Sugar and Rum in Bundaberg
Trip Start
Aug 16, 2004
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64
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Trip End
Aug 13, 2005
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Where I stayed
Lyelta lodge
Bundaberg, QLD, Australia
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Anyway, back to Bundaberg - another quiet place. Seems this might be the trend for the rest of the way upto Cairns. Good thing we have Gameboys! Bundaberg is also the first point of access to the Great Barrier Reef.
Bundaberg is most famous for Bundaberg Rum, which is made from molasses. These are a waste product from the sugar cane mill, Bundaberg's other famous product. So it was inevitable that we would go to the rum factory for a tour. The tour is not as good as the XXXX one but still worth a visit. Of course you get to sample the end products at the bar afterwards, and there is a good shop as well. My favourite drink was the liqueur, which is a blend of the rum, chocolate and coffee, not too disimilar from Baileys. Apparently you can only buy this from the factory but the nightmare of getting it back home prevented us from doing so. The tours run every hour between 10am and 3pm on weekdays and 10am-2pm on weekends. They also sell Bundy on tap at the pubs in Australia, the first spirit to be available on draught!
We also went to the Botanic Gardens as they have a couple of museums there as well as Bert Hinkler's house, transported from Southampton, brick by brick. They are crazy about Bert Hinkler here, with many landmarks associated with his name such as Hinkler Mall, Hinkler Plaza and Hinkler Place.
As well as the Hinkler House there is also the Fairymead House Sugar Museum, and a historical museum (which we didn't go into). There is also a steam train but this only runs on Sundays.
Fairymead house, built in 1890 to an Indian bungalow plan, was originally the home of the Young family, owners of Fairymead Sugar Mill and Plantation. During 1984, Bundaberg Sugar Company donated the home to the City of Bundaberg as an Australian Bicentennial gift. Relocated to Bundaberg Botanical Gardens, the homestead is now a sugar industry museum, housing photographs and memorabilia exploring the development of the sugar industry.
Not far from Bundaberg is the Mon Repos Beach which is one of the best places to watch nesting turtles and emerging turtle hatchlings. The season runs from mid November to February for nesting turtles, and then turtle hatching from January until the end of March between 7pm and midnight. Unfortunately we were a week too late to catch the last hatchings but you can still go to the beach and read the information and speak to the rangers at the visitor centre.
Unless you are looking for work in the region then 2-3 days is probably enough time to visit Bundaberg. There are tours that go out to Lady Musgrave and Lady Elliot Islands for either one day or longer, but these are expensive and there may be better places to see the Reef, further up the coast.
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