Bundaberg Part 2

Coming to you live from Gin Gin . . . just westish of Bundaberg.

We've been settled here at the showgrounds for a few nights now - just chilling out and enjoying ourselves doing - well not very much of anything really . . .  except for some updates to the blog . . . strumming a few tunes, experimenting with the Sizzler BBQ and watching a parade of military vehicles that would make a North Korean dictator proud on his birthday.

I'm going to try and get the Phantom drone up in the morning to get some pix of the show ground oval stacked full of Army vehicles heading back to Brisbane after an exercise just north of here.

Anyway - back to the Bundaberg Brewery - home of the most awesome brewed soft drinks in the country. I have been a huge fan of their brewed softdrinks for years. I'm a regular consumer of the Ginger Beer and Lemon, Lime and Bitters; and have tried some of their other flavours after Coles at Gungahlin started stocking mixed six-packs a couple of years ago.

The brewery experience is a BIG step above the mixed-six-packs. There are actually 16 varieties . . . 15 that you can buy in the shops and one cola variety that is sold exclusively at the Barrel.

The Barrel - home of Bundaberg Brewed Drinks

The interactive tour experience includes a tasting at the end that includes ALL 16 VARIETIES. The tasting cups are small, but you end up suitably fizzed and bubbly after trying all 16. There is also an awesome shop onsite where you can buy all of the varieties in quantities to suit. Jayne & I left fizzy, bubbling and burping for the rest of the afternoon - with a small stash of stubbies to take away in the Manta.

We also visited the Holy Grail for rum drinkers in Australia - the Bundaberg Rum Distillery, where Bundy Rum in all of its glorious varieties is made.

Bundaberg Distillery

We did the guided tour of the distillery, which included entry to the museum and a tasting afterwards at the Bundy Bar.

Because of the highly explosive nature of the stuff that goes on in the distillery, we were not able to have any electronic devices with us. Our phones, cameras, fitbits etc were all locked up behind a roller door outside the factory before the tour started, so no photos to share from the tour.

Mickey looking worried before the tour !

Seems its not worth taking the risk of a random spark with over 2.1 BILLION dollars worth of rum onsite - especially after they have already had 2 huge fires at the factory over the years.

A lot more available than Bundy Original

Our intrepid guide Scott, who quite surprisingly seemed totally in love with his job at the distillery took us for a tour that showed the sugar-cane factory next door, the molasses storage pits, fermenters, stills, maturation vats and bond stores and finally the newly opened visitor's centre and bar.

The tour was great - informative and educational and with a tasting treat at the end. We managed to escape with a moderately small bill for a bottle of smooth salted caramel Royal Liqueur and a bottle of the hand crafted Blenders Edition 2015 limited release.

The Blenders actually won the award for the world's best rum in 2016.

I also tasted the distillery absolute premium rum - Solara. It was heaven in a bottle - and included in the tour tasting.

I loved it, but at a mere $189 per bottle, found the 2015 Blenders was better bang-4-buck for an unemployed trainee nomad, so that one came home with us.

One lovely little nip per night !

Anyway, we have well and truly explored Gin Gin on foot and had a few nice drives to explore a little further afield. We've met some nice folks here, including a couple all the way from Bungendore ! Small world . . .

The butcher at the back of the showground is brilliant - Jayne bought some pork belly a couple of days ago so we had a bit of a Masterchef afternoon cooking it up a few different ways. Our neighbours loved the smells coming out of our little Sizzler BBQ, which is a very handy and versatile little BBQ and oven.

The Traveller's Rest Cafe has apparently been winning awards and commendations for its pies for years. We tried one of their 2016 winners - a Laksa pie. Its a little hard to describe, but worth a try if you're ever up this way.  Traveller's Rest doesn't have a website, but do have a Facebook page.

After our Cape York trip in 2010, Jayne & I both recognised the value of having access to "electronic" news - radio, TV or internet. Big things can and do happen while one is away from home and with no reliable connection to the outside world. On the Cape trip, Kevin Rudd was PM one day, and Julia the next.

We figure that its good to have access to information about weather alerts, crazed gunmen roaming the outback, zombie apocalypses - who can tell what's gonna be big news!

Our favourite game at the moment is "What has Donald done?"  We check the news each day to see what the "leader of the free world" has got up to - who he has sacked, pissed off, threatened or otherwise blown up with the Mother of All Bombs.

Its a great fun game, but it needs a reliable connection, which I'll reveal some more about in our next post !  Also be a good time to have a look at some of the tech goodies we've brought with us to help stay in touch.

On the road again . . . . .

After a bunch of family time in Brisbane and Hervey Bay, we are back on the road and exploring again.
I guess this is where we are transitioning from travelling "with a purpose" to travelling just cause we can. Canberra to Brisbane was to visit Matt, Megan & Josh and Brisbane to Hervey Bay was to spend some time with my brother Graham and his lovely wife Deirdre.
We are easing back into nomad mode v e r y  s l o w l y. Our first day out of Hervey Bay took us all the way to Howard - a mere 40 kilometres away. We overnighted at the most awesome farmstead/BnB/camp ground that we've ever stopped at.  Check out the amazing online reviews & photos - Goodenough4thebushb&b is a hidden gem.
The weather has been beautiful and warm, but has been raining fairly consistently since we've been up in Qld. Apparently this is very unusual during the autumn & winter months, but is very welcome after the threat of water restrictions. Hard to believe after all that Debbie flooding, but prior to the cyclone, it had been a very long, hot summer.
Anyway, on to beautiful Bundaberg and surrounds. We were nestled away under a beautiful shade tree at the Bagara Beach Caravan Park for a few nights while we pottered around Bundaberg and the Coral Coast.

The Manta Ray at Bagara Beach Caravan Park

Bundy has been good fun - there is heaps to see and do here.
We've gone for morning walks along the shoreline from the van park, visited the Hinkler  Hall of Aviation, sampled all 16 varieties at the Bundaberg brewed soft drink factory, pondered the intriguing Mystery Craters, briefly seen the ex- HMAS Tobruk and toured and tasted at the Bundaberg Rum distillery.

Bert Hinkler's house, moved all the way from Somerset, UK

Bert Hinkler was a local Bundaberg boy and the Hinkler Hall of Aviation is a brilliant celebration of his life and achievements. Its a modern facility with plenty of interactive displays including flight simulators. The replica of Hinkler's Avro Baby aeroplane and a nearby HUGE box brownie camera are a great combination. It emails you the pic that you took within minutes. There's plenty of information about Bert Hinkler at the Hinkler House Memorial Museum & Research Association Inc website if you're interested.

Bert Hinkler set some serious records in the 35hp Avro Baby

The weblink for diving ex HMAS Tobruk is perhaps a little premature - the ship is currently moored at Bundaberg after travelling from Sydney in December last year. It is apparently due to be scuttled near Hervey Bay this month.

Ex-HMAS Tobruk will soon become a world class dive site

Anyway, this has been a bit of a catch up on some of our Bundaberg adventures over the last week or so. More to come, including the Distillery tour soon !

Brisbane and Hervey Bay - Family Stuff

Yep me again still trying to catch up.  For nearly the last month we have been visiting family in Brisbane (Birkdale) - Matthew, Megan and Joshie and Hervey Bay - Graham, Deirdre and Ralphie (the wonder dog).

We have got to do some great stuff that we have been posting regularly on our respective Facebook pages, however not everyone has access to these.

In Brisbane had the rare treat of spending some real quality time with Joshua and was even able to drop him off and do pick-up at school. Josh fought with the Jedi, droning and jamming with uncle Mick, Southbank and The Wheel rides at Southbank, swimming and of course boating with the family.

At Matt's home

Mick and Josh having a jam

Mick, Josh and Matt contemplating fishing 

We made a quick dash to Hervey Bay so that Matthew and family could join us for a few days over the Anzac weekend camping. On Anzac Day we moved the van to Graham and Deirdre's home - you will not believe where the two brothers parked the van in, the picture doesn't do it justice with a ninety degree angle in front of the sheds and a single lane between carport and brick wall- truely amazing.

Just loved Hervey Bay ate at Dan and Stephs' 'Eat' - they won the 2013 MKR -food was outstanding. We ventured out on the boat twice, swam on the Atolls and even caught five fish - but just tiddlers.



Fished a number of times from the Urangan Pier which is one of the longest in Australia and canoed in the ocean.

Learned what it was like to be a true local catching courtesy buses to the Boat Club and local pubs, Graham and Deirdre held a Countdown evening with true disco ball.

Mick and Dee preparing for Countdown party

We even went for a bout of trivia. While the last couple of days rained the weather was still shorts and T-shirts - can't complain about that.

Tuesday (9 May) we headed off from the Bay,  I have a feeling we will be back - what a fabulous place.

We pointed the car and van north on our next adventure.

I'm So Slack

Well folks for everyone wondering what had happened to the updates, I must confess.  Yes it was my turn and I must admit that I have been very slack since finishing work and just not wanting to sit at a computer and write.

We spent two lovely days at Narromine as we specifically wanted to visit the Aviation Museum and you guessed it - the only day it wasn't open was on Tuesday. We didn't mind as we stayed in the lovely caravan park next to the Airfield - narrominetouristpark.com.au. This place had the cleanest and largest toilet and shower blocks I have ever seen which is a credit to Terry and Jo who ran the place. They had a great system worked out with one of the clubs that delivered pizzas to your door - and they were a lovely treat from all the healthy eating we had been doing.

The Museum was awesome - the airfield was a RAAF base during WWII. The place is a credit to all of the volunteers who are involved in the displays, restorations and running the place. At $10.00 entry, less for seniors, it was a real blast. Some real WAAAF history too for us ladies that have served. Have a look at narromineaviationmuseum.org.au.

The town can also boast a sporting legend - Glen McGrath.


We headed off again as we really need to start getting closer to Brisbane if we were going to make it for the school holidays for Joshie. We did two quick overnighters one at Narrabri followed by Goondiwindi. If you ever are in Goondiwindi can highly recommend the showground for an overnight stay over. Once again I was amazed at the sparkling toilets and showers - think I should be running a rating system here🤓.

On Friday (7Apr) we made it to the outskirts of Brisbane and stayed at Lake Dyer Caravan Park. A really nice spot but such a pity the lake was closed - ahh still no fishing as the lake was under 20%. Now you know you are really in Queensland when you start to see signs warning about closing the toilet lid - and for someone that has had their bottom kissed you know you have to look.

Toilet warnings Qld style

Now I reckon that the people that run the place on behalf of the council must have been in some type of enforcement role in their previous life. There were rules and signs galore - weren't even allowed to adjust the shower head in the showers.  It was really bizarre. Anyhow all of this became somewhat explainable when we headed into town (Laidley) to do some shopping and take a look around.  Some real social issues here and not a great deal to see.




The Laidley Pioneer Village and Museum is quite a rare find and worth a visit.

On Sunday morning we headed of for the last trek to Brisbane to visit the first stop for family that we don't get to see too often.