Bundaberg

Heading south to Bundaberg and the famous Bundaberg Distillary. We booked a tour for the afternoon to check out the place where Bundy is made. I know this is a favorite for mum so this is for you ma. How they make the actual rum is a great secret but you get to see the factory and where they start and finish the process. It all starts with the sugar cane and turning that into molasses which eventually is distiller into rum then ends with bottling and shipping to the rum lovers. There are so many versions of this rum now that they even have a rum that is made for bourbon lovers and tastes very nice. Of course after all of the free tastings yours truly , John, had to buy a bottle for him and for mum. They taught you the Bundy word for something good is " Hizzah" and the word for not so good is " poppycock" so of course these words were said many times throughout the afternoon. Anyway, a fun time was had by all.

The one that I'm holding is your bottle mum. After this tour we found a fabulous free camp again not too far out of town. It was lush and green and very comfy.

Off to the next adventure Talkies soon X Son N John

Australia Zoo - Beerwah

I have long wanted to see the home of the Crocodile Man, Steve Irwin. And what a fantastic place it is. We stayed a few is away at a caravan park that was originally for the market garden workers but is now open to the public. It was very neat and grassy and just a few minutes from the zoo. I was so excited to finally be there and we were there waiting for it to open the next day. After what seemed like ages, we were in and it is truly a beautiful place. It is not like your usual zoo where you can't ever touch or get up close to the animals. As soon as you walked in about 20 steps there were all sorts of lovely animals to get up close to. A koala, a macaw, a turtle, a crocodile (about 2 foot long) and then every so often there were other animals to see. The school holidays were on and there were hundreds of people but not once during the day did we feel crowded. Everything is spread out on a huge green and shady, grassy land mass, that you are usually on your own most times. The food bars were also spread out and you could have a meal at a very reasonable price (which we did). Drinks were a bit overpriced though at $4 a can or bottle but there were plenty of free water fountains so we just topped up the water bottle through the day. The crocoseum was awesome with a wonderful show put on and I could just imagine Steve having so much fun doing the show there. The animal enclosures were immaculate and it is very clear that the animals have the very best homes. We were amazed and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Hope you enjoy the pictures. We can't recommend this zoo highly enough. It is a credit to Teri Irwin and the family and everyone who works there which is a huge amount of people both employees and volunteers. Enjoy!!

What a day. Well worth it and one of the highlights of the trip so far Talkies soon Xx Son n John

Tannum Sands...

After leaving Sapphire then driving through the town of Emerald we made our way to a lovely freecamp at Durago.

This is just a little town but they have catered beautifully for the traveling public. At first when we spotted the freecamp site we thought it was a caravan park as there were close to 50 or so vans parked there around a picturesque garden and grass area. There were toilets and showers and lots of areas to sit and eat. The limit of stay is 2 days or so but some people had stayed a fair bit longer than that. It was a very hot night though and no blanket needed. I got out my trusty detector and scoured the 3 sandpits in the playground and found $1.30 and a few bottletops. We rang ahead to get a park in Rockhampton but unbeknown to us there was a huge caravan rally meeting booked for this town the following Monday and although the show grounds were catering for the vans, prior to this the 700 or so vans booked into all of the caravan parks. So no vacancies. It didn't matter though and soon we were headed for Gladstone. We passed a sign that said BANANA We thought about going to the town of Banana but was a case of backtracking so decided not to. It was a good move as not long after we passed the turnoff, we heard on the radio there was a very bad accident on that road. We passed through Biloela and Calliope on our way to Gladstone. After having a quick look around in this very large town we decided to go to a smaller beach town for the Dockers semi final game. Tannum sands is just a bit further down but is a boutique beachside town much like A smaller section of Cottesloe beach of Fremantle Esplanade. Plenty of crocodile signs too but also plenty of people in the water swimming and surfing.

It was nice to catch up once again with washing and relaxing and enjoying the great win by the Dockers. Of course since then they did lose the final which was heartbreaking for John but the semi final win was wonderful. Not sure if I have mentioned how bad the roads are over here and no sides of the road just drop offs in most places. Well it's off to Bundaberg to check out the Bundy!! Talkies soon X son n John

Tree of Knowledge and lovely Sapphire

We ended up driving from Longreach to Sapphire in the same day which is only around the 300 ks or so. It was a longer than usual haul for us as we were getting used to about 250 or so. We are so glad we did. Along the way we came to a little town where the Tree of Knowledge is. It is a famous tree that the workers all sat under when they had the first ever shearers strike. Under this tree the Australian Labour Party was formed. The tree is beside the railway station but has been held up and supported by various methods and had a Perspex floor and lights underneath to see all of the tree roots. Apparently in 2006 the tree was poisoned and died but they have carefully preserved it. It is centered in a wooden overhead display that actually makes it look like the trees foliage. Very clever and well preserved.

After partaking of the local bakery offerings we were on our way to Sapphire. There are two parks in Sapphire but we eventually decided on The caravan park at the top of the hill. It was delightful with very secluded and pretty bays. We were however very close to the amenities block. The new owners are carrying on the tradition of a very friendly and welcoming park where at the end you don't actually want to leave. There was happy hour each evening and would you believe we met some lovely people who lived in Darling Downs (Just a few ks up the road from our home) The park has an abundance of various wildlife and John got a fright on our first night when a possum scurried up the tree. Sapphire is of course known for its sapphire mining which is a great way to pass some time. John and I went fossicking at a place called Pats Gems where you can buy buckets of wash and spend the day searching for your fortune in sapphires. It was great fun and we found a few sapphires of different colors which was very exciting but nothing that was suitable for cutting. People go there on holidays and end up staying to do mining for 6 months of the year. You just have to put a claim in and get the gear and off you go. A license costs about $9.00. I think this is just what I would like to do but only in the cooler months of the year. We had heard there was a little place in Rubyvale which is another sapphire town about 10 Kms away so off we went to look around and have some of the famous strudel. We had the strudel but the Austrian man who owned the shop was also a jeweller and creates stunning jewellery so a 12 dollar afternoon tea ended up becoming a sapphire ring. He was having a closing down sale as each year he closes for the hotter months and returns to Europe then comes back again in February. So he has a big sale to clear his store. So of course yours truly now has a beautiful blue green sapphire ring. I can't stop looking at it as it just shines and sparkles in the sun. We also went on a tour of one of the underground mines there. Like Coober Pedy, it is a constant 24 degrees under the ground and a very pleasant temp

Far too soon our 3 days here were finished and as much as we wanted to stay longer it was time to pack up and move on to our next adventure. (We were only going to stay just one or two days initially). It's off to more adventure and places to see Talkies soon Xx Son n John