The hardest part of the day

…was choosing what to blip. I took a lot of shots but this has the essence of Bundaberg. It is a large city near the ocean. Sugar cane has been a staple crop in the past and industry has grown including the big sugar refineries, rum and ginger beer factories. the rich soil is derived from a volcano, the tiny hummock we are on is the remnants of one and is the highest point ( not very high). Now they grow macadamia nuts, strawberries, peanuts and dragon fruit. All within the suburbs of the city. Very strange. 

Our first stop was a place called Mystery Craters. A collection of craters with varying depths, some filled with water, none interconnecting and with markings that have baffled geologists since their discovery. Fascinating.

Next stop was the Bert Hinkler aviation museum. Bert was born in Bundaberg in 1892 and made his own plane when he was a teenager after seeing the Wright Bros flight in the early 1900s. His mother towed his creation down to the beach behind a horse drawn buggy for test flights. He went onto make many discoveries which made modern aviation possible. For someone with little aviation knowledge I found it very interesting.

Onto the Botanic Gardens after a BLT for lunch. ( that’s a Bacon, Lettuce Tomato burger). The gardens consisted of a series of lakes surrounded by peaceful gardens and filled with water birds and water dragons. Peaceful. We did visit it in 1988 and I remember Nina fell into the water. Now it has a sturdy fence and a no swimming sign….

Next…..was a trip out to the port, seaside ( no beach as it had rocks, not sand) and lookout. We finished the day popping into a camping shop to stock up on some gear we needed for the van. Bundy has great memories as it was the first place we visited when we started going out together in 1975.

We are still camped at my friend’s place and they cooked us dinner. A treat and nice to spend time with them. Oh my, it was 17° C overnight. Such a change from cold old Bathurst.

So another good day on the journey north….