Bargara

Leaving Kinka Beach proved harder than we thought, as new neighbors, who'd only arrived the day before, came over for a chat. It was the usual chat of where are you headed, where have you been, but is always a pleasure, and always gives us a little more information for future reference. With time never an issue for us, we eventually head back into Rockhampton, have a "Sexie Coffee" fix for morning tea, and point the rig south, heading for Bargara, just outside Bundaberg.

Magnificent Flame Trees?

We backtrack over familiar ground, until we reach Miriam Vale, where we turn off the Bruce Hwy. and head towards Bundaberg. All along the road, these beautiful red trees are in bloom. We think they may be Illawarra Flame Trees, but others call them Poinciana. Whatever they are they are magnificent, and prolific. At a T intersection, we decide to take a short detour out to the intriguingly named towns of Agnes Water and 1770, to see what is there, and if it warrants a visit. We are quite surprised at the scope of development at both centres, which are only 6kms apart. We see a nicely appointed caravan park, right on the beach at Agnes Water, and with a wink and a nod, the decision is made to come back for a few days, after Bargara.

Back on the road to Bundaberg, we are soon passing through the irrigated farmlands, which once had Bundaberg as a major player in the sugar industry, which is still prevalent, but has given way to vast plantations of nuts, macadamia, cashews and smaller quantities of other nuts. There are also now big volumes of everyday food crops such as, tomatoes, capsicums and all varieties of melons, and root crops such as sweet potato. We have a ball at the roadside stalls, a bag of sweet potatoes for $2.50, tomatoes at $2.00 per bag, punnets of grape tomatoes for $1.50, watermelon from $1.50 to $2.50, depending on variety, rock melons at 3 for $2.00, capsicum are 50cents each, and there is a big zucchini like thing with a sign that says $1.00 per bag, with the bags provided to select your own!

Fantastic old Queenslander.

Old bank building, Bundaberg.

We drive over the Burnett River into Bundaberg, and are immediately impressed by its size and the beautiful old buildings. Colonial architecture, as well as some fantastic old Queenslanders. Many of the streets are tree lined, and those magnificent red trees are every where. It has an old fashioned main street shopping precinct, so we make a note to come back and explore during our stay. Out along the Bargara Road we go, through the fields of sugar cane and melons, to find Bargara Beachfront Caravan Park. It is right opposite the Surf Club, and there is a walking track/cycleway, along the beach to town, a pleasant 2km stroll. We find our site in the big dry park. Boy, could they do with some rain! It isn't the best park we've been in. It is fine, but in need of a little TLC. Some of the longer term caravanners, have bought their own sprinklers, and are watering around their sites to green it up and keep the dust down!


At this time, I am going to take a break from this blog, as it is a beautiful day and the beach is calling. It is time to throw our bodies into the sea, again!


Back from the beach, and back in Bargara. We really like Bargara. There are lot of resort buildings along the beachfront. All have vacancy and For Sale signs prominently displayed. All around the town, are new subdivisions. This is a favoured retirement destination, and the small suburbs of Coral Beach and Innes Park, are new subdivisions to the south. The area really exploded from the 1980's, and has stalled a couple of times, with recession, and now is one of those times, especially in the holiday investment market. We had a guy start talking to us at a cafe. It never ceases to amaze us how some people can tell total strangers their entire life story, having known them for at least a minute! He lamented having purchased 2 waterfront penthouse apartments for $1.2 million each, and now with cash flow critical, couldn't sell them for $800,000.


Bargara has some lovely cafes. Kacy's and Salt opposite the beach, were both good, and the take away Fish n' Chips at Bradlees was excellent. For dinner, out of all the bars and gin joints in town, we chose Casablanca. It was excellent, though the servings were on the large side of enormous. You never want to meet the pig that Carol's delicious Pork Belly came from, and there is no way that the bird my fantastic duck breast came from, could ever fly. We enjoyed the most deliciously wicked entree we have seen in a long time. "Beer battered sourdough bread fingers, with caramelised sweet chilli dipping sauce". It came, served by a waiter trained in CPR, and was gone in seconds! When I begged Sam to play it again, he politely refused!


Just along the beach from our caravan park, is another beach called Mon Repos. It is home to Queensland's largest Turtle Rookery. November is the start of the nesting season, and there are tours each night, to initially watch the turtles laying eggs, then later in the season, to watch them hatch. The tours are very regulated as to when and what to see, and it has been a really slow start to the season, so we opt not to do the tour.

Carol at the Hinkler Aviation Hall.

Hinkler's English home.

Mostly we just vegged out. Surfed at the beach across the road, and swam at Shelly Beach, which was on the opposite side of town to our caravan park, but worth the drive. The rock pool area at the northern end of the beach was lovely. Mostly the coast is black rocks, with only small sandy sections randomly scattered along the way. We did go into Bundaberg, to visit the major sights, and explore the busy town centre, and shopping strip. We also found that there is a large shopping mall on the outskirts of town on the road to Childers. Bundaberg, was home town of famous aviator, Bert Hinkler. The Hinkler Aviation Hall is at the Botanic Gardens, and was a worthwhile visit. I had forgotten what an important part Bert Hinkler had played in Australia's history, and the aircraft industry. The displays, which include actual aircraft he owned and flew, were very well done. There are other museums, on general history and sugar, also within the Botanic Gardens. All very nice. The Aviation Hall was excellent, and it was surprising to learn that Hinkler's English home, had been dismantled, shipped to Bundaberg, and rebuilt opposite the Aviation Hall!

Sampling after the Bundy Tour.

In addition to Bert Hinkler, Bundaberg's other icons are Bundaberg Rum, and Bundaberg Ginger Beer. We toured, and sampled both. The Rum Distillery was an especially good and interesting tour, and it came with free samples! The Bundy Shop, which is the original homestead of one of the founders, now relocated to the Distillery site, sells only Bundy things, and it is not cheap.  The story the guide told of the Distillery burning to the ground in the 1930's, was a particularly good one. Apparently the fire was so intense that the Fire Chief instructed the vats be opened, and rum flowed through the streets of East Bundaberg. People were scooping it up in whatever vessels they could find. Rivers of flaming rum, ran into the Burnett River, and the surface of the river was covered in flaming rum and frying fish for days! Not sure how much was fact or fiction, but if the Distillery went up today, with the volumes of rum now stored, they reckon it would level one third of Bundaberg! The only thing missing was Bundy Bear. John was very disappointed that his cousin Bundy Bear, wasn't around! Apparently he was out of town, celebrating his 50th birthday. Hard to imagine that Bundy Bear is 50.


If there was ever any doubt that we can find the best food places in town, then check this out. We stopped to post a letter at a small local shopping centre, on the way out to Bargara. Carol spied a small gift shop, and went to explore. Turned out it was a nice gift shop, called "Saskia", with a small cafe out the back. The coffee was great, and the array of local, home made produce was amazing. Carol started talking to the waiter, and soon we find that this is a new venture, and their main store is on the main street in town, called "Indulge", open for breakfast, cake & coffee, and lunch. We decide on a breakfast, so a couple of days later, were met with the most diverse and mouth watering breakfast menu we have ever seen. The tastes exceeded the descriptions. All fresh, locally produced goods, beautifully presented. Shame we didn't find it earlier!

Ships stored off water!

Last stop for a visit, was the Port of Bundaberg, situated at the mouth of the Burnett River. The port is used for exporting sugar, so there aren't too many ships each year. There is now also a large marina, with a local fishing fleet. Spanner crab is now in season, so we stop and buy some fresh Spanner Crab meat. Delicious, and saves all the mess of shelling your own! We are surprised to see more boats stored on land than in the water. Not sure why? Around the area are a lot of holiday shacks, plus there are some lovely homes built along the river with their own jetties. A little further around the point is Burnett Heads. A lot of homes along the beach front, but not much else.


There is a nice golf course and Golf Club at Bargara, and John is booked in for the members mid week Xmas comp on Thursday. It was a shotgun start at the respectable hour of 11.00am. The course is very dry, but a fantastic day was had, playing with 3 local guys, Fred, Dave and Peter. Fred was in the money at the end of the day, finishing with 42 points. John brought up the rear in the group, with 29 points. Whilst all this was happening, Carol was having a girly pamper day, with a pedicure, and a visit to the hairdresser.


All in all, we have really enjoyed our stay around Bargara, and now it's a short haul back up to Agnes Water.