in terms of both expenditure and sailing time. Instead, I booked a $130 day trip on the Big Fury. As hinted by its name, the Big Fury is a beast of a vessel with four huge motors that propel the boat to speeds of 30kph. Avid readers of this blog may remember that I was rather rude about some of the boat staff on my Great Barrier Reef tour due to their penchant for unfunny jokes. The Big Fury shipman also enjoyed slotting jokes into his introductory speech, but with a big difference. Firstly, his presentation was extremely slick and wasn't held up by his witticisms. Secondly, he was actually funny. Very funny, in fact. His delivery was just comical and a few lines genuinely had me laughing out loud; while introducing the lifejackets he retorted "these were made for Australians by Australians so they are very easy to use" and after demonstrating the distress signal during his pre-snorkelling talk he commented "alternatively, ladies can wave their bikini tops in the air and I'll probably be there to rescue you a lot faster".
The tour was pleasingly no-nonsense and after leaving the jetty we immediately zoomed to Whitehaven Beach at full speed. The voyage there was all wind in hair and tropical islands and making new friends, but the arrival was even better. Whitehaven Beach really is paradise. The sand is unreasonably fine and white, the water turquoise and warm, the forest that backs onto it green and luscious, and the view of islands and boats lazily drifting over the calm sea is just dreamy. We were there for two hours, which was enough time for lunch, a short walk to a viewpoint, and some lounging on the beach. Upon re-boarding the Big Fury there was a 'it won't get any better than this' feeling amongst all the passengers and I was tempted to leave my wallet there so I would have to go back for it. In the afternoon we went snorkelling in the reef and then took a different but equally mesmerising route back to the marina. How would I follow up a day like that?
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When travelling and in life in general I like to get 'off the beaten track'. But there is 'off the beaten track' and then there is Bridge Road, Mackay.
Most East Coast travellers don't bother stopping at Mackay, it has a nice lagoon pool a bit like the one at Cairns but besides that its a wholly unremarkable town. However, most backpackers don't have table tennis on their agenda. After dropping off my bags at the town's only hostel, I set off on the two mile walk to the table tennis club. The uninspiring streets of bland concrete houses, messy wires, ugly pylons, and auto repair businesses I walked along were in stark contrast to the scenery of the previous day. When I arrived at the spot I'd plugged into my phone I was certainly nowhere any backpacker had been before and neither was I at a table tennis club, there were just houses and a hockey pitch. Checking the address again, I realised I put the wrong location on Bridge Road into my phone and was still over a mile away from the club. And that was how on a muggy Thursday afternoon I found myself walking between East Mackay and South Mackay along the grass verge next to the busy Bridge Road, with empty sports fields to one side and the runways of Mackay Airport on the other.
Mackay Table Tennis Club was locked and deserted when I eventually arrived. Fifteen minutes of traffic watching later I was beginning to feel like a bit of an idiot. It was all worth it though, as soon the other players arrived and it turned out to be most enjoyable stop on my table tennis tour so far. At another facility of jaw-dropping quality (11 tables!) I faced four opponents and came away with a 50:50 record, my defeat at the hands of an Under-13 girl made more savoury when I learned that she was number four in Australia for her age group. They were a cordial lot and the many games of doubles we played at the end were great fun. At twilight, I walked the 1.7 miles back to the hostel to the deafening noise of birds roosting in palm trees.
In a way, I needed that drastically unscenic five mile circular walk around Mackay. From Cairns to Mission Beach to Magnetic Island to The Whitsundays, I was going from one stunning tropical location to another, ending with yesterday's excursion to one of the nicest places I have ever been. To walk around the normal parts of a normal town was a timely reminder that most places aren't so special, especially the places where most people live. It was a hit of the reset button and on Saturday I will arrive in the coastal glory of Agnes Water ready to fully appreciate it.
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| Is this picture of The Whitsundays or Mackay? I'll let you work that one out. |
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