Oh the places we've been....

We have not been lazy about trying to get places of interest here in Queensland. There are many things that people have told us about, that John has dutifully written down and placed the list on the refrigerator, which, as anyone who's ever known us, is where important pieces of of paper land.

As I downloaded John's pictures off his camera, and mine from my phone, it occurred to me that we have taken a lot of opportunities to get places. One of the first places we ventured was the Bundaberg Rum Factory Tour.

We learned a lot of things about the distilling of rum, which is the biggest thing here in Bundaberg. The first thing you notice when you land are the sugar cane fields everywhere. There are acres upon acres upon acres of cane, as far as the eye can see.

Apparently this climate and soil is perfect for growing sugar cane. We found out that rum can only be made with sugar cane, or the by product of sugar cane, where as vodka can be made of anything, like, potatoes. I didn't know that, one could say vodka was a vegetable, right?

I digress....

Bundaberg Rum has an unique flavor which comes from the volcanic soil. I can't describe the flavor but it's different, and the mixers they use are different. Rum and Coke is standard, but they also use bitters, and ginger beer. Ginger Beer is also brewed here, and imported all over the world via Costco.

They offer you samples of the rum at the end, which are really strong for a morning tour. I was the DD and tried one sample, that was more than enough. I will have Bundy Rum on hand when visitors come, and we will raise a rum and tonic to this great adventure.

We ventured next to the Woodgate Market which was about a 50 mile trip from Bargara. It reminded us of a small state fair, Australian style. Look at the pictures and see what you think.

A crocheted kangaroo with a Packer scarf....

Gourmet food (Tucker means lunch box)

And then there were the activities......... Who doesn't like a good camel ride?

There were many people enjoying the food and festivities, 

We really did enjoy ourselves, but if you've ever been to the Walworth County Fair you could probably skip this activity.

Next was a trip on the Bundy Belle! Again, not exactly the Lake Geneva's Lady of the Lake, but Bundaberg's version of the same.

We did see a lot of sights from the top deck, this being on the Burnett River and not a lake, it was a much more industrial tour how this area developed. The River leads into the Coral Sea which is the South Pacific, and out to the Asian ports of call.

You can see the big island jutting out from the coast, this forms what is called "The Wide Bay". This land formation protects our beaches from all kinds of marine mischief makers, like Box Jellyfish. We have a few Tiger Sharks, but the big, aggressive ones, also stay away. Lucky US!

 

As the picture show, it is an active port. The other interesting discovery from the ride was the Burnett River is where the Duck-billed Platypus was discovered. Right here on the banks of the mighty Burnett. And here's a question for you. What is a Monotreme? You must read this blog to the end to find out.

Now for the beaches.....ahhhh....my happy place.......

The coast here is really unspoiled, very few developments and no marina's to speak of. If you're looking for quiet beaches where you can walk for miles without seeing another person, visit 

Coonar Beach. 

One of the tourist attractions that we were told to see was "Snakes Down Under" which is a short 45km ride from Bundaberg. We first heard of the zoo on the news right after we arrived. One of the owners, who happens to run the "Crocidile Show" at the zoo, had been brought to Bundaberg Base Hospital on January 2 after the big male Croc bit the thumb off his left hand. Who greeted us as we entered but the same thumbless bloke! (It had healed very well.)

Hello Mr. Macca!

The zoo had many interesting animals, and poisenous snakes, all of which they handled freely to our amazement. There were Brown, Black, Red Bellied Black, Taipan, Death Adder, all poisenous viper snakes, and the Carpet and Green Python's which are constrictors. These are all local here in Queensland. 

Holy Schniekies, these mates are crazy! Anyone can get bitten by these snakes and die! Or get strangled by a constrictor....what were we thinking????? This kind of handling wouldn't happen in the US, too much liability. They didn't let anyone hold the vipers....even they aren't that crazy.

Then we got up close and personal with the kangaroos, emus and koala bears. They were really cute!

The real show was the crocodile bating display. They hold a dead chicken on the end of a stick (they call a chicken a "chook"), hit another stick in the water where the croc is laying in wait, and wait for it the lunge at the chook. All of this within a few feet of the croc.....INSANE!!!

Now when they don't go for the chicken, they bait them with this yellow bag thing that they grab and pull into the water, rolling it like they would its' prey. OMG it is truly nuts, John can't wait to bring people here.

Do you see how close this handler is?????

Last but not least in the adventure department is the rare and Mysterious Craters, located very close to us. John had been told by a few people in the Emergency Department to check them out, maybe he told them about his listening to the whack job on late night radio in the US who talked about his experiences with UFO's, and that provoked them to share this tourist attraction which isn't listed in any tour book. Very, very mysterious.

Well we discovered the only thing mysterious about this was how they got us to pay $9.50 to get in!

It was this run-down piece of property with a dirty, fiberglass dinosaur, and hand painted Disney characters all around this wall which is falling down. You are instructed by the women taking our money to be sure to get to the top of the platform so you have a really good look at the craters and hear the story of the discovery. The platform was like climbing up an 8 foot ladder and pressing this button with a cassette player which had a very scratchy tape playing the "story". 

It was so lame that it was hilarious. I'm sure someone dumped a load of concrete in a hole and that's how these "craters" where formed. I mentioned this at tennis and a gal said her in-laws live adjacent to this property and these craters are beneath their property, too. The guy who uncovered the ones on display just got to exploit it first.

Ohhhh, very scary!

The "Mysterious Craters" are off the list, not to worry.

So this is the what we've been up to, some great, some not so great, but all of it fun.

So did you know what a monotreme is?

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2. Monotreme
3. Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young like marsupials and placental mammals. Wikipedia
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Tennis is tennis is tennis

So I was asked to be part of a Bundaberg Tennis Team that was traveling about 3 1/2 hours away to play a tournament in Biloela, (pronounced Bill-o-wheel-a)Queensland. I was really happy to be asked. Since returning from Wisconsin 3 weeks ago I haven't played much so I was nervous. The team consisted of 4 gals plus me, all Bundabergians, who all had nice games. We were playing as the Bundaberg Berries.

Yes every team  had a theme and we were berries, complete with mulberry colored shirts and socks. Even the men's teams had outfits,

which as any Wisconsin tennis player knows is very unusual. I personally liked the boys who played in button down shirts and ties. We haven't seen any guy in a tie since we landed here last January, not in a restaurant or in an office, but to see them wearing them to play tennis was a riot. And they looked really good.

They even gave me a tie so I could be an honorary member.

This gal was on the "Highlighters" and yes they played a few games in the wigs!

The weather is very wintery here and it was cool and windy when we started play at 8:30am. It was 70 degrees and blowing about 15mph. It actually was cold playing. But not Wisconsin cold. The play was fun and challenging, those Fairies kicked our a*#! We ended up right on the other side of being in the finals, 3rd place, which was fine because the ride back to Bundaberg was 3 1/2 hours and we didn't want to drive back in the dark, that's when you hit kangaroos. So we left Biloela at 1:30p and returned to Bundy with plenty of daylight left.

One of the real adjustments here is the disconnect for a midwesterner is the opposite season thing. Maybe if we were in New South Wales where the weather is more seasonal for winter I wouldn't be so confused, but because we're in sunny Queensland, it doesn't feel like the brutal winter.

I actually don't understand this chart but I think the gist of it is......we're warmer.

It is actually snowy in far southern Australia, see that's another thing, north is warm and sunny, south is cold and wintery. You would think we were on the other side of the world. Oh yea, we are.....

John is at the half way point in his employment. He's been here 6 months working and has 6 months left. It has gone really fast for both of us. His blogs have documented how medicine is different here. We (the US) have a great healthcare system which this experience has clarified for us. The grass isn't always greener and as much as we think there are things that need to change, we do an awful lot of things right. We are looking forward to more travel and visits from friends and family this 6 months, and hopefully less work for John. This may also be may be the best time for us to travel. We are so looking forward to seeing the family over Christmas and have booked their flights! We will all be together at one table over the holidays.

COMING ATTRACTIONS!!!

Look for a blog on some of the interesting places we've ventured to AND FROM!!!