330 km north of Rockhampton on Bruce Highway. Mackay is in the middle of a prosperous sugarcane and mining region, and claims the title: ‘Australia’s sugar capital’. The sugar terminal at Mackay’s port is one of the world’s largest, and sugar has been grown here since the 1860s, when Mackay had the reputation for ‘brute force, savage debauchery and disgusting language’. The regulars at the Austral Hotel on Victoria Street told me that sadly it has all changed now – the man who worked on the other side of the bar said he wasn’t so sure.

Mackay has a population of more than 120,000, many of whom are migrant labourers (including Sicilians and Maltese) who work the cane fields. Despite such a colourful mix, there’s not much to do here. However, Mackay is the embarkation point for several islands, including Brampton Island, one of the jewels of the coast. For information on this, and other nearby islands, click here.

Apart from this, Mackay’s main claim to fame is that the biggest cane toad ever was found here in 1888. On the scales it clocked up a phenomenal 1.8 kilos (for further details of the cane toad, click here).

It can get blisteringly hot in Mackay, and it’s a long way to the beaches. If you desperately need to cool off you can always try the Memorial Swim Centre, which is on the corner of Victoria Street at Milton Street, just a short sweltering walk west of the town centre.