For those of you familiar with Australian supermarket shelves, may know of Bundaberg Rum and Bundaberg Ginger Beer, both of which have manufacturing in the region town of Bundaberg. First stop, was most definitely the distillery of Bundaberg Rum. Tours of the distillery run every hour, on the hour, 7 days a week. It is definitely a popular tour, and takes you behind the scenes of the distillery, the history, and the journey from molasses to rum. You can also book online prior and save yourself 10%, more money to spend on rum afterwards!
Don't mind me whilst I find some extra luggage space to take this bottle home with me.
Just a fun fact, the polar bear on Bundaberg Rum logos was supposed to entice those further down south in Australia to have some Bundy rum to keep them warm. Not sure if the marketing idea worked, but it's become iconic to Bundaberg Rum to this day.
Next stop, a visit to the Burnett River. There's a fresh seafood shop and restaurant - Grunske's by the River nearby, where you can have your fish and chip fix or purchase some fresh local seafood to take home and cook. There's a lovely old boat moored by the river here, and just a short walk from the restaurant.
Up next, the Bundaberg Ginger Beer shop or the "Bundaberg Barrel". This uniquely shaped building is has solid timber features outside and in, with an interactive self guided tour to learn about the ginger beer making process. Here you can also purchase 10 pack of ginger beer for $9.95, or a mixed selection of 6 for $9.95. If this place was close by in Melbourne, I probably would have diabetes. Their ginger beer is refreshing and always hits the spot, you really can't substitute it for any other brand (trust me, I've tried).
By the time we had toured Bundaberg city, and it's offerings it was another almost 2 hour drive back to Hervey Bay. The region has many crop fields including sweet potato and sugar cane.
And the best part of being on the road, doing your own thing is that you have every opportunity to stop along the way, and pick up some fresh produce. This farm had 2kg sweet potatoes for $2 and they were better than what you could get in the supermarket back home, and so fresh! Along with the fresh fish we picked up earlier from the fish market, we were all set for dinner.
A quick stop at Bagara to have a look at the beach, and a few snaps of the fruit from this palm? back before hitting the road again.
Bundaberg is actually quite close to the sea, and nearby is Mon Repos Conservation Park where each November to March loggerhead, green back, south pacific and flatback turtles come to lay their eggs in the sand, and a few weeks later the baby turtles emerge from the nest to make their dash to the sea. Sadly, it wasn't the right time of year to visit the turtles, but it means another trip to visit the beautiful region.
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