Saturday 11th April 2021
We had an ok night sleep overnight but were woken a few times. We woke up at 530am today.
We had to get moving early due to our Sugar Shed tour being booked for 11am in Sarina.
The left indicator was not working again this morning, meaning we had to muck around for a while trying to get the connection right.
Sarina
We arrived in Sarina at 930am. The trip was relatively smooth from St Lawrence.
We visited the Information Centre, emptied the toilet cassette and filled the water tanks.
We were booked in for the Sugar Shed tour, a tour about the process of turning sugar cane to sugar crystals.
The tour was absolutely fantastic. We will be writing a separate blog dedicated to the Sugar Cane processing and Sugar refinement.
Geography
Sarina is located 916 km north of Brisbane on Highway 1A. Sarina Beach is 10 km from Sarina which, in turn, is 36 km south of Mackay.
Name origin
The town is named after Sarina Inlet which was named by a surveyor, William Wilson, who did not record why he chose the name although it is the name of a “Greek mythological enchantress”.
History
Prior to the arrival of Europeans the area was occupied by members of the Yuwi Aboriginal language group.
The first Europeans in the area arrived in 1865 and established a property known as Plane Creek.
By the 1880s land in the area was being selected and developed.
In 1894 a sugar mill was built on Plane Creek by local sugar growers. The Plane Creek mill started operating in 1896 and within a year the town had a blacksmith, a postmaster and a general store.
In 1908 the town was renamed Sarina. By 1913 Sarina was connected by rail to Mackay.
An alcohol distillery (an early example of ethanol from sugar) was opened in 1927.
CSR opened a sugar mill in the town in 1987.
Mackay
We arrived in Mackay at around 130pm, with Madeline asleep in the back.
We found our van site for the next 4 nights. We are on a free site 20min from Mackay. Fully self contained.
We are surrounded by sugar cane and were visited by chickens and a rooster while setting up.
We headed into town to do some grocery shopping.
We returned to the van to unpack and start dinner.
Terrible luck
Our run of bad luck continued from yesterday into today.
1. The left indicator wouldn’t work, likely a wiring issue with the connector.
2. The 2nd tank of water was found to be leaking when filling up today. Jason used some plumbers tape as a temporary fix.
3. Jason ordered a new fishing rod online. It was click and collect at Mackay. We arrived to find not only did they put aside the wrong rod, there was none left in stock.
4. Jason’s fan above the bed wasn’t working when we arrived to the van this evening. After getting out the multimeter, unscrewing two fans and changing them over, it looks to be a wiring issue within the cavity. So we have to share a fan tonight.
5. Attack of the bugs. Being fully self contained in Mackay, we have windows fully open and fly screens down to help with air flow in the intense humidity. Every teeny, tiny flying insect that could get through the fly screen, got in tonight. We were inundated by flying bugs. A citronella candle is being used and it’s frying the bugs for us.
6. Home made hamburgers for dinner. Found our unused can opener broken in the draw. No beetroot tonight.
7. the outside awning is misaligned. When rolling it up, it doesn’t close properly. We’ve had to roll it on a slight angle to get it to lock in place.
Besides all the mishaps and things that need to be fixed, already, we are having a ball. Today, however, both Jason and I are a little frazzled.
Tomorrow
We explore Mackay.
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