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Date: Mon, June 08 1998 Well, I finally made it to Mackay, and what a saga it turned out to be, and what a tale I have to tell, if I have time to get it all down in what's left of the hour I have paid for (only about 30 minutes). And by the way, I'm breaking two of my own rules, here in this Internet cafe, first that I would NEVER EVER use Netscape Mail again (ghastly, ghastly mail program; awful!!) and that I would never set foot in a place that has piped music over the PA system. How can anyone concentrate on email with that noise going on??? But, well, this turned out to be the ONLY Internet place in town, as far as I can tell (absurd, in a town this size!) and the library here is very snooty -- only has Internet for members!, and anyway the staff are very nice here & make excellent coffee. So here I am. Irony!!!! Turns out they have a Macintosh -- my preferred computer by a mile, but how crazy, I posted off my Mac floppies because of the weight and because I didn't think I'd EVER encounter a Mac in my travels. Everyone has IBM, everywhere. So, I can't use my beloved Eudora (wonderful mail program) with all my nicknames. No choice but to use Netscape to download all the messages waiting for me. Then, what complications I had to go through just to save them onto a floppy. Now, though, I'm using Hotmail to send this, because it the lesser of two evils (only just!) Don't like Mackay by the way. It's the opposite of Rockhampton in just about every respect. It's fast and noisy and hectic, and generally un-serene. Just riding around the city is a tiring business (might just as well be in Sydney) -- traffic lights on every intersection, and speed-crazed, impatient motorists zooming around, cutting me off, whizzing round corners in front of me etc etc. So my stay so far has been anything but relaxing, and I'll be glad to get out of here. That looks like being on Thursday; I'll be heading for Proserpine, but might go by way of the National Park near Seaforth down at the coast -- just to see some coastal scenery before I head inland again. Mackay has a beach but it's pretty ghastly -- right next to an oil refinery. But to get down to my trip here. On the face of it, looks like an application of Murphy's Law, that on the longest stretch between towns on the Queensland coast 333 km, all hell should break loose, and all manner of mechanical probs should strike. In fact though, they were partly due to my own incompetence. Well, to put another way -- lessons I had to learn. In brief -- I had to replace not one but two tyres, and a packrack. In the case of the tyres, I had to wait each time for them to come by road from Rockhampton. In the case of the pack rack, it had to come by mail from Melbourne. That's just the bare outline. Much, much more to it, but I'm afraid the details will have to wait til I get to Bowen, and get my hands on another computer. In the meantime I'll at least write it all down to make it easier when I get there. And BTW, I've now actually passed the half way to Cairns (from Brisbane) and the quarter mark of my entire trip. Whooopeeee. And Marjorie -- Townsville not far now!!!!! That's all -- tap on the shoulder. |