We've packed so much into this holiday. I'm very surprised at how much we've done, and how happy the kids have been with this arrangement. It actually works better for Eleanor if we fit in some kind of adventure in the morning, and leave the afternoons free for resting, so we've added a few adventures to our list.
One of those unscheduled adventures was a trip to Bundaberg, where we met some of Zan's relatives, and had a quick peek into the Ginger Beer factory.
Don't mind the ridic expression on my face - that's just me fake-posing for the camera. Dress by Mani-ma.
Pretty much everywhere you drive on the Fraser Coast (where we are), you see these fields and fields of cane. They are snake heaven, apparently, so all looking is done from the safety of our vehicle. My overall impression of this place is sun and sugar cane, they are definitely two of the most outstanding natural features, so it was kinda cool to see where all this cane ends up. In a gigantic half barrel, apparently.
I'll be honest, we spent quite a lot of time hanging out with Zan's uncle and aunt, so we didn't actually do the factory tour, which is apparently just some computerized thing anyway, not an actual factory tour. But we did buy a bunch of crappy souvenirs, and a whole lot of really cheap Ginger Beer (like, 55c a bottle cheap). We did also see lots and lots of trucks bearing sugar cane. And then this:
Really long cargo train. Which was quite cool, except that we had a crying baby in the car and all that.
Bundaberg itself seemed like a pretty boring town, but it was quite a fleeting visit, so who knows. The car trip was nice though. Very Queensland-y. Lots of sugar cane and gum trees and burnt orange earth. Even though the snakes/spideys/gigantic predators of Fraser Coast freak the crap out of me, I find the landscape quite beautiful, in an almost unsettling way. There's something, it's hard to describe. It's dry, burnt and sparse. There's barely a wind to shift the short, dead grass. But I can't rip my eyes away from it. The loosely arranged trees, almost naked compared to the native bush we find at home. Every shade of brown and grey and dirty green. It's lonely. It's dusty. It's beautiful.
Hmm, this post was supposed to be about Bundaberg I think. I have been diverted by my own photos (almost all taken from out of our car window - beautiful as the landscape may be, I only want to get so close to it). Basically, I love Bundaberg Ginger Beer, and it was pretty cool to buy it directly from the source, for like, a quarter what I've paid for it in NZ. Yeah. Savings right there. And that we got to drive through landscapes so vastly different from home (even if it became monotonous at times), was just a bonus. Cool adventure.
