Backpackers Deluxe

We headed off about 9am, destination MacKay with a quick stop at Yeppoon which is only just down the coast from Emu Bay, in fact if we hadn’t have liked Emu Bay we intended to drive to Yeppoon yesterday to stay. It’s a nice stretch of beach and a very nice compact little backpackers town with much more going on than Emu Park so if you want more people around this is the place to be.

We headed off to Clairview because Claire thought it was named after her but on the way I saw a Koala bear in a tree but there was nowhere to stop and take a picture. When we got to Clairview we couldn’t even find a shop, just houses all along the beach but pretty with all the mangroves in the sea and islands in the distance. We stopped in one of the towns on route where I had my first ever Subway; in fact we were both Subway virgins before today.

We finally arrived at MacKay but we didn’t like that either, it’s just an inland town so again we headed off to the next place that was circled on the map called Seaforth. Again another pretty beach but only one place to stay and nowhere to go for a drink or something to eat unless you bought one of Mrs MacKay’s famous beef pies from the post office. It is more of a camping place for families where you bring your own supplies.

Again we headed off to Midgeton, Lethebrook and Proserpine and none of them met our needs. By this time we were only 26km from Airlie Beach so decided to see if we could check in early at the Backpackers. Luckily for us our deluxe room was available immediately so we checked in and checked out our room. I drove the car up to the room to make it easier to unload and Toby from reception walked past as I was just about to take the car back to the car park when we heard Claire scream from within. Toby and friend looked at each other as if there had been a murder but I said, don’t worry, it’s probably and insect or something. Claire came running out because a lizard had gone behind our fridge. In actual fact the photo’s of our accommodation on this occasion look better than the actual. It does have facilities and is large but a bit on the squalor side. If we tried to let a place out in this condition in MK it would have to be on Fishermead and priced low.

We caught the free bus into town which goes every 45 minutes and our driver was Patrick from St Neots doing his final year of his Chemical Engineering course in Brisbane. Apparently you can swap your final year which is a great idea. He only started the driving job yesterday but loved it. We found a bar and were soon talking to Jean and Ronan from Dublin who was on their honeymoon. We ended up spending the evening with them and all shared a pizza together before retiring back to our deluxe cabin. Poor Ronan and Jean were caught up in all the snow back home for both the wedding and flight out so ended up paying an extra £2000 Irish pounds for a one way ticked out here. Good luck guys and enjoy the rest of your holiday!