Seb’s got a mile long grin on his face. He just checked Willy Weather and the forecast said windy for five days straight with 20+kns North-East. And we were in Mackay.
Mackay offers two kite spots. Blacks beach or the Town beach. The caravan park was at Blacks beach and for NE that’s where you want to be.
Blacks beach is large with an easy slope thus heavily affected by the tide. The majority of the bay will be covered with chop save for the tidal flat at the river mouth. Now, don’t freak out just yet about the crocs. The river – officially just a creek – is too small for any croc family to take residence at, although crocs cannot be completely dismissed anywhere in Queensland. Fact of life. Neither can stingers. Also a fact of life. As well as sharks. But that’s it.
The sandbanks around the creek created a massive flat that in high tide gets covered with waist deep water and the ripples hardly develop. Very much beginner friendly.
There is a parking area near the beach entry but no amenities, playgrounds or anything else so fellow kite-parents need to be mindful of that. Our girls chased mudcrabs and seastars, and on the windy days like these local crew will come down to show off some skills attracting the crowds. We saw lots of local families with kids that came to watch.
The time to be at this tidal flat is during NE winds and at high and/or outgoing tide, and the only hazard that we noticed was that the water can disappear from underfoot quite quickly so watch out for sand-banking.
We also kited at the Town beach which is much, much larger and also offers flat-ish water, depending on the tide and wind speed. The wind you’re looking for on Town beach is SE, it has plenty of setup space and even playground and amenities nearby. Although there is a massive river nearby with confirmed croc sightings but the local crew kited there and so did we. Both spots are great and a must visit when in Mackay.
Google maps: Blacks beach - https://goo.gl/maps/dyWzhrdebPYFZhdd6 Town beach - https://goo.gl/maps/MCGCQ4jYEChq4G269
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