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Our next stop was Bundaberg - the home of Bundaberg rum, Bundaberg ginger beer and also where the largest turtle rookery is in Australia.
We pitched up in the Big4 campsite there for 3 nights. The first night we were hit with a massive thunderstorm that really tested the waterproof ness of our tent! Luckily we stayed bone dry inside! We shared a few stories with a lovely group of older people that we there for a church group reunion while the heavy rain was coming down. They were all so lovely and had loads of interesting times to tell us of! We even got a free bit of homemade apple crumble with custard from them too! It was delicious! There are loads of resident dragon lizards there. One in particular we named "Charlie", had us both in hysterics because when he ran a bit and stopped he had one leg that he left high in the air, and then he brought it down really slowly. It looked like some sort of lizard kung-fu motion. Very funny indeed!
The following day we went on a guided tour to the Bundaberg rum distillery. We got an hours worth of a guided tour with a taster at the end. It was an awesome tour and took you through the whole factory and told you how it all started and the process of rum making. You got to taste the molasses they use in the rum, and then smell the ethanol product at 78% proof. It nearly took our nose hairs off! At the end of the tour you all go the "Bundy bar" for a finished product taster. We tasted a rum liqueur which was rum mixed with chocolate, coffee and cream. You can only buy that one from the distillery shop. It was yummy! After the tour we bought a small bottle of rum, went and got a bottle of Bundaberg ginger beer and went back to the campsite to try our own "Dark and stormy"!
On the Sunday we went to the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in town. It is a beautiful building over 150 years old shaped like a cross. Its part of the heritage walk through the town. It was stunning inside and out with large stained glass windows and decorations and had a lovely service.
We then stopped off at a farmers market to buy some really cheap fruit and veggies. It was a proper farmers market where all the local farmers come in with huge crates of fruit and veg for you to pick out the bits you want. I got 4 oranges for 50c and a large pineapple for 50c! A kilo of tomatoes was $1.50. Now that is a good bargain!
After the market we drove down to Bargara beach and past Mon Repos (where the turtles come at night to lay their eggs). Unfortunately, turtle season doesn't start until November, so we didn't see any there. A good excuse to come back again later in the year!
After Bundaberg we drove down the coast to Hervey Bay. Had a look round there. Found a sanctuary with water birds, turtles and eels and watched them for a little while, then headed a bit further down the coast to a gorgeous little seaside town called Tin Can Bay. It was a tiny fishing village reputed to have two wild dolphins visit most morning, as the locals fed them fish. So we went along to find out. We got to the marina at 7am in the morning and true to the tale, there were two dolphins in the bay! They (named Patch and Mystic) have been coming in almost every day for a feeding at the same time for the last 4 years. Before that, Mystics mother, and her mother before her used to come in for feeding too! So these two are third generation feeders! Pretty cool stuff. There were a few other people there, but we got some fish and were able to feed the dolphins. It is a completely free activity, but they asked for donations for the cost of the fish. We have seen dolphins in Sea world, seen dolphins from a boat and also snorkelled with wild dolphins, but to actually be that close and feed a dolphin was magical and made our day!!
After the dolphin feeding we drove to Rainbow beach - the sands there are supposed to be different coloured. We had a walk on the beach and saw a few different shades of the sands through from white to shiny black. It was very pretty.
After Rainbow beach we drove to Gympie and stayed there the night. Gympie was a little more inland and was definitely a working town - everything was so cheap there! From Gympie we pressed on towards the Sunshine coast and stayed last night in Maroochydore. On the way we stopped off at the Eumundie Markets. They are the best markets I have ever been to, and there were so many talented people there! There is a guy called Juzzie Smith who is a one man band. He plays the didgeridoo, harmonica, drums, guitar, shaker and sings, and is truly amazing. If you ever come across him do listen to his stuff (by the way, I'm not getting paid to promote him!)
The sunshine coast has a lot to live up to still, as yesterday was cold and miserable with rain. Today we moved down to Caloundra and the weather here seems a little bit better, although the wind is howling a goodie!! Went to Australia Zoo today and saw the Big Pineapple too. The zoo is amazing, and apart from a display of elephant and tigers from Asia, all the other animals are native to Oz which is really good. It was really busy, but you didn't feel like you were packed in because they have such a large land space. We got to see some salt water crocs - big scary animals! We got to tickle a koala bears bum, enjoy a spot in the sunshine with some red and grey kangaroos, get up close and personal with elephants, reptiles of all sorts and more birds! All in all a wonderful day!
At the moment we are a bit behind schedule of where we wanted to be by now, but we are having such a cool time at the moment and just enjoying ourselves and seeing what we want to see! We have met some really interesting people along the way and are thoroughly enjoying the friendliness of people in the campsites we have been to! There are always good stories to be exchanged over the bbq!! Still 3 weeks to go, so will keep up the journal entries and photos as often as possible!
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