Mackay

Watch the sun rise over the east coast of Australia and share the sand with a mob of macropods at Cape Hillsborough beach.

Each morning, like clockwork, the kangaroos and wallabies who retire to the neighbouring national park by day, come to the shoreline for a seedpod breakfast served by mother nature. An early start will afford you time to spend the day wandering Mackay’s CBD, charmingly decorated with 1920s architecture and public artworks.

Alternatively, replace Mackay’s concrete jungle with a real one, driving inland for subtropical rainforest that lives up to its name: Eungella, meaning “a land in the clouds”. Rising 800m above sea level from the Pioneer Valley’s lush lowlands, Eungella National Park’s peaks are constantly kissed by clouds, guaranteeing a temperature change between Mackay and the top of this mountain range.

Swap Cape Hillsborough’s wallabies for another famous Australian native, visiting the platypus capital of Queensland, Broken River, where these billed mammals can be seen duck-diving in its billabongs at dawn and dusk. Fill your camera with foliage photos and take a walk on Mackay’s wild side at Finch Hatton Gorge, home to ancient rainforest and cascading waterfalls, before returning to the CBD via the verdant sugar-cane lined Pioneer Valley.

The only packing essentials aside from hiking boots are your rod and reel; Mackay is a destination where the fish are always biting. The region is home to a powerful combination of inland and ocean fishing. Sitting on the central coast of Queensland, next time you’re hugging the coastline, make Mackay your base for city, country and coastal adventures that will leave you craving more time to explore.