Tales From the Trip - Bundaberg Rum

Of course when you visit Bundaberg, one of the first things that come to mind is the Bundaberg Rum distillery. Or it comes to mind if you live in Queensland, have watched any kind of sport in Queensland, or have been in Queensland for all of 5 minutes. Otherwise, you'd be clueless. I'm also afraid this post is without photos, which I'll fully explain in just a minute or two.

It was a rainy Sunday when we rucked up to the Distillery - all testosterone except for Yours Truly. The rest of the estrogen brigade - Miss Thing and Her Majesty - opted to stay back at the caravan. The Gold Pass Tour included a tour of the distillery, historical displays and 2 free samples. Under 18s were welcome, but only soft drink for them at the end. There were quite a few kiddies on the tour, the youngest of which was Clive. We were told we had to put all of our belongings - purses, wallets, keys and anything with a battery - into a locker for safety reasons. With all those alcohol fumes wafting around the smallest spark from a malfunctioning mobile phone could make a big mess indeed. As we waited in a group of 50 or so people for our tour guide, the rain stopped and the sun peeped out. Very fortuitous as most of the tour is out of doors.

Bundy Rum is located next to a sugar mill, very convenient considering the first step in making rum is molasses, a by-product of turning sugar cane into sugar. We crossed the railroad tracks and made our way over to the molasses pit or well. Molasses are pumped directly from the mill into the wells, the deepest of which is 19 feet! Molasses are not uncommon in New England, so I was familiar with them and seeing this monster pit the size of several Olympic size swimming pools reminded me of the Boston Molasses Disaster of 1919, part of local lore when I was growing up. We were allowed a taste of molasses, and 99% of the people (the Hermit and Sparky included) did not care for them. I didn't mind them, but Clive simply loved it. We had to bring his wooden stick up for seconds! The molasses are then fermented with yeast for 36 hours before being piped over to the distillation columns.

The smell changed from the darkly sweet cane to raw alcohol, and we were shown a sample of raw rum. The smell would put rubbing alcohol to shame. No wonder Clive was a little groggy at this point. This part of the tour had the potential to be very boring, but our guides Beth and Steve were fabulous and made it very fun and funny. We next walked over to one of the buildings holding the massive vats of rum as they aged. How massive? Try 75,000 litres worth of rum, or a street value of $6 million dollars, a third of which goes to the government in taxes. I believe Steve said there were about 200 vats in the special buildings, and there was a massive expansion in the works. That's a lot of rum, folks. And a lot of tax dollars. The vats are made from white oak sourced from the Appalachian Mountains in the States, so a shout out to the Yanks in the making of Bundy Rum! While we were not allowed into the building, we were allowed to peek through the door to have a look and get a whiff of even more alcohol fumes. I wonder if you ever get used to it? Given the wit of our tour guides, my guess is no.

Our second to last stop was the bottling plant. Since it was a Sunday the plant was closed, so we watched a brief video describing the process. It was probably the least-exciting part of the tour, especially knowing what was next. Our last stop was outside the distillery proper and into the bar, where we could get our free drinks. I had assumed that the drinks would be quite small, but they were standard sized drinks of their various products. Sure there's regular Bundy Rum, but there's also Bundy OP (overproof) Rum, a triple filtered rum, Rum and Cola Draught, the various RTDs and the one that caught my attention, the Royal Liqueur. It is a blend of rum, chocolate and caramel and is only available for purchase from the distillery. I knew what I was having! After my two drinks made with the Royal Liqueur - a Dirty Harry and a Pink Polar Bear - I was very glad the Hermit was driving. We had the obligatory t-shirt purchase, where I also bought Sparky a cap and flask that were on sale and a bottle of the Royal Liqueur for myself, and headed for home lighter of wallet as well as in the head.

If you're interested, go check out the official website found embedded in the title of the post (you'll have to enter your country and birthdate in the name of responsible drinking) to see some interesting history of the plant, like the massive fire in 1936. If you've never seen any ads, check out these videos on YouTube here, here, and here. Or hell, just go to Bundaberg and visit for yourself and have a Bundy Rum.

Match Report Monday - Twofer!

I didn't do the Match Report last week owing to the round of illness that swept through the house, among other things. So here's the quick recap from last week before I get to this weeks:

Round 10 U13s, Div 2
Date: 18 July 2008, 7:15 pm kickoff
Where: Purtell Park, Bardon
Who: Wests Panthers v Valleys Diehards
Score: 38-20, Panthers. How sweet it is!!!

It's always good to get a win over Valley's, especially after DJ's nasty injury at their hands two years ago. I have to say that the player behaviour has improved - not an entire penalty was given in the first half, and very few in the second. I wish I could say the same for the behaviour of their parents. We Wests parents tend to be loud with our encouragement and give even louder cheers when the boys score. However, we also clap when the other team score a try - albeit not so loudly. Most other teams' parents do as well. Not Valleys. The only time they came to life was to scream loudly for Josh to be sent off when he executed a bone crunching tackle that left one of their smaller players clutching his ribs and gasping for breath. Yes, there was a bit of lift but only because Josh tackled so hard and the boy was so much smaller. Josh can be brutal but not malicious - in fact he apologised 3 times, including after the game when an ambulance was called. That's far more than I got when DJ was carried off the field in a neck brace; I never got an acknowledgement or an inquiry, never mind an apology. As I recall, we didn't even get a penalty! Several parents also followed Coach Thom after the game, complaining our boys were sledging. Again, yes there were words exchanged between both teams but there were handshakes after the full-time whistle; the majority of boys on both teams get that line between on-field BS and dirty name calling. Personally, I wish there was none of it but I also live in reality. Valleys parent should try it sometime. Your boys did it too so I suggest looking at them before you accuse us.

So with that nonsense out of the way it was a great win. The first minute was terrible as with the first touch of the ball Valleys scored down the right side. The boys quickly pulled their heads in and from then on it was game on. DJ was the first to crash through the line to even the score at 4-all, followed not long after by Josh... I think. Events are hazy two weeks on. Valley's struck back to level it 8-all, but for the rest of the first half it was the Wests show. Even in the second half Valley's didn't stand much of a chance. Tries were spread evenly around, with nods to DJ, Josh, Charlie, Scott, Jack the Taller and two by Sean - who I found out later was offered chocolate by Coach Thom if he'd just run straight instead of sideways. It worked, apparently. Again, great effort by all the boys.

Round 11 U13s, Div 2
Date: 27 July 2008, 11:15 am kickoff
Where: Ken Hayward Oval, Deception Bay
Who: Deception Bay Wanderers v Wests Panthers
Score: Game Cancelled. What????

I got the email Friday afternoon that stated all games at Deception Bay had been cancelled. We'd had some rain Wednesday and Thursday - in fact training had been called off Thursday due to rain. Now we have pretty damp field that doesn't drain well, and more rain fell on Deception Bay than Brisbane, but to cancel a game for Sunday on Friday? That's pretty sad.

No word yet if the game will be replayed. This is a different situation than when the entire round was cancelled earlier in the year - everyone got 1 point and no one was worse off. However the other 6 teams in the division were able to play, and missing out on two points when the boys are just outside of the top 4 is pretty crucial. Especially when one of the teams ahead of them is Deception Bay! I'm of the opinion that if the game cannot be replayed, we should get the points. It's not our fault the field at Deception Bay is unfit to be played on. If we lose then it's our loss, but to be denied the points through no fault of our own is a bit unfair. What I suspect will happen is that it will be called a draw and both teams will get 1 point. I'll let you know.

We play Albany Creek this Sunday, a team we have a 1-1 record against. We had hoped they'd get up over Brighton this past weekend to allow us to slip into 4th even if we only get 1 point, but that didn't happen. With the return of Jarrod this week the boys will be ready to take on the Albany Creek side and take their place in the top 4. Go Panthers!!!

Tales From the Trip - Bundaberg Brewed Drinks

On our second day in Bundy we took a drive around to get the lay of the land. We knew we wanted to go and visit the Bundaberg Rum distillery, which we thought we'd found when we came across this:

How delightfully wrong we were. The distillery was down the road, and we had stumbled upon the Bundaberg Brewed Drinks barrel. I insisted we go back a few days later, and when we did I ventured inside to see what it was all about. For $6 a head - Clive was free and Her Majesty was $4 I think - we could take the tour and have free samples of the product. Free samples? I was sold. We unloaded the kids - except for Sparky who stayed back at the caravan and who regretted it later - and went on in.

The tour is not of the manufacturing plant or anything like that - instead it features information about the history of ginger beer and the brewing process in a very fun format. Each area is designed as a different space where ginger beer may have been found - kitchen, backyard shed, laboratory - and is full of colourful signs and interactive displays. Her Majesty loved it, and Clive liked being free of his stroller and be able to touch things without being told 'no' too often. We spent about 30 minutes making our way through the different displays; we made our own virtual ginger beer, guessed the various ingredients that make up the different drinks via the sniff test and made yeasty bubbles.

At the end is a small theatre that shows a 15 minute holographic movie. The movie features Doug, the brewers yeast (I think that's the correct term) and his journey from NSW brewery to Bundaberg. It's very cleverly done and the man who plays Doug is pretty funny - even Miss Thing gave it the thumbs up. Clive spent his time running through the curtain and into the hallway, but since the place wasn't crowded he didn't bother anyone but his poor mother who had to keep an eye on him.

We exited the tour area and found ourselves, naturally, in the gift shop. Why does everything end in the gift shop? This was one time I didn't mind as it was where the bar was found and we ambled over - after pulling Clive away from a display of glasses and strapping him back into his stroller - for our ginger beer taste. And here is where the $6 price tag became real value; not only was there ginger beer, but a total of 11 different drinks to try! That's a lot of carbonation, and we all loved it.

I had tried ginger beer a year or so after my arrival in Australia, thinking it might be like ginger ale. It wasn't, of course, and so I decided I didn't like it. Now maybe my taste buds had changed since then, or maybe the brand I had tried wasn't Bundaberg, but after my first sip of this Ginger Beer I was delighted. The Diet Ginger Beer was even better - at least I thought so. Next up was the Lemon Lime & Bitters, both regular and diet. I have enjoyed this drink before and this was no exception, with my usual preference for diet beverages being overruled in this instance. The next bottle to be cracked open was the Sarsaparilla. Root beer is not sold in Australia; the closest a Yank will come is sarsaparilla. With its liquorice after-taste I am not a fan of Sars, as the drink is commonly known. I nearly put my hand over my cup when the Bundaberg Sars came out, but I'm very glad I didn't. The liquorice taste is one of the mildest I have ever come across, especially in the Diet Sars. It was my new favourite drink.

Next up were the fruity drinks - Peachee, Lemon Ale and Apple Ale. Miss Thing really enjoyed the Lemon Ale, and I have to say all 3 were very good. The fruit taste was very full bodied and fresh, especially in the Peachee and Apple Ale. These would be excellent on a hot Queensland summer day, and a splash of vodka would not go astray. Next was the Royal Crown Draft Cola - a sweet, high caffeine cola that had a distinct chocolate and caramel after-taste. Needless to say I liked it. In doing the web address searches for this blog entry, I discovered that the drink comes from RC Cola in the States, although it is now very limited there. Bundaberg Brewed Drinks now makes it for Australian distribution, and it remains popular in Australia, New Zealand and France. The last drink was the Bungundee, an incredibly sweet raspberry-like soda. It's their only drink that uses artificial sugars, and I'll give them credit for owning up right from the start. Her Majesty loved it, but it was my least favourite drink. Far too sweet for me.

After picking up a couple of mixed 6 packs and some other assorted t-shirts, we headed out the door. My only regret is that I didn't buy an entire case of the Diet Sarsaparilla or the Royal Crown as they have been impossible to find in my corner of Brisbane. Now for all the 'ifs'. If you click the title of the post you can visit the website, and it has some further info on all the drinks as well as a recipe page for cocktails and food. I may try the Ginger Beer Battered Chicken Strips - they sound good. If you haven't already and if you're so inclined, you can see our pictures from the day here. Finally if you ever go to Bundaberg, I would recommend a stop here. And if you do go, please let me know so you can bring back some drinks for me!

Tales From the Trip - Pictures

I've gotten two albums up from the trip. One is a general album that you can see here (Miss Thing did some of the labelling on them - you'll spot it quickly enough), and the second contains photos from our tour of the Bundaberg Brewed Drinks factory. This is not to be confused with the Bundaberg Rum tour we did (and which I don't have photos of - I'll explain later), and I plan to do the write up of the Brewed Drinks tour tomorrow. You may want to wait til then to see the pictures, but if you just can't you can see them here.

Nice to be back.

Saturday Skinfest

... is back baby!!! I'm still in a "blah" kind of mood, but I couldn't let it go another week without a helping of NRL skin. If these blokes don't lift my mood, I don't know what will:

Billy Slater like to play with not just footy balls, but other balls as well. Insert your own joke here.

Looks like Anthony Minichiello has stopped using so much body wax, and he's better for it.

I think all NRL games should be played by men wearing jersey's half torn from their bodies.

Sophie Monk seems lost in prayer. I'm praying for God to somehow swap my body with hers.

More skin next week, I promise!!!

Photo Friday

Still ongoing drama, but at least not of the "bodily fluid out various orifices" kind. So I'm slowly working my way back with today's Photo Friday:

Taken on the beach at the Mon Repos turtle rookery beach up in Bundy. Father and son, both of whom hate the beach, share a moment.

Happy Birthday

Wow, guess who's five today?

Since Clive is feeling much better this morning - although I confess to feeling a bit queasy, but nothing horrible - we'll be heading out shortly to go get presents. I couldn't get out and do them yesterday as I had planned, but there's one that I need Her Majesty for anyway so that's where we're headed.

More to come.

The Hits, They Keep Coming

After getting my phone line restored Saturday, I phoned Momma Mooselet on Sunday to reassure her all is well and that I'd be back blogging this week.

Alas, Clive decided to come down with gastroenteritis and foil my plans.

He's spewed a few times today, with a HUGE one all over himself in the car as I pulled into the car park of Her Majesty's preschool. Thank goodness I had the foresight to bring his bag with me with a change of clothes. I begged a couple of towels from the day care to put in his car seat so I could get Miss Thing from the dentist and off to school before I went home.

He's just woken from a brief nap, so I'm off to see if I can get some more nasty tasting yet full of electrolytes Hydrolyte into him so he doesn't dehydrate.

I will be back eventually... I may smell of vomit, but I'll be back.

Technical Difficulties

As Miss WTF mentioned in a comment on the last post, I'm offline for a few more days. My phone line went dead yesterday morning and so I phoned my phone company, Telstra, to enquire about the problem. Bottom line is that yes, it's there a problem on the line so it's Telstra's responsibility to fix it. And when can I expect that to happen, I asked? Sometime between now and Tuesday. That's a hell of a repair window.

So I'm using the Hermit's work laptop and wireless connection to do a quick post of apology... and to warn Miss WTF not to mess with my tips, even though I profusely thank her for entering my tips yesterday so I can continue to flog her in the tipping competition. I may sneak on tomorrow after doing some write ups on my computer and post them, but I can't promise. Will be back on ASAP.

Love,
Mooselet

Tales From the Trip - the Park

I've been trying to upload a few pictures to go along with the post, but Blogger keeps telling me the photos have "internal errors". I have no idea what that means, but I'm sick of dealing with it. I will try to have pictures up in my online photo albums tonight and if they work, then I'll add a couple here. Otherwise, boring words only. Sorry...

When I say that we've had a camping holiday, I'm telling a partial truth. Yes we have the camper trailer so we don't stay in a hotel/motel/resort, but it's not quite "camping" in the pure sense. We stay in a caravan or holiday park, complete with power, water and an amenities block - toilets and HOT showers. I think all of them have also had shared kitchen/barbeque areas, which we have sometimes used, and most have some facilities to entertain the kids be it a simple playground, a pool or the full-on facilities of the park we stayed at up in Cairns back in '06. So to define this as camping depends where you stand on the outdoors scale. If you settle for nothing less than 4 brick and mortar walls for your vacation, then it's camping. If your idea of camping is a tent and a campfire in the middle of a state park with your only lights coming from candles and your toilet is behind a tree, then I don't camp.

But for me, these types of parks are the way to go. This time we stayed at Bargara Beach Caravan Park in the beautiful seaside town of, well, Bargara. Bargara is a 10-15 minute drive from Bundaberg, and the caravan park is all of 2 minutes from central Bargara (such as it is). The park is set on 16 acres right across the road from the beach, which for me is heaven. I love the ocean. During the late spring/summer months the beach is patrolled, indeed the Surf Lifesavers Club is right there, so it's ideal for the family. At either end of the beach are piles of rocks which the kids loved to climb on and fish out bits of shells, rocks and coral. 3 out of 4 kids enjoyed it. Clive, however, did not enjoy it as he hated the feeling of sand on his bare feet. The first time I took him down I ended up sitting with him on my lap, making sure his feet didn't come into contact with a single grain. I learned my lesson after that and made sure he always had his shoes. It didn't stop him from falling over into a tidal puddle, but it did keep the sand off his feet.

The park was very crowded, yet it wasn't noisy at all. This was due to the fact that the vast majority of guests were what we referred to back in the States as 'snowbirds' - older folks from the colder parts of the country (here it would be the southern states of Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales) coming to warmer climates for the winter. A lot of them go ga-ga over Her Majesty and Clive, and so I had a few conversations as we played on the playground and the women came to get some faux-grandma time. Seeing as mine don't see their biological grandparents, it's a win-win situation for all concerned. There are two playgrounds available, one within the park and one directly across the road in front of the SLC, and a skate park and bowl if your older kids are so inclined. There is a well maintained walking path along the beach into town - a 15 minute walk with great scenery.

The facilities were very clean with two large amenities blocks. I always maintain that there are never enough laundry facilities at the parks and this park was no exception. 5 typical crappy Laundromat style washers and 2 dryers, but at least there were many Hills Hoists clotheslines scattered throughout the park. You've got to be early to snag a few lines for yourself, however, what with the oldies starting their washing at oh-dawn-thirty.

There was not a lot of road lighting, which once I got used to I quite liked. Make sure you have a torch/flashlight on any night time excursions and you'll be right. We had magnificent views of the night sky once the rain cleared out, with big patches of the Milky Way visible. In the summer months you can book tours from the park out to the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef and a few islands. You can also book a tour of the Bundaberg Rum distillery from there, although it was just as easy to do it from the distillery. More on that later.

All in all, quite a nice place to stay. If you're looking for a place to stay up in Bundaberg where you can see the sights and enjoy a fantastic beach, this is the place for you. 4 out of 5 moose antlers from Yours Truly.

Photo Friday

Here's a taste of what you'll be seeing over the next few days:

This was from the garden of one of the permanent residents of the park we stayed at. Cool cow.

... And We're Back

We stayed an extra day so we didn't get back to Brisbane til yesterday afternoon. By the time we unloaded the camper trailer, started laundry, and began to put things away it was early evening. And by then I was exhausted, hence no post til now.

Everyone had a great time and no one wanted to come home. Her Majesty is still upset that we're back; not even the thought of her own bed in her own room with her own toys could cheer her up. Even Miss Thing enjoyed it - she begged to stay the extra night. So watch this space for more stories and pictures.

So Long, Farewell...

But only for a week. Had you for a sec, didn't I?

We're leaving this morning for a week's vacation. We've loaded up the camper trailer and are heading north to Bargara Beach, just outside of Bundaberg. It's about a 4 hour drive, which is the limit of what Clive can handle in a car. Like last time, we'll be staying in the one spot all week. You can check out where we'll be and be envious by clicking here.

The twist in this trip is the inclusion of Miss Thing. On Sunday, she asked if it wasn't too late for her to change her mind and to come along. She said it was "boring" at home last time, although the pictures we discovered indicated she and a few friends found a way to relieve some of the boredom and if she stayed behind it would've been with someone else and not home alone. So she and Sparky will be sleeping in the tent - complete with air mattress, so don't feel sorry for them - to give all some extra room, especially as Clive is still in the porta-cot.

I've been told there are turtles at the Mons Repos Turtle Rookery (at least as of last week, when a co-worker was there) and I plan on a trip to the Bundaberg Rum distillery, but otherwise it's a week of relaxation. We'll be back in Brisbane on Thursday, where you'll get to be bored silly thrilled by tales from the trip.

See you then!! Oh, and a Happy 4th of July to everyone back in the States!!!