Road To Mackay

RIDING ON THE ROAD TO MACKAY

Go to Gutchy Creek, it's a long way to go
Got to overtake at Gutchy Overflow
Only five miles to drive till we get to Tiaro
Riding on the road to Mackay

Past Bauple Mountain Pirate Pete rides today
With trusty companions and treasure from his hideaway
Ask First Mate Charlie, if she could only speak
And tell us of the terrors of Black Swamp Creek

Hats off to Charlie, she's a clever little fella
Riding northwards with the wind and on to Omaryilla
The ocean's wet and salty, the road is dusty dry
And pirates are a-riding on the road to Mackay

We've got no time to whalewatch at Kingfisher Bay
For Deadman's gully is dreaming time away
We did strike a bargain out in the deep
And we're ready for the payoff at Saltwater Creek

Along the Isis River we find saphires in the sand
Charlie wants an ice-cream at Nature's Wonderland
Captain needs a space machine for sailing in the sky
That's why pirates are a -riding on the road to Mackay

At the railway crossing a swaggie wanders through
Heavy pack upon his back and steely eyes of blue
Avast there! Me Hearty, Ye who travel free
Like Pirate Pete and Charlie who are swaggies of the sea!

Rusty old railway track
Your trains are never coming back
The world you knew was long ago when days were long and travel slow
You never dreamed that men would fly in metal birds up to Mackay

Onward, ever onward, through miles of sugar cane
Past the new fruit orchards smelling sweetly after rain
Across the northern boundary our hopes are riding high
We aim to find a treasure trove when we reach Mackay

Billy time at Blackman's Gap
Pete consults his treasure map
Hidden under thirty feet a clue in stones at Skeleton Creek
By the everlasting spring to the happy rock I sing

That takes us off to Gladstone where the festival is planned
We plunder treasure from the shore and shells from gleaming sand
But the boat has gone without us and we cannot use our pegs
Or we would have reached the island where the turtle lays her eggs

At the crossroads pirates stop ... the signpost has been turned!
Captain Pete's the first to spot it cos he knows what he has learned
Inland to Berrajondo where Makawata lies
You will see me disappear before your very eyes!

Aha! Me hearty crewmen, soon the treasure will be found!
But first we'll get a takeaway before the sun goes down
Bundaberg is very near, I sense the answer lies right here
We watch the daylight disappear in that old harbour town

Now we sits in darkness beneath the glittering stars
And think about the galleon Pete wants to ride to Mars
It's awful black up there, says Pete, and likely rough upon the feet!
Too far to go, the pirates cry, It's hard enough to reach Mackay!

There's more to life than travelling, there's more to life than gold
There's more to fill the heart with joy than all the jewels of old
The treasure is the journey of mates beneath the sky
When pirates are a -riding on the road to Mackay