Bye Bye Bundy

With breakfast firmly rammed down our necks, we were ready to go tackle another day of mystery touring ahead of us. We had said the previous night that it would be a good idea to just go where the car takes us and that was what the plan now was. (We really must get the steering fixed you know).

For more building pics, Click Here

So we headed back into Bundaberg town centre to look at some of the buildings there. We have done a lot of buildings during this last few weeks. Mainly because that’s what I do for a living and Jodie has a keen interest in them from a developer’s point of view too. So yes there are a few building pics and there will probably be a lot more to follow.

And after leaving the town centre, the next place we came across of any interest was Bauple Museum, a community based project where the local history had been collected together and put on display for all and sundry to come along and witness. What a brilliant idea. It would be great if more places would do the same. We had a great time noseying around and there was some really good stuff in there too. Only problem was, with just having had another birthday recently, it was thought I was one of the crusty old exhibits and it was really hard to get away again.

For the latest in communications, Check out the Bauple Museum Album

When I eventually did escape however, we high-tailed it down the road fast enough for nobody to catch us which meant that in little to no time at all, we had reached another hidden treasure along the way, Alford Lake Park, Cooloola, just on the outskirts of Gympie (please, no visions of pervy old men in ball masks here). Recently flooded, the place has undergone a total rejuvenation extending its boundaries even further. And it is really quite beautifully done and it really was a pleasure to wander around it to take it all in.

Check out the turtle near the lower tree stump
and check out the Lake Alford Album here

Further yet down the Bruce highway is a building that seems to defy gravity in much the same way as do the Ripleys world of strange things buildings situated on coastal regions. Except where as Ripleys might have a car hanging out of the front façade, this place has a ute parked on the roof. We are of course talking about the Ettamogah Pub near Noosa. The Pub claims to be the most photographed pub in the world - probably because it was built to appear as if it were falling down (it's based on a pub in an old Aussie cartoon series).

More pics here

The pub is an everlasting tribute to all things quintessentially Australian and its location halfway between Brissie and Noosa makes it a handy rest stop for a drink or a steak. We however chose neither, preferring instead to rush home and get naked as the housemate was away test-piloting a blisterpack of viagara and a packet of ribbed pleasure seekers this weekend but I cannot really go into that kind of detail here.

Of course there were other places of interest along the way like the double bridge that spans the mouth of the Brisbane River which looks quite spectacular from within the confines of a passenger seat in the old Rolls c’nardly. Another local masterpiece of engineering well worth a look at sometime. But for now our journey reached another end and the welcoming door of Dragonfly Mansions awaited us weary travellers.

A Bit of Bundy part 2

Click here for the Kacy's Restaurant Album

After taking as many pics as we pleased back in the Bundy Kegs cooperage, it was getting desperately close to the next meal time for my delicate body and so we decided we would head up towards the coast again for a pretty stretch of beach at Bargara. It's not a huge place by any standards and we entered it near enough in the middle where we accidently stumbled across a restaurant come motel, come hotel, come hostelry called Kacy's.

It was a delightfully pleasant place fully equipped with its own wine cellar and the food was good too. And with a choice of comfortable surroundings both indoors and outdoors, we chose to sit inside by a large fish tank (more photos hopefully and having seen the tank shots, maybe not) and as far as we are concerned, it comes highly recommended to any would be venturers.

Having refuelled for the afternoon, we headed straight across the road for a small but charming gift shop having gotten in the mood of dressing the hat. Unfortunately for the hat though there was nothing in the line of pins or other appropriate adornments. So the hat was in a mood and left in a huff.

Click here for The beach at Bargara Album

Shame that, because having left the shop we strolled over the road to another great Australian beach, Bargara where even more photos were taken. It was around about now that with the frequency of photography being undertaken, the photographs we took actually began to look something half decent (if you still exclude the fish tank back in the restaurant).

We were on a roll (photographically at the very least) now and so travelled further up the beach to a place called Mon Repos, a turtle breeding area along with its own information centre. And although we didn’t get to see any turtles (mainly because it wasn’t early or late enough) we did manage to see some stunning scenery without the need of travelling too far to get it. All we did was follow the pathways to the beach set up specifically for night parties to go down and see the hatchlings run for cover.

Click here to see the full Mon Repos Album

I know it must seem silly to many to have travelled so far and not stayed to capitalise but there is one thing you must learn about Jodie’s mother and step father… Being as they live in a really rural area, they have spent the majority of their lives living under the sun which means rising and falling along with it. And as we had previously arranged to meet them for dinner that day, we had to rush back at around what felt like 4ish in order for the old biddies to be bedded down for seven – Bless!!

So you can guess what happened next can’t you? Yes we returned home to meet the parents, got a take away instead of going out, stayed up together until ten (wooooo) and then sat and twiddled our fingers and toes for a couple of extra hours before it was closer to our normal bedtime. We had to be up early in the morning… for kangaroo hunting (but rgular readers will know that already).

It was needless to say, six o’clock the following morning and I was already sat adjacent to Clifford, bombing down the road in an old white Toyota run-around, heading toward an open paddock where kangaroos were known to gather at such a stupid hour. And sure enough they were there waiting for me. It would have been nice to say with their autograph books at the ready, but they were kangaroos dammit. They can’t read can they? And so with the joeys in the bag so to say, it was back home for breakfast before we packed and set off back for Brissy once again.

A Bit of Bundy

Good evening everybody, I am Andy Robinson, I'm just turned 49 years old and I too am (cough, cough, sniffle, mumble) an alcoholic... Or I'm sure I would be if I ever got locked in where we visited next.

Another 400-ish Km heading north up Queensland's Bruce Highway we went and we finally made it to where Jodie's Mother lives with her partner Clifford, in the sleepy farming town of Bundaberg.

I might have given that little fact away the other day with my 'where have all the animals gone?' post in which Clifford and I set out early one morning to hunt kangaroos, but this was where we now found ourselves for the weekend, catching up with family and exploring the local scenery.

But how does that make me an alcoholic you might ask, and if you don't, I will happily sit here and wait for you to do so.... Oh good you finally asked (hurry up next time.. grr).

Mmm, I might be looking a
bit too gay here

Well Bundaberg it seems, is sugar land, and it has been since 1872 when it first began producing commercial sugar form sugar canes. It has acres upon acres of these cane things growing here and some of those canes eventually go to the Bundaberg distillery where in 1888 a group of farmers joined together to make rum with the by-products from the molasses the sugar canes were producing. And that is how Bundaberg rum and my reported troubles may have first come into being.

It was in 1888, that the first barrel of Bundaberg Rum literally rolled out of the distillery production line. And since then, Bundaberg Rum, through its trials and tribulations, has gained recognition as one of Australia's most famous of spirits. Later, in 1986 the Bundaberg Distilling Company appointed its first tour guide and a positive demand soon saw the need to expand the tourist operation. And that was possibly our cue to become a part of it this day.

Our guided tour around the distillery had us look, feel and taste our way through the makings of the Famous Aussie Spirit. Starting with the raw material molasses, to the aromas of maturing spirits, where our temptations ran high for a refreshing free sample or four in the bar with a variety of Bundy mixes and Rum liqueur based drinks.

Spot the real bear

It was a pretty good if short tour, during which we learned how the distillery had suffered a couple of setbacks; the first being a fire in 1907 and second a ‘big’ fire in 1936. And it was probably around then that they suddenly realised that what they were playing with was quite... Extremely Highly Flammable I guess and they have since started taking steps to help minimise any future of these 'combustion parties'. 

It must have been along with these steps that came the ban on the use of cameras, the wearing of watches and the carrying of anything battery powered (although why anyone would choose to use a vibrator on a tour of a distillery is beyond me... Oh they meant mobile phones, ooops). And as if that weren't enough, spare a thought for the hard of hearing too that were rendered instantly deaf upon surrendering their hearing aids. Don't anyone tell them about my pacemaker eek.

Other than that, we generally had a good time as we looked back at the Bundaberg rum advertising history, came face to face with the famous Bundaberg Rum Bear, drank merrily of his wares (well, being the designated drinker, that post fell on my shoulders and I was only too happy to take on the samples Jodie (the designated driver) would have had to suffer hee hee), bought freely of said wares and generally ran amok of the place. Even the hat was recognised on this jolly and was further adorned with assorted pins to help commemorate the day.

Click here to view the full Bundaberg Rum Album

After the tour, the bar, the shop and the ubiquitous ice cream, we jumped back into the car (because the term putt-putt is somewhat frowned upon), set the sat nav for our next destination and followed the verbal instructions of… “Drive around the corner”.

We were at Bundy Kegs. A small cooperage (barrel making facility) owned by Schmeiders. That's the company that produces the massive storage kegs for Bundy distillery, which was more a collection of talented people making barrels, carving woods, blowing glass etc being presented through a free to enter gallery come shop display type thing where rather than laying down any hard earned, yours truly decided to take photos instead. It was a good stop, some interesting stuff and it was an half an hour well spent.

Click here to see the full Bundy Kegs Cooperage Album

Oooo Nice!!

Well we did lots of stuff in Bundaberg this weekend, stuff I will at some stage be reporting on. But before I go into the usual highly detailed, informative, entertaining, and educational gear, I thought this deserved a post all of it's own.

Hope you can agree. It is very.... er.... ORGASMIC LOOKING. To say the least!

I think I need to go lie down for a while now. All this excitement wears the old heart out you know.

Dear WWF

Dear WWF,

Please excuse me for writing so near Christmas but I fear I may be the bearer of some rather sad tidings for animal lovers the world over. The thing is, that during the just short of five weeks that I have been in Australia, I haven’t actually seen much in the way of wildlife at all. And by wildlife I mean that of the hairy, sharp toothed, possibly vicious variety and not that of the girlie girls lying drunk in gutters of a Saturday night after the clubs and bars have spilled out.

You see, before leaving the UK, I took the liberty of checking up on the wilder side of things in Ozzie land and came across many colourful reports of killer things that would think nothing of feasting on me for dinner, poisoning me if I were to feast on them, stabbing me with venomous pointy things and generally making me violently ill before despatching me to possible pastures greener.

The problem is, is that for as long as I have been here, I have only seen one lizard in the whole of Brisbane, along with three green frogs, 40 odd tiny geckos, and a host of assorted birds. And this is where I have struggled with all of this emptyness and feel I must now warn you of my findings. 

I mean Crikey!!! 

Were they all culled after the death of Steve Irwin? Or maybe pensioned off with Mick Dundee? or something? ... Anything?

Because it somehow appears that the usually identified with Australia killer beings are all to be deemed somewhat all but extinct to the casual onlooker. I mean not a single shark, croc, jelly fish, spider or snake have been witnessed. And even the lesser malicious animals like kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, koalas and emus appear to have shuffled off their mortal coils too. There's not a single anything to be seen. At all even. Nish, glish and not even a frosty flake. Ever. WTF where are they all?

Green frog. Generally found where the
environment is 'healthy'

And it’s not like I haven’t tried looking for them either. Because between the both of us, Jodie and I, we have already travelled over 5000 Kilometres aimlessly to-ing and from-ing across the Great divide of the Australian east coast while shopping, working and playing. 


And even while heading straight for any roadside Cane toads so we can “hear them explode under the wheels” (thanks for that Jodie… He says not quite sure how to proceed with this information), we have still been on the lookout for the elusive beasts.

So, I’m beginning to think (for what it is worth) that the whole of the Australian wildlife circuit has probably recently been wiped out by a specialist group of ninja spirited cane toads then. Cane toads having no natural predators other than Jodie’s wheels, lawnmowers, golfers clubbing them to death and the odd dog that never really knew any better (they are poisonous by the way), being the perfect candidates. 

And it's particularly those toads that Jodie had missed with her car wheels (Sometimes I really worry about her) that are probably doing the biggest amount of damage to other breeds, leaving the only way left open to experience the indigenous antipodean animals these days, being to visit zoos or wildlife parks where it is now believed that remote controlled robotic versions abound (installed to reduce the risk of riots or  panic throughout the general public).

Cane toad

The cane toad was first drafted in from central America to help control the rise in cane beetles on the sugar canes grown in Northern Queensland. Unfortunately, the beetles lived at the top of the canes and the toads resided at the bottom. And never the twain did meet. And Along with no natural predators, like a lot of things in Australia, the toads just ran amok. And now they stand to take over the world by chewing up all the animals from this huge continent.


Well that is the problem as I see it at present and I’m not sure you will have any instant solutions to this problem being as it is so near Christmas now (apparently), but it would be nice if you could help me complete my study of this magnificent land by maybe shipping over a few of your registered captive bred creatures (from overseas maybe) to assist in aiding my journalistic shortcomings and making available some photographic opportunities for me (pictures often being better than words, that sort of thing).

Yours Sincerely

A bit short of meat too. 


PS... We will be out hunting skippies at seven in the morning peeps. Naturally, should we be lucky enough to actually sight any, we will of course let you know. Watch this space...

 NEWS FLASH.....

What was that skip? There's how many of you guys? All sitting in a field? And there's nobody stuck down the mine? Streuth!!

Taken at 6:30 AM 18/12/2011 Bundaberg

As earlier intimated, we went out early and caught a full herd of the spring loaded kangas, 13 in all. But as the photo kind of suggests though, it might have been them that were actually spotting us (maybe meercats in disguise). But anyway.... they weren't robotic in the least bit, nor clockwork and neither were they mechanically operated in any way shape or form so....

MYTHBUSTERS SAY: MYTH BUSTED!! YAY

BREAKING NEWS...

Today, December 16th 2011 at 12:00 this afternoon (Australia time)....

'Yes' Optus finally buckled to what can only be construed to be a dose of common sense today and said 'yes' again to me entering their building. And it appears that the security threat that I once somehow posed them was somehow skilfully lifted from my shoulders (WTF?)

Sadly, the hat (see safe sex) was not so lucky and had to stay in the car. Just exactly who is it that makes these stupid decisions? 

I go back tonight to steal all the chairs MUWAHAHAHAHAHA (YEAH!!)

Click here for the full story

And So This Is Christmas

It gets light by half eight in the morning and dark again by three in the afternoon. It is usually raining if not snowing, there are winds burning their way across your cheekbones and when you walk into a room from the cold sub zero temperatures you immediately feel tired in front of the blazing fire that is fully stoked to keep you warm.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough on its own, having supermarket hyped Christmas displays all around you from early September onwards and radio stations from the beginning of December methodically pumping out party anthems and Christmas hits 24 hours a day, helps further build the ambience.

Television adverts also abound on a daily basis, outwardly suggesting to us a need for all those must have items we’ve managed to live without for the rest of the year while the station programmers try to reel us in with the shallow promise of another single six month old (at best) blockbuster movie to keep us all going merrily throughout the holiday period.

And normally, for the average Brit, that should be enough to convince you that Christmas is on its way…

Christmas in Sydney

But this year it all feels incredibly odd. For starters, the sun is rising at five in the morning. And it is rising while being roasting hot too. The only thing resembling snow right now would be the burnt peeling skin falling from my shoulders (are you listening Cath?) and cold is simply not an option. Hell it even stays light in the evenings.

I got off the plane at Brisbane airport on the 15^th of November. I have been here a month already and yes, I have seen Christmas trees (pics to prove it too) in the shopping arcades, in Brisbane, Newcastle and Sydney but they didn’t really register. It seems the supermarkets here have somehow managed to keep it very low key too and but for the fact I recently had another birthday (selfish of me I know), which heralds the fact that Christmas is only 2 more weeks away, I would never guess it was Christmas at all.

I even attended the Logan mayor’s Christmas Carols service at the Logan sports centre with Jodie and her emergency services cadets, but still it registered a big fat zero on the Yo Ho Ho scale. It just doesn’t seem right, Hell it isn’t right. Yes decorations have been going up and yes some people have gone way over the top with them (a global phenomenon it seems – oh dear) but even so, it still just isn’t as in your face as we get it in Britain.

I mean, there’s no Christmas menu at MacDonalds for one thing, no masses of Bernard Matthews 'Bootiful' turkeys setting sail from the shores to escape their programmed Yule tide doom, and probably not a single roast tater to be seen anywhere either during all the strangely unseasonal of seasonal festivities. Cooked meats and salads, barbecued shrimp and only a modicum of alcohol appear to make up the celebratory menu that hails in the birth of the antipodean lord. It’s all so wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Bing Crosby and the boys would be lost here too, wandering aimlessly about the place in search of a white Christmas other than that projected by a heat haze over the horizons.

It's all balls anyway

Now don’t get me wrong here, Australia does have bad weather from time to time and now is the time of year they would be having it too. Believe it or not, we are looking at possibilities for tsunamis, severe rain storms, flooding (yes flooding), cyclones and at the same time as if the rest wasn’t bad enough, forest fires too.

And even though there is not much place for snow in this mix apart from way up in the highlands, you will probably be amazed to learn that the hail here comes in the size of golf balls.


Yes, it’s far from the dry and arid Australia we grew up with back home as promised by that damned Jenny Agutter, and her ‘walkabouts’. They simply weren't the true picture. If it wasn’t for her, we might have also known that Crocodile Dundee was not indicative of the real way of life for big city Australia either.

So I guess it sort of messes with your head somewhat living this topsy turvy way of life and it could take some getting used to. It just doesn’t seem right to be sweating during the Christmas period but life as you know is an adventure as they say and I remain fully committed to not having it any other way. “Bring it Santa”, I demand and who knows? I might even get some gifts this strange year too. I just hope you can still shop at a twenty to midnight, Christmas Eve at the local petrol stations here like you can back home.


And how does a sleigh work with no snow? I have to ask myself.