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mackay: general info
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Name: Mackay Highlands Great Walk
City, State: Queensland Australia
What's it like?
With cloudy rainforest, quiet farming areas, and views through open woodland, the 56km Mackay Highlands Great Walk offers something different every day and links the Eungella and Homevale National Parks.
Experienced walkers should allow three to five days to complete the whole walk, but those in search of a shorter adventure can arrange vehicle support and walk just one or two sections. There are plenty of pick-up points along the track, opening it up to a broader range of walkers with different fitness levels and interests.
In addition, there are plenty of short walks ranging from relaxed strolls to
half-day challenges through Eungella National
Park for those with a tighter timeframe.
The full 56km journey on foot takes in the cloudy rainforest, towering trees and dense palm groves of Eungella National Park; the strong smell of eucalypt and challenging slopes in Crediton State Forest; and a steep descent along an old dray track to Homevale National Park where black ironbark trunks are in stark relief against blue skies.
The walk offers the opportunity to view an abundance of wildlife including the
elusive platypus (Eungella is one of the best places
in Australia to view them) and an amazing array of
birdlife.
Excellent camp facilities exist along the route including Fern Flat, Crediton Hall, Denham Range and Moonlight Dam. Fern Flat is accessible only to walkers, but all other camping areas can be reached in a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Motel-style accommodation and self-contained cabins are also available in Eungella and Broken River.
Access to the walk is via Eungella, which is an 80km drive west from Mackay along
the Mackay-Eungella Road. Virgin Blue, Jetstar and Qantas Link all fly direct
to Mackay from Brisbane several times per day. Virgin
Blue and Qantas Link will connect through from most other Australian airports.
Qantas Link also operates a regional service between Mackay, Cairns,
Townsville, Rockhampton
and Gladstone.
The Mackay Highlands Great Walk is the fourth of the Great Walks of Queensland,
a series of six world-class walking tracks through some of the State's most beautiful
natural areas. An initiative of the Queensland Government, the other Great Walks
are Fraser Island, Whitsunday, Wet
Tropics, Sunshine Coast Hinterland and Gold Coast Hinterland (opening late 2006).
For more information visit http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/forests_and_parks/great_walks
or telephone the Naturally Queensland Information Centre on +61 7 3227 8185.
If you know of a great destination we're missing,
review it for us!!
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