Mackay

We spent our first afternoon in Mackay exploring the beach at low tide. We walked for a few hours, sunk in quicksand up to our calves, found a wheelbarrow rusting in a tidepool and saw about a thousand tiny blue crabs scuttling en masse across the flats.

Matt saw a stick poking up out of the ground about 10 inches. When he pulled it out it was this long!

We planned to walk across to an offshore island the next day, until we found out it's 7k off the coast and the sandbar doesn't go all the way across at low tide. Oh well!

Stingray imprint

A few blue crabs

Matt warned us about all the potentially threats to our health as we walked. He warned us not to step in stingray-shaped holes, because every now and then the stingray has sunk below the surface to wait for the tide. We found lots of vaguely stingray-shaped holes in the sand, but a few were very clear with tails and everything.




I wandered the town while Sam and Matt tried fishing at the marina. Mackay's not very big, but I enjoyed the time to myself after being in a car with two guys for a few days.



We camped on the beach our first night in town, and on our second night we were invited to shower and sleep at a CouchSurfer's house. The hot shower was much appreciated after camping for 4 days!