We had an easy 343km drive from Hervey Bay to our new base at Bargara Beach near the town of Bundaberg.

Bundaberg

For anyone with a taste for Rum, Bundaberg is a very well known name – being the Rum brewing capitol of Australia and the name on every bottle. And there is a very good reason for its location – Bundaberg is surrounded by sugar cane fields. But the origin of rum at Bundaberg goes back to 1888 when the distillery began operating. It started as a means to make use of the waste product of sugar production – molasses. Too heavy and expensive to transport efficiently and texpensive to convert to cattle feed, the idea of distilling molasses was seen as a profitable way to reduce waste.

Why the Polar Bear?

In 1961 an advertising campaign launched Bundy R Bear, the Bundaberg Polar Bear, to market to a younger audience and a claim that Bundaberg Rum would ‘ward off the coldest chill’. It’s still appearing in commercials today.

We have a leak

We noticed a small water leak in our Jayco caravan recently, which has resulted in a small area of laminate panel rippling. Annoyingly the leak is something that Jayco clearly knew about during manufacture. The leak is from a cold water joint leading to the outdoor shower, which has made the panel under the fridge warp enough to prevent the adjacent door from closing. At some point Jayco reseated the door but didn’t fix the cause of the leak. It’s in a difficult location in a tight space. Tightening the joint made no difference. I fitted a temporary stop connector so we could still use water in the caravan until we can get a permanent fix. Fortunately Jayco Bundaberg were able to book us in at short notice before we headed further north. Many thanks to the great team there for a job well done under warranty.

Bargara Beach

Our new location at Bargara Beach Caravan Site is a very short stroll to the expansive beach and just a 10-minute walk to the local shops and restaurants. It has plenty to entertain the young ones with a play park between the caravan site and the beach, tennis courts for the oldies and access to a playing field and running track for those with a little more energy to burn-off. Walking tracks lead to Mon Repos, a world famous Turtle beach where turtles return each year to lay their eggs beginning in November with the young making their way to the sea until the end of March. Mon Repos has the highest concentration of egg laying turtles on the whole of the eastern seaboard of Australia. If you find yourself here during that time, make sure to visit the Mon Repos Turtle Centre.

Sugar Cane

Sugar cane is one of the main crops grown in the region and is highly visible as a tall, broad cane growing right to the roadside of many of the local roads. Of particular note is the amazing colour of the soils in the area. Much of the region was formed by long extinct volcanoes that have since weathered down leaving a very fertile, rich orange-brown loam.

Newly planted fields are a photographer’s dream with long, straight lines leading to the horizon. I was lucky to capture a shot just after fertiliser had been added to the soil leaving distinct white lines in the tractor treads.

One repeatedly frustrating thing any photographer will find, not just in this region but also central and northern NSW, is the lack of places to pull off the road to take photographs. Largely this is due to the narrow borders to the side of the road and the often steep drop-off into drainage ditches. The solution is often a good walk from a safe place to park as was the case in the adjacent photograph. At least in late Autumn it’s not too hot or humid here in South East Queensland.

Cane Toads

Two pests affecting sugar cane production in Queensland, and now further afield, are the native and French cane beetle. In 1935 the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations hit on the ‘brilliant idea’ of introducing the Hawaiian cane toad to Australia. This particular toad has a veracious appetite for sugar cane beetles. And, of course, the cane toads did what comes naturally, eat and multiply. Unfortunately lessons weren’t learnt from the disastrous introduction of rabbits, foxes, cats…etc to Australia and now the spread of the cane toad has got out of control with the species reaching many places in New South Wales, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Worse still the cane toad is poisonous and is taking its toll on many forms of native wildlife that happens to like the taste of frogs and toads. One such creature is the Death Adder snake where the cane toad is believed to be responsible for an 85% decline in this species. The toxin excreted by the cane toad is fatal to most snakes but recent research suggests that some species are developing avoidance behaviour in areas where the toad is well established, red-bellied black snakes in particular. Similar observations have been noted with young fish avoiding the cane toad tadpole, which is equally toxic.

Cane Field Fires

For many years farmers burned their sugar cane fields to get rid of the dry leaves at the base of the plant. This made cutting the cane by hand easier but at the same time resulted in many native animals being killed in the fire including the Death Adder (poor thing’s not having much luck here), the coastal taipan, pythons and the red-bellied black snake. There will be those that say good riddens to snakes but they also control the small mammal population of rats and bandicoots.

Much to the relief of the wildlife I’m sure, harvesting is now done on an industrial scale with machinery and people are kept clear of anything that is likely to bite if trodden on. Attempts at controlling the spread of the toad have been far from successful and now more research into the creature is taking place to find other methods of control. In the meantime it is down to hand collecting and giving them something to, er, help them sleep.

Kalki Moon

Although, as mentioned, Bundaberg is famous for its Rum, a new tipple is brewing in town. Former Bundaberg brewer Rick Prosser and his family started the Kalki Moon Distillery in 2017 and have gone on to receive numerous awards including beating the British at the own game with their excellent Kalki Moon Gin.

The distillery is still small but their aim is to produce quality over quantity and we can certainly vouch for that – it is very smooth. Especially important is the Australian botanicals used in the brewing process. Apart from the required juniper berry, Kalki Moon Gin adds lemon and cinnamon myrtle, ginger and native finger lime. Certainly one distillery to keep an eye on.

And what can be better than happy hour with a G&T as the sun sets over the horizon.