Ball Bay is a picturesque beach settlement is located 35 kilometres north of Mackay. Ball Bay offers secluded camping on a small grassy campground. The facilities include toilets, cold beach showers, wood barbecues and drinking water, however animals are not allowed. Ball Bay offers easy and close access to Cape Hillsborough National Park bushwalking tracks. The creek and rocks of McBrides Point offers the best locations for fishing.
The bay itself is an interesting bay surrounded by high points and hills, with two adjacent, yet contrasting beaches; one low and fine grained, the other steep and coarse grained. McBrides Point forms the northern headland for 2.5 km wide, north facing Ball Bay. Within the bay are three beaches, the small settlement of Ball Bay and the southern national park camping area at Smalleys beach. Both Ball Bay and Smalleys beach are located on separate roads off the Cape Hillsborough Road.
Ball Bay is on the Hibiscus Coast, a relatively small stretch of coast to the north of Mackay is an area of relatively isolated beaches backed by fertile sugar fields and unique mountain formations. It s a 93 kilometre stretch of remarkably diverse landscapes that run from Farleigh (20 km north of Mackay) to the cordial coastal town of Midge Point. One of the main attractions along this route is the spectacular 816 hectare National Park of Cape Hillsborough. Nestled into the coastline where the rainforest meets the ocean, this area is well-known for the wallabies that come down to the long sandy beaches each morning at sunrise, its wonderful short walks, whale watching from either Twin Beach or Turtle Lookout, and its rugged coastline.
Nearby Victor Creek provides access to Rabbit Island as well as popular Newry Island. Continue north through the rolling landscape and lush cane fields and stop in at Kuttabul, Mt Ossa, Calen, St Helen's and Midge Point before arriving at the northernmost point in the Mackay region - Laguna Whitsundays. Here, day-trippers are welcome to one of Australia's golfing treasures at Turtle Point Golf Club.
Cape Hillsborough is one of the most scenic mainland locations on the central Queensland coast; it features rock-strewn, sandy beaches, hoop pine-dotted hillsides plunging towards the sea, subtropical rainforest and mangrove-fringed wetlands. But what visitors like best is the rare treat of viewing wallabies on the beach around sunrise or late evenings. They go down to the water's edge to nibble seed pods that have been washed up onto the beach overnight.
