BUNDABERG
Trip Start
Nov 08, 2004
1
9
13
Trip End
Dec 12, 2004
BUNDABERG, Australia
Thursday, December 2, 2004
Since our last entry things have seemed a little quiet, how can you top flying over the Great Barrier Reef?
Anyway during the journey we have passed through miles and miles and miles of banana plantations. They look very odd because all the hands of bananas are covered with plastic bags. Presumably this must be to protect them, either from the weather or from the insects. We will have to try and find out. As we got further south these were replaced by miles and miles of sugar cane plantations, all with their own railway lines and special trains to transport the sugar to the refineries. Interspersed with these plantations are loads of mango trees, most of them just growing wild. Have attached photo.
Tuesday night we stayed in Rockhampton, the beef capital of Australia and Jeff enjoyed a grain fed rump steak for his dinner! Wednesday morning we visited the Dreamtime Cultural Centre, another Aboriginal centre where we were shown how to throw a boomerang (you can imagine my efforts!). Jeff has bought one to bring home and practice. It is not as easy as they make it look. The Aboriginal who showed us managed to catch each one he threw as it returned about head height. He also played the didgeridoo for us and managed to make all the animal sounds and could even make the instrument say 'didgeridoo' it was amazing. Another Aboriginal gave us a tour and explained a lot of the dreamtime stories and the stencil paintings discovered in sandstone caves in the area. The Dreamtime is their version of the creation, with lots of animals that can shape change. After Rockhampton we made our way to Bundaberg, where they distill rum from all that sugar cane! We stopped briefly at Gladstone, but it was not very memorable. While on the road we saw more kangaroos, then had to drive through a forest/bush fire which was burning fiercely on both sides of the road and you could hardly see through the smoke. This was very scary as the flames were only about two feet away from the side of the vehicle. Shortly after driving through this Jeff thought there was a huge log in the road - then it moved! It turned out to be an enormous Monitor Lizard, at least a metre long, who just ambled across the road in front of us.
Today we have been on a boat trip down the Burnett River on a lovely old boat called the Bundy Belle. It was very relaxing chugging through miles of mangrove swamps and past sugar refineries and various other things, whilst getting a commentary from the Captain. On the way back up the river we saw a small pod of Dolphins, including two females and their calves. They were only a few feet away from us but were too quick to be photographed - sorry!
Tomorrow we are making our way down towards Harvey Bay, just across from Frazer Island and then on to Noosa.
Sue and Jeff
