We didn't really have any plans today so Jane and I got out the Lonely Plant and had a look to see if there was anything that we could do today that was nearby. The only thing that we found that didn’t involve whale watching or visiting Fraser Island was a visit to the Bundaberg rum distillery and although neither of us were interested in rum we decided that it was at least somewhere to go and also better than just driving around for the day.

www.bundabergrum.com.au

It was about a 150km drive out to the town of Bundaberg which took around 2 hours to get there, so by the time we arrived it was 12:30, so we decided to park up on the grass and have some lunch before heading in to the factory for their tour.

Due to the high alcohol content of the rum and also the alcohol vapours in the air we were not allowed to take anything into the factory that had a battery in and that included the obvious such as cameras, phones etc and also included things like lighters and also things not so obvious such as watches.

We were taken around the factory and got to taste some molasses (waste product from sugar cane processing) that tasted a bit like liquorice and wasn’t nice at all. You could almost get drunk around here just from the vapours in the air. So on the tour I didn’t get any pictures except the ones you see from outside of the building, but we did get to sample 2 glasses of the rum at the bar at the end of the tour but as I was driving I only took a small sip from each and left the rest of the glass. Jane didn’t like rum at all so just had a glass of coke.

History lesson for today.....

Bundaberg Rum originated because the local sugar mills had a problem with what to do with the waste molasses after the sugar was extracted (it was heavy, difficult to transport and the costs of converting it to stock feed were rarely worth the effort). Sugar men first began to think of the profits that could be made from distilling. The vital meeting was held at the Royal Hotel on 1 August 1885, W M C Hickson served as the chairman, and other notables in attendance included all the big sugar mill owners of that time, W G Farquhar, F L Nott, S McDougall, T Penny, S H Bravo and A H Young, all to become the first directors of the Company. They started with a capital of 5,000 pounds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundaberg_Rum

Once back in Hervey Bay Jane and I drove into town and stopped at the Irish bar for dinner which Jane insisted that she paid for me as I had driven her to the rum distillery and not asked her for any petrol money. Thanks Jane.

We didn’t have any desert as we wanted to head back to the hostel as Emma was due back from her Fraser Island trip this evening and we had arranged to meet up with her in the bar and I wanted to know how her trip was as I hadn’t decided whether or not I was going to pay Fraser Island a visit. I was still unsure due to the cost of the trips and I didn’t know if I should do a self drive trip or one on a bus. I am so indecisive.

Emma arrived back at around 20:00 and although she had had a good time on Fraser Island, she wished that she had done the 3 day / 2 night trip and not the 2 day / 1 night trip as she had made some friends there and had to leave them behind on the island as most of them were staying for 2 nights and she had to leave to come back.