The wedding day arrives
Trip Start
Nov 09, 2011
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Trip End
Nov 13, 2011
Bargara, Queensland, Australia
Friday, November 11, 2011
Bundaberg was surprisingly big - population 70,000 - but the shopping centre seemed full of downmarket chain stores so nothing exciting there. I was amused to see the opening hours of the big Woolies supermarket - Mon-Fri 9am-8pm, Saturday 9am-5pm and Sunday - closed. Australian unions certainly do a good job of protecting their workers leisure hours. I can't think of any supermarkets in NZ that would be closed on a Sunday.
Headed back to the apartment and finally got to meet one of Roger's workmates who I have heard about for years. He and his family live in a place called Streaky Bay (population 1000), about 8 hours from Adelaide. I don't think I could handle that level of isolation but they seem to enjoy the lifestyle. They have 100 acres and can run about 20 cattle before they run out of feed!
I mentioned all the caravan parks that we had seen on the drive up and I was told that Oz is full of "grey nomads" (recently retired) who drive across Aussie in camper vans and stay in these parks. Its a good way to see the country and has to be better than spending your retirement playing bowls.
Today headed out for my early morning walk along the beach and overheard some grey haired surfers discussing their prostate cancer. Definitely baby boomer territory here. For all that they looked pretty fit and healthy.
Plenty of birdsong this morning and the vegetation took my interest again. They seem to use tons of Mexican orange blossom for hedging - oddly enough I have it at home on the south side of the house where it gets all the shade and rain but it seems to fourish. I found out the strange trees along the foreshore are Pandanus - heard of them but never knew what it looked like. The gardens seem to use a lot of Australian natives and succulents which are right for the climate but also hibisicus and bird of paradise plants which I have as well.
There are lots of little historical plaques along the waterfront - one of them commemorated the Kanaks who built a swmming basin out of rocks - to keep them safe from sharks! Blackbirding was endemic round here till about the 1870's and they bought the Melanesians in to work the sugar cane fields. I did wonder if any of their descedents still live here but I haven't seen any sign of it.
Discovered the reason for the pristine waterfront and BBQ pits - the council workers are out in force every monring hosing them down. I suppose its a sensible way to spend ratepayers money - the beach is a huge tourist attraction and brings plenty of visitors to the town.
Had my morning swim now off to check out the gym. May as well use all the facilities while we are here.
The wedding is on the beach this afternoon and we are catching a chartered bus to get there. I would rather take the car but they are very tough on drinking and driving here so its a sensible choice.
