The Tale of Three Ladies in Mackay

I couldn't think of a better way to escape from good ol' George Roberts than a friendly visit to Mackay. Mackay is located about 4.5 hours south of Townsville, but it ended up being a 7 hour bus ride on the way there, no worries. Brittany, Sam, and I all decided to take some time off from study and uni in general to explore some place new. Our time is dwindling here and I still hadn't experienced a true Australian household. Our friend Katee was returning home for the study vacation and she was more than happy to welcome us into her home for a few days. And so it begins...

The last day of classes was Friday, May 29 and we left for Mackay that following Wednesday, June 3. Wednesday was also the infamous start of the State of Origin in Rugby league!! We sure as hell didn't want to miss that so we arrived in Mackay just in time to catch the game on the tele. It's the biggest game of the year and it is Queensland vs. New South Wales. There are a total of three games; first was in Melbourne, 2nd-Sydney (I will be there when it occurs!), and the 3rd-Brizzy. Queensland won the first game! Nothing like cheering for the winning team! It was a nice relaxing night with Katee and her boyfriend, Kai. While we were watching the game, he taught us a thing or two about the history of the game, which was actually really interesting.

The next day we were able to meet her parents, Carol and Ray. They are such funny people and they treated us as if we were their own children. They cooked us beautiful meals while we were there including lamb roast, chicken snitzle, burgers, sausages, veggies, bread, potatoes, and deserts galore! Anything is better than the food here, nasty, but it was a feast every night! More on these precious parents later!


Thursday

Katee took some time off from her study and decided to do a little beach hopping with us to show us around Mackay! The first beach we went to was Dolphin Heads beach. It was gorgeous with big rocks scattered on the shore and soft sand. We did in fact see three American guys on the beach with buggie smugglers on (speedos in the US), one even had an American flag on it. Of course, I got a great photo of it. It was actually kind of embarrassing for all Americans. Next we headed to Blacks Beach. This beach was pretty much gigantic with nothing but sand for ages. This is where the war started. It started with innocent splashing and it ended with me in the ocean. I got dumped in by the three of them, but it was actually quite nice after I got over the shock of it. Good old fashioned fun never hurt anyone. Next was the scenic lookout over Lambardts Beach. This looked similar to California rocky coastline. It was a beautiful beach surrounded by large rocky cliffs. We took some cool pictures that looked like we were jumping off the cliff, no worries, just a photo. We decided after an eventful day, we would end it with watching the sunset at Kai's farm. He has horses, a cockatoo that talks, dogs and cats galore, and a beautiful view of the mountains. Overall, it was just a day for us girls, and I loved every second of it.



Friday

We were worn out from the day before and decided to sleep in for a bit the next day. I woke up to find approximately 30 mozzy bites (mosquitoes, blah) all over my legs. Kai's farm was lovely, but now I was hurtin'. I could not stop itching! They were swelling up like tumors everywhere and I kept getting bitten no matter what I did. I am just that sweet, I guess. Sucks to be me. We stayed in most of the day to get some work done, and we took a nice stroll to the beach that night to watch the sunset. It's only a 5 minute walk from her house and it's such a beautiful view of the surrounding islands. All of us were enjoying ourselves when I could see about 20 mozzies flying around my head and biting me everywhere! We proceeded to run all the way back to Katee's with everyone stearing clear of me and the swarm of bugs I had trailing me! What a terrible curse I have. Once we were safe back in the house, we had dinner, and Carol and Ray put us up to the "pyramid" challenge. We had no idea what it was, but we were willing to try it. They brought out all of these mind games for us to play, and of course they all took me about 20 minutes to complete. The pyramid consisted of two yellow pieces that you had to put together to make a simple pyramid...not so simple. Brittany did it in 5 minutes, it took me forever. It was a really fun night. Her parents loved seeing us suffer through all of the challenges, but it made for a lot of laughs. I decided after the first challenge it was time for drinks, so we headed for the rum and coke and margaritas. Perfect solution to feeling temporarily incompetent.


Saturday

Since we always have to wake up early at uni, it was yet another day of sleeping in. Katee then brought us to the Mackay Harbor and showed us around the Blue Lagoons, which is a free public water park with two or three pools and water slides that over look the river. We had fresh prawns for lunch that Kai's dad caught the day before and they were gorgeous! After our feed, we hung out for awhile until dinner and that was when we had our BBQ! Ray and Carol cooked us everything imaginable and even taught us how to make damper. It is traditionally done in the outback over an open fire and you basically mix flour and water, mold it to a stick, and cook until it's done. You remove the bread by twisting it and then you fill it with golden syrup and let it soak into the middle. Then you enjoy! We then taught them how to make s'mores. It was a great last night in Mackay. Before bed, Carol and Ray insisted we watch a classic family Aussie film, The Castle. It was a funny movie that everyone should watch once in their lifetime, at least. A pillow fight with Ray and Kai is really what ended the night, they resorted to throwing couch cushions! Good family fun.


Sunday

The day had come where we had to shove off to uni in order to study for exams. I really didn't want to leave, it was a nice relaxing vacation. Her parents were sad to see us go, but they enjoyed the going away/thank you gift we got them (three flowers for their garden and some Bailey's chocolates). It was a 4 hour journey home and the 4 girls made it a good time, of course. We listened to some tunage and stopped to get some local Bowen mango on the way!

A fun filled weekend that will never be forgotten. I only have three weeks left here, it's pretty hard to believe. Soon I will be off to Sydney, Fiji, and then back home. Hope you all continue to read my blog. I will still have plenty to tell you about! Love you guys. Gidday.