We
checked in at 6:30am and were on the bus not long afterwards. The buses headed
north, through Childers, which is well known for a fatal fire in the
backpackers hostel on 23 June 2000
killed 15 backpackers: nine women and six men. Many were in the town working as
fruit pickers, a popular form of work for backpackers, due to its seasonal work
and the ability to move around Australia.
It
wasn’t long before we arrived in Bundaberg. For those who don’t know, Bundaberg is a city in Queensland,
Australia. It is part of the local government area of
the Bundaberg Region and is a major centre
within Queensland's broader Wide Bay-Burnett geographical region. The
city is on the Burnett River, approximately 385 kilometers ( or
239 miles for those who are use that unit of measure) north of the state
capital, Brisbane
and 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) inland from the coast.
We arrived at our first point of call in Bundaberg– the 1928 cafe (http://www.bundabergcafe.com.au/) where we got a chance to have morning tea. While 9am may seem early to some people reading this, for those at the Jamboree, many of us had regularly been getting up at 4 or 5am. So 9am was an ideal time for morning tea. Well, Akela thought so as she was often up and at the showers by 5am most days.
From here, the leaders went over to the Hinkler Hall of Aviation. The museum
was definitely worth going to. Bert Hinkler, was a pioneer Australian
aviator
(dubbed "Australian Lone Eagle) and inventor.
He designed and built early aircraft before being the first person to fly solo
from England
to Australia, and the first person to fly solo across the Southern Atlantic
Ocean. He married in 1932 at the age of 39, and died less than a
year later after crashing into remote countryside near Florence,
Italy
during a solo flight on another record setting voyage. There were many
interesting exhibits there and more about the museum can be found out via this
link http://hinklerhallofaviation.com/ In
fact, the most interesting thing that was at the museum was a
small piece of wood, a relic from one Hinkler's hand-made gliders, was
presented to the U.S. astronaut Don Lind in early 1986 as a token of appreciation for his
coming to Bundaberg to contribute to the Hinkler Memorial Lectures. Lind in
turn gave it to Dick Scobee, the captain of the ill-fated final
Challenger mission. Scobee took the wood with him on board the Challenger,
inside a small plastic bag that he placed in his locker. After the explosion,
the bag and the wood were recovered from the sea, identified, mounted, and
later returned to the Hinkler Memorial Museum.
Once
we had finished at the museum, we wondered back to the bus and were taken to
our lunch venue – the Bundy Bella. The lunch and cruise was awesome. One
particular highlight of this part of the day out seeing how high the floods in
2010/11 had gone. The boat captain pointed out on how high it had gotten on the
buildings along the river bank. All were higher than what we were and it was
certainly sobering to realise how high the river had peaked during the floods
that summer.
After
lunch, it was onto the definite highlight of the day for many who had signed
up. A tour of the Bundaberg Rum factory. Unfortunately, there are not as many
photos of the factory tour due to not being able to take photos of the actual
tour. No one was allowed to take cameras or phones in because of the charge and
the fumes that are a part of the rum making process. But we were able to get a
few shots outside though, just to prove we were there! For those wanting more
about Bundaberg Rum Company, check out this link for more information. http://www.bundabergrum.com.au/
Once
the tour was over and we had a chance to buy, it was time to get back on the
bus and head back to the campsite. It was certainly a enjoyable day and all had
a good time.
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