What do rum and turtles have in common (except maybe a recipe)? Bundaberg! After leaving Hervey Bay early in the morning we headed straight for the rum distillery. At the main entrance we met some guys from Brisbane who had two spare tickets for the full tour. So they sold them to us for 20 AUD per ticket instead of the regular 25 AUD.
There is first a museum to get some information about Bundaberg Rum and then we got picked up for our tour by Suzanna and Roz.
Unfortunately everything with batteries is not allowed inside the factory for fear of the third fire. So no cameras or phone, even no car keys.
Both tour guides were really funny, they told us about the history and the making of Bundaberg rum and showed us through the factory. At the end of the one-hour tour there was a tasting. Everyone could taste two drinks. Markus and I tried different ones, so we had the chance to taste the Double Barrel, The Light & Seedy, the Five and the Royal Liquor.
After the tour we had lunch in town, got to our accommodation for the night (Alexandra Lodge, the nicest we had so far), then got some things from the supermarket to prepare our dinner (wraps) and drove over to the Mon Repos Turtle Rookery for our Turtle Night Encounter. And there were about 200 other people for this!
We again met the Brisbane guys and talked to them while we waited. The rangers and guides patrolled the beach and upon a sight of a female turtle called the groups, to lead them to the turtle. We were in group no. 3 (this is according to the time of booking) and were called at about 9pm. Marine turtles lie there eggs at the beach they were born on and are easily disturbed. So no lights or cameras were allowed and we had to wait for quite a bit for the Loggerhead Turtle (an endangered species) to settle down to lie the eggs. We even got to touch two eggs! When she started filling the hole, we were finally allowed to take some pictures.
While we took the pictures another turtle approached us from behind! We stood perfectly still and it came straight towards where Markus and I were standing! It was very exciting. But after a while it turned around and got back into the ocean. It was too much for her with that 50 people around. The first turtle finished covering her eggs and we followed her back to the ocean. Then we were lead back to the information center and we drove back to our hotel. It was 11pm by then. This was another great experience that I wil hopefully remember all my life!
Yours rum-drinking-and-turtle-watching Stefanie
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Have your say now! Would you do the same thing or would you do it differently? Do you have any travel tipps for me for my onwards travels? let me know!