Blogs from Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 5

Die nächsten zwei Tage standen im Zeichen von 1.000 Kilometer auf dem A1 Pacific Highway der Ostküste. Dieser umspannt ¾ des Kontinents und führt entlang der Küste von Australien. Unser erster Stop war in Bundaberg, der Rum-Hauptstadt von Australien. Dort besichtigten wir die berühmte Bundaberg Rum Destillery. Da wir die einzigen Gäste waren, kamen wir in den Genuss einer Privatführung durch unseren Guide „Sam“. Neben der Besichtigung der einzelnen Produktionsprozesse waren die riesigen Eichenfässer (60.000 Liter Rum) eines der Highlights der Führung. In Summe lagern hier Rum im Wert von 1.8 Millarden Australian Dollar (liquid Gold). Am Ende der Führung konnten wir uns selbst ein Bild über den Geschmack des seit 1888 produzierten Rums machen. Vom 5 Jahren alten „Reserve“, über einen Liquor, der Baileys sehr ähnelt, bis hin zu einer köstlichen mit Rum verfeinerten Marmelade, ... read more

Rocky and Reaching my Destination Towards the end, I couldn't wait to get off the good ship Whitehaven. The Kiwi skipper fulfilled his job description with an awfully trite speech: "I hope you had a great time because I know we had a great time!". We all just stared at each other blankly but he kept going wihilst I wanted to jump overboard... it was excruciating... I've never wanted something so bad to end. Escaping the boat and back on shore Heather, Anne and I were more than ready for lunch. We stopped off at the Magnum B and had, (it never ceases to amaze me here) fish and chips - yes those fish ‘n’ chips and even served by an English lad. Anne soon left to catch her flight to New Zealand so Heather and ... read more

Having seen most of what Hervey Bay (God’s waiting room is what the locals call it!) has to offer we had another dinner of microwave popcorn and set off in search of our next beachfront campsite. After studying the maps and all the information leaflets we made our way a bit further along the Bruce Highway to the town of 1770. There’s not really much going on in 1770, it’s the size of a postage stamp but luckily we called ahead and managed to get the last spot in the only campsite there which had a lovely beach where about 10 pelicans would congregate just before sunset - picture postcard stuff. We didn’t really do that much in 1770 except sit on the beach reading and improve our camp cooking skills, we did however have some ... read more

We stayed in a place called Rockhampton last night, it is known as the beef capital of Australia; there are over 1 million cows in the surrounding area. The evening was pretty uneventful; we just pulled up at a caravan park for the night so I’ll just move on. Today we went to the Bundaberg Factory and it was wicked! Bundaberg is an Australian made rum that we have been drinking since we got here (Bundy and coke), and we love it! When we saw that Bundaberg was only a little out of our way on the map we thought we just have to go there! The tour was really very good; we got to see all working parts of the factory and so we were not allowed to bring any mobile phones or anything with ... read more

Hervey Bay - Rockhampton A long drive again as we drive 380km from Hervey Bay to Rockhampton. The journey nearly doesn’t start at all after Greg whacks the car against a high kerb on the way into the supermarket car park. In typical Nikki style, I take a bit of a strop as I panic Greg has wrecked the tyre and we will have to buy a new one. Luckily it is okay, and we continue on, albeit in silence for the first hour as I try to calm down. Things get a bit hairy for poor Trixiebell as we get detoured through a slippery dirt track road for a few kilometers, but like a true pro she battles on through. Half way there we stop in at a revive stop where they give you free ... read more