Day 34, July 30 - Hervey Bay To Rockhampton

Bundaberg Rum Distillery
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After two hectic days on Fraser Island, we were slow to get moving this morning and took our time getting ready and reorganized. Steve and Linda had pretty much been on the run since arriving down under, so they took some time in the morning to get themselves organized as well. We left the campground at around 10:00am and drove 115km to the town of Bundaberg. We arrived shortly before 12:00 noon and signed up for a guided tour of the local rum distillery that was leaving immediately. Bundaberg is famous for their rum…it is the top selling brand in Australia. We toured the distillery for about an hour seeing the real workings of the plant, including the massive molasses storage sheds (they hold over 5 million litres each), the distillation area, the large oak bond stores (that hold many millions of dollars worth of rum) and the bottling plant. It was quite interesting and finished up in the bar where we were able to sample different Bundaberg Rum products (the rum has got a very strong flavour). 98% of the rum distilled in Bundaberg is sold in Australia; of the 2% that is exported, ironically Alberta is one of the few places in the world it is available (the only place in Canada) because liquor sales are privatized. After spending some time and money in the gift shop, we headed to the local Big W. Linda and Steve had some shopping to do, so we parked there and had soup for lunch in the campervan. By the time we left “Bundy” it was 3:00pm and we still had 300km left to drive to get to our destination for the night, Rockhampton. Along the way we started seeing sugar cane fields, which is something we would continue to see more and more of as we traveled north. We arrived at the campground, the Big4 Tropical Wanderer Resort, in the dark at around 7:00pm. Despite being a Big4 resort, it certainly did not live up to the typical Big4 standards and Linda was not impressed with their cabin. It was really old looking and was a far cry from the very modern and clean cabin they had in Hervey Bay. Everyone was tired from the long day of driving, so we cooked supper in the campervan while Linda and Steve had pizza in their cabin (the resort restaurant was a dump). Daddy and Taylor played video games in the games room for half an hour while Mommy and Ryan watched a movie in the campervan. Everyone was sleeping by 9:30pm.