Ball Bay Beach 25 - 28 July 2013

Said a hasty goodbye to Mackay and headed north looking for a place to stay near the beach. Drove off the highway about 30km north of Mackay and headed east about 10km and found a little village called Ball Bay Beach. This is like the village that time forgot, no shops or amenities and full of old deserted holiday houses. We camped on the beachfront with 2 other couples. This is a beautiful spot with a wide expanse of beach, surrounded by thick jungle. The bay is very shallow and at low tide the water goes out about 700m. We were so impressed we decided to stay for a week and enjoy the natural environment. On Friday we drove about 10km around the point to Seaforth, a small town with an even larger expanse of beach and fringed with coconut trees. This also had a camping reserve, but it was very crowded as there a lot more amenities. Again this was a beautiful setting with a large park separating the houses from the beach. There were a few houses for sale right near the beach and we wondered what it would be like to live there. We figured out that it would be great in winter, but in summer when you would want to go for a swim the stingers are out and you can't go in the water!

SEAFORTH Om Saturday we drove to Halliday Beach, a small town next to Ball Bay Beach. It was about the same size as where we are staying and has a small golf course. The beach was smaller but just as pretty with a golden crescent of sand arching around the bay. We both thought that we would have to come back again for another holiday.

BALL BAY Went back to Seaforth for a small local market and bought up some supplies. Heather even found an op shop that was open and found a few more retro items to buy. We spent most of the time going for walks and exploring the local countryside. We then drove over to Cape Hillsborough NP, a beautiful reserve on the end of a peninsula. As it was low tide the beaches were even larger than Ball Bay and the cliffs stretched right to the sand, covered in large pine trees.

SEAFORTH MARKET

CAMPING SPOT