Bundy and the Town of 1770
Sunday 16th July
With a wee hangover, it was off to Bundaberg, site of the infamous ‘Bundy Rum’ and with the trip came more foul drizzly rain! The trip itself passed off pretty easily but the rain was a real bummer as I couldn’t wash any clothes. Most of the Caravan parks, to my surprise, were full but I managed to squeeze in at a place on the main road. That night, Babett called, she was also in Bundy and was interested in meeting up for the trip to ‘1770’ if I was still going. We arranged to meet the next day at 10.30 and head off via the distillery, so it wasn’t all a wasted trip!
Monday 17th July
I ended up waking quite early today and so decided to do a bit of shopping and also check out the ‘Harvest Trail’ website as here seemed quite a lot of work in the Bundy region. So it was that I rang up a number for some avocado picking. The conversation was less than pleasant, as the guy on the end started off with ‘What experience with Avocado’s do you have?’ I explained that I had just arrived in country and was looking for work and hadn’t done any fruit picking yet. He insisted on needing experience, being quite obtuse about it – this despite the advert stating that 500 people were needed. In the end, quite exasperated, I asked him bluntly, ‘Do you want pickers or not, because your ad doesn’t mention previous experience being necessary’. I didn’t wait for him to finish his bleating so just said ‘Good luck then’ and hung up. Wanker! Talking with people since then, it seems that this experience is not unusual and that Bundaberg is notorious for getting more backpackers in for work than are needed and playing them off against each other to drive down the price that they pay them for work. I was glad I didn’t bother.
Picking up Babett, we headed off to 1770. It was funny but the poor girl was weighed down with two rucksacks and was also carrying two carrier bags with food. I swear when I took the bags from her, she sprung up a couple of inches!!
The distillery tour was nice enough – 1 hour being taken through and some free drinks at the end, which I couldn’t have as I was driving. I did buy a litre of distilled rum which Bundaberg are trying to market as a competition for whisky. I don’t think it’ll be up to much, but when I try it, I’ll be sure to let you know!
The drive was pleasant enough, the countryside was beautifully green and after leaving the Bruce Highway, the sugarcane fields all disappeared. The Town of 1770 was discovered in…. 1770 by Captain Cook and it’s situated next to another town called Agnes Waters. The main drag is Agnes, with 1770 containing a Caravan Park and a bar. We drove in and sorted me out a Caravan spot – predictably the last one – before aking Babett to the local hostel – ‘Cool Banana’s’ – which looked very cool indeed, with a lovely and leafy back yard. We checked Babett in and I thought I’d ask the lass if you could keep a campervan there – which you could but you had to stay in the dorms, so that was me ruled out. We arranged to meet up later and see if there was anything to do and I headed back for a bite to eat. When I went back later, Babett had met some of the other hostellers and they were settling in for a game of ‘Ring of Fire’, which was a drinking game involving cards! As I was driving I had to decline the offer to join in and so took my leave!
The tree is kinda cool I thought - it lives in the sea at high tide and if the water is too saline, will 'walk' up the beach to a less salty environment. Life huh?! Phew!
Tuesday 18th July
Picking Babett up at 10am, we headed back into 1770 for a look see. It turned out they all had a big one – in bed at 3am or something, so considering that she didn’t look too shattered!
The Cook memorial...
1770 doesn’t have much to offer except some great views and a small memorial commemorating the discovery by Cook in the, ahem, Discovery! It turns out that some of the crew came ashore just by the campsite I stayed at. Cool, huh?!
Rockhampton
This turned out to be just an overnight stop – the hostel was nice enough – my first attempt at staying in a hostel. The Tourist Information here was excellent – very helpful except that the lass who helped us really could talk the hind legs off a donkey – it was all we could do to get away! Poor Babett was subjected to an Indian curry – Rogan Josh – which I rustled up – but she seemed to enjoy it so that was nice!
With a wee hangover, it was off to Bundaberg, site of the infamous ‘Bundy Rum’ and with the trip came more foul drizzly rain! The trip itself passed off pretty easily but the rain was a real bummer as I couldn’t wash any clothes. Most of the Caravan parks, to my surprise, were full but I managed to squeeze in at a place on the main road. That night, Babett called, she was also in Bundy and was interested in meeting up for the trip to ‘1770’ if I was still going. We arranged to meet the next day at 10.30 and head off via the distillery, so it wasn’t all a wasted trip!
Monday 17th July
I ended up waking quite early today and so decided to do a bit of shopping and also check out the ‘Harvest Trail’ website as here seemed quite a lot of work in the Bundy region. So it was that I rang up a number for some avocado picking. The conversation was less than pleasant, as the guy on the end started off with ‘What experience with Avocado’s do you have?’ I explained that I had just arrived in country and was looking for work and hadn’t done any fruit picking yet. He insisted on needing experience, being quite obtuse about it – this despite the advert stating that 500 people were needed. In the end, quite exasperated, I asked him bluntly, ‘Do you want pickers or not, because your ad doesn’t mention previous experience being necessary’. I didn’t wait for him to finish his bleating so just said ‘Good luck then’ and hung up. Wanker! Talking with people since then, it seems that this experience is not unusual and that Bundaberg is notorious for getting more backpackers in for work than are needed and playing them off against each other to drive down the price that they pay them for work. I was glad I didn’t bother.
Picking up Babett, we headed off to 1770. It was funny but the poor girl was weighed down with two rucksacks and was also carrying two carrier bags with food. I swear when I took the bags from her, she sprung up a couple of inches!!
The distillery tour was nice enough – 1 hour being taken through and some free drinks at the end, which I couldn’t have as I was driving. I did buy a litre of distilled rum which Bundaberg are trying to market as a competition for whisky. I don’t think it’ll be up to much, but when I try it, I’ll be sure to let you know!
The drive was pleasant enough, the countryside was beautifully green and after leaving the Bruce Highway, the sugarcane fields all disappeared. The Town of 1770 was discovered in…. 1770 by Captain Cook and it’s situated next to another town called Agnes Waters. The main drag is Agnes, with 1770 containing a Caravan Park and a bar. We drove in and sorted me out a Caravan spot – predictably the last one – before aking Babett to the local hostel – ‘Cool Banana’s’ – which looked very cool indeed, with a lovely and leafy back yard. We checked Babett in and I thought I’d ask the lass if you could keep a campervan there – which you could but you had to stay in the dorms, so that was me ruled out. We arranged to meet up later and see if there was anything to do and I headed back for a bite to eat. When I went back later, Babett had met some of the other hostellers and they were settling in for a game of ‘Ring of Fire’, which was a drinking game involving cards! As I was driving I had to decline the offer to join in and so took my leave!The tree is kinda cool I thought - it lives in the sea at high tide and if the water is too saline, will 'walk' up the beach to a less salty environment. Life huh?! Phew!
Tuesday 18th July
Picking Babett up at 10am, we headed back into 1770 for a look see. It turned out they all had a big one – in bed at 3am or something, so considering that she didn’t look too shattered!
The Cook memorial...1770 doesn’t have much to offer except some great views and a small memorial commemorating the discovery by Cook in the, ahem, Discovery! It turns out that some of the crew came ashore just by the campsite I stayed at. Cool, huh?!
Rockhampton
This turned out to be just an overnight stop – the hostel was nice enough – my first attempt at staying in a hostel. The Tourist Information here was excellent – very helpful except that the lass who helped us really could talk the hind legs off a donkey – it was all we could do to get away! Poor Babett was subjected to an Indian curry – Rogan Josh – which I rustled up – but she seemed to enjoy it so that was nice!
posted by Captain | 3:27 pm
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