Moving On

The Percy Islands are very, very nice, they have the most beautiful swimming beaches in all of the south Pacific. Too bad we can't stay longer, but the weather is going to blow and there really isn't much protection in the Percy anchorages. Besides, Eric and Anne are on a deadline, they have to be to Hamilton Island for Apr 30 to meet some friends who are flying in.

 

Another day, another short trip, this time further up the coast to Mackay (pronounced "McI"). Both boats are tied up at the dock by 3:30, we've checked in and rented a car for the next few days. Anne and I have to rush out to get groceries as everything is closed tomorrow for their Anzac Day celebration - like our Remembrance Day. Dinner out is always a good way to end a stint on anchor and the food at the Thai restaurant at the marina was delicious.

 

In all, we spend 5 nights at dock in MacKay and the winds "do" blow, so it is good to be in port. Boat work and exploring inland fill our time. One of our inland days, Glen and I drove to the Eungella National Park and did a 14 km hike through a very lovely sub-tropical forest. We came across a young park ranger who was cutting overgrowth from the path and he filled us in on some of the things we could see. His parting remarks were "Watch out for the leaches, they'll eat you alive."  Up until that exact moment, we hadn't encountered any, there after, we had to stop regularly and check ourselves over as they truly were out to get us.

 

Platypus (es,i) live in this area, but we traveled to the viewing area two days in a row and didn't see them, so we are unconvinced that they still exist.