After leaving Maryborough we headed to Bundaberg for a few days where we did mostly regular tourist stuff: we visited the Botanic Gardens, the Bert Hinkler Museum and Hinkler House, the Bundaberg Barrel (home to Bundaberg Ginger Beer) and Bundy Kegs (the cooperage that makes and maintains the vats for the Bundaberg Distillery) and of course we did a tour – and a bit of tasting and buying – at the Bundaberg Distillery!
One of the things that really has struck us as we have travelled through regional Australia is the way in which local communities come together to support each other and to honour the achievements and sacrifices of the members of their community.
Hinkler House is a case in point … Bert Hinkler, who in 1928 was the first person to fly solo from England to Australia, was a Bundaberg local who lived for a time in the UK in a home he named ‘Mon Repos’ after the beach near Bundaberg where he first started flying. In late 1982, it was learned that ‘Mon Repos’ was to be demolished to make way for a block of old age units and with only weeks to spare a group of Bundaberg residents formed a committee and put together a proposal to relocate ‘Mon Repos’ to Bundaberg – the result was that the demolition was deferred until 30 June 1983. The necessary funds were raised and with the help of British Aerospace (Bert’s former employer), the Royal Australian Navy, the Royal Navy, the Royal Dutch Navy, Qantas, Woolworths, Wide Bay Capricorn Building Society, Mathers, Westpac, Rotary and many other people ‘Mon Repos’ was dismantled in May/June 1983, shipped to Bundaberg, painstakingly reconstructed and officially opened to the public in June 1984. What a wonderful achievement in such a short space of time!
From Bundaberg we continued on to Agnes Water/1770 – we had originally intended only to be there for a couple of days but as those days coincided exactly with the arrival of a major storm system (which subsequently wreaked havoc and caused major damage from Hervey Bay all the way down the east coast of the Australia mainland and north-east Tasmania) we decided two things: the first was that we would stay in ‘hard’ accommodation (eg, a motel, cabin, B&B, etc); and the second was that we would stay in Agnes Water/1770 for an extra couple of days in case the impending storm meant we had to stay indoors for a day or two. (As it turned out Agnes Water/1770 was just on the edge of the storm and apart from receiving about 50mm of rain in a torrential downpour that woke us at 3AM on our first night there we had fine weather the rest of the time.)
Ron found a most wonderful place for us to stay – the LaLa Land Eco Holiday Retreat in Agnes Water. It’s a lovely place with four self-contained cabins and is owned and managed by Kent, a local artist, and his wife Lisa. Kent’s lovely artworks are displayed in an outdoor gallery and in the cabins and he has also created a delightful tourist map of the Agnes Water/1770 area (what a great way to support and promote local tourism!). Apart from enjoying the peaceful and quiet surroundings – and having a larger space to live in for a few days – we also had the opportunity to get up close and personal with a freshwater turtle that lives in one of the ponds and a Tawny Frogmouth that spent a whole day perched on one of Ken’s artworks (I was able to get very close to it to photograph it and occasionally it would strike up the classic ‘I am really a dead branch’ Tawny Frogmouth pose while very so slightly opening its eye to check if I was still there).
We did most of the walks in the region including the ‘Coastal Paperbark Forest Walk’ – the land where this walk is based was donated by local property owners and, along with some of the other walks we did, is maintained by residents of the ‘Sunrise at 1770’ community. We also did a one hour 1770 LARC (Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo) tour which was fantastic and exceeded our expectations. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to do the LARC tour that visits the Bustard Head Lighthouse which was only re-opened a few years ago after a local community group, lead by a former lighthouse keeper and his wife, raised almost $500,000 to restore this heritage listed building to it’s former glory. Next time …
We also explored the 4WD trails and beaches of the Eurimbula and Deepwater National Parks (where we found lots of pieces of pumice on the beach – some were as large as rockmelons/cantaloupes!), visited Baffle Creek and watched the lovely sunsets over the 1770 marina and Bustard Bay (I even worked out how to set my little camera up to take time lapse photos which I used to create a short video of the sunset on our last day there – enjoy!)
After spending almost five lovely days in Agnes Water/1770 we packed up and headed for Rockhampton …
The car and the camper …
Prior to leaving Maryborough we got a wheel alignment done on the FJ Cruiser as the steering wheel was off-centre to the right. Annoyingly after the wheel alignment was done the steering wheel was then off-centre to the left and we were told this is how it should be so that it will be straight when we drive on roads with a steep camber. First time either of us had ever heard this in our combined 80 years of driving so we asked them to redo it and set it so that the steering wheel was straight. Unfortunately it’s still not quite straight and the FJ pulls a bit to the right but as we used a franchised national business that offers a service warranty we’ll take it to another franchisee to get it sorted.
Not much happening with the camper except that when we refitted the safari roof after repairing the velcro strap we apparently didn’t get it lined up exactly as it was beforehand. We had some light but persistent rain in Bundaberg and ended up with a pool of water – and a wet roof – directly over our bed. Obviously we needed to get this sorted before the next time we *had* to camp in the rain and it was one of the reasons we chose to stay in a cabin at Agnes Water – the other being that a super storm was expected to descend on Agnes Water the day after we arrived bringing up to 200mm of rain. We opened up the camper prior to leaving Agnes Water and realigned the safari roof making sure the edge of the roof lined up with the edge seam – hopefully we’ve got it right! The only other thing we’ve done is purchase a piggy-back extension cord so that when we’re on 240v we can also have power in the spare room (we plug the fridge plug in the battery box into the extension cord) – handy for blogging!
Photos
Timelapse video of sunset over 1770 marina and Bustard Bay
YouTube video taken by other passengers on our LARC tour
LITES
05-Jul-16 — 1254
Hello Ronnie and Sweets,
Goodness you both have been gallivanting around the place haven’t you? Sorry I haven’t been in touch, but I had a nasty fall in the ensuite end of May and ended up in emergency with a fractured lateral tibial plateau of my left knee. Apparently, it is a crucial weight bearing bone structure, so needless to say I have been sitting on my backside all day, every day trying to keep myself and brain stimulated. We are so glad you both are having such fun!
News our end, not a lot really other than my fall and Bix is well and running around like a cut chook, he is exhausted keeping up with my demands, trying to keep outside of house and inside clean and tidy.
Having a fractured left knee has seriously put a damper on my fun. I was naked at the time of my fall, (I know visually the image is not great, but we won’t go there). I was outside cleaning the shower and the ruddy bathmat slipped from under me which caused my right leg to slide out to the side and my left to buckle under me so that I ended up landing on my touché on the cold tiles and my left leg looked like a frogs leg. Thank goodness, Bix was home at the time otherwise I would’ve had to call the paramedics and CFA to come and break in and rescue me!!!! As long as they were tall, dark and handsome, that wouldn’t have worried me. I have always liked a man in uniform!!!!
The thought of stacking 2 empty milk crates to sit in the shower horrified me if Bix wasn’t here. Otherwise I would’ve had to buy volleyball knee pads to wear to crawl short distances in the house which would have saved at least one knee and the novelty would have worn off real quick.
Meanwhile, whilst I have been resting I have been thinking and contemplating (which is a dangerous thing for me to do apparently), that I might learn a new language or make up my own! I might get onto duolingo and give it a go!
The thought of joining an online community forum for people recovering on one foot also crossed my mind.
My tasks of late have been to exercise my non-broken muscles and try to NOT gain weight. I stay up late as long as I want, sleep in as long as I can and nap whenever I want. I have even tried practicing yoga in bed, however that has not been very successful. I asked Bix if we could hold an ‘Italian’ evening for two like listening to ‘Italian’ music, eat ‘Italian’ inspired food and try a few phrases. His response was why don’t we try an ‘Aussie’ evening for two with a meat pie and chips and listen to ACDC and I won’t mention the phrases. I have also been thinking about redecorating the house, and even myself, with henna! I might even take up meditation and make myself up a ‘happy box’ that I can dive into, to ward off the blue times with self care and ethical delights. An indoor sandbox would be nice, with a mini rake.
Even reading the Bible and memorising the scriptures had occurred to me, so that I can keep my mind active. I thought I could even go fishing and read knitting for dummies to learn how to knit. I wouldn’t mind having crocheted covers for my crutches and some ‘toe cozies’ since my toes are always freezing cold! Another idea was I could create a youtube account and post videos hobbling on my crutches and you could both keep up to date with my progress. (as if)!!! I could also learn to play the ukulele as it only has 3 chords, is very easy and I could sing through my youtube clip.
I have also called friends that I haven’t spoken to for some time, which has been great. Gosh I even considered learning how to juggle, perfect my paper airplane making skills and writing a letter about something I am passionate about to the editor of the East Gippsland Chronicle or whatever it is! Even the thought of going to Sun Cinema in the middle of the day to enjoy a ‘private’ showing would have been something to look forward to, except my leg wouldn’t fit and I wouldn’t be able to sit down to enjoy the movie.
I thought I could plan a trip for when I recover, but I don’t have to because that has already been done, since we are travelling to Vietnam in August. Bix has been especially attentive and I am enjoying it, however he has not been so quick to respond to some of my pleas and I continually remind him about ‘for better or worse, in sickness and in health part’. I was even thinking of sending him to VICROADS to get a ‘handicap sticker’ for my car, since I am handicapped at the moment!
I want to get a head start on birthday cards for the year or even a Christmas letter. I never have enough time normally. So If I send them early (even 5 months early my friends and relatives will sure to be impressed).
I started a family tree on the genealogy website ancestry.com, but found that it was too convoluted and boring as bat ****, and quite frankly it was all too much, and I ended up cancelling my account. Going through all my important papers and shredding the ones I don’t need anymore has been very therapeutic to say the least. Even entertaining the dogs (any myself) with a laser pointer sounded interesting except Bix said the laser pointer was illegal!
I have wallowed in self pity and taken lots of codeine forte, plus try and get more of the stuff. I have been so tired that I nod off. I have even thought of applying for sickness allowance. I have even explored new career options, the idea of becoming an artist sounds fanciful and carefree. I had a dream the other night that I was one, and became quite famous and both of you came to my art exhibitions at the Opera House, it was very weird!!!!
I’ve only had a couple of meltdowns and that was when I was crying all through the ‘undercover boss’ marathons. To bide my time I google food network and find new recipes for Bix to cook.
As you know Sweets I do so love my soapies, particularly the ‘bold and the beautiful’ and am definitely keeping up to date with it, however I have decided that I dislike Quinn who is a stupid nincompoop! I even thought of asking Bix to paint all my toenails different colours too. I haven’t decided yet, whether I want copper tones or monochrome! He’ll probably say no, but no harm in trying.
I also feel much better after watching an episode of Hoarders, even with the house untidy, the house is still immaculate.
This week I might take some online surveys or sign up to get paid to critique websites. If the weather improves and is not cloudy I might lie on the banana chair under the pergola outside and watch the stars and eat pizza. If it is too cold I certainly won’t be. I tried singing out aloud the other day but Bix said I was better off alone doing it!!!!!
I am off work until 22 July with further review with the GP and then we fly out to Vietnam on 1 August, so I have try and exercise the muscles in this leg, and get my walking all sorted. Should be an interesting venture I’m sure. OMG I didn’t realize how much I had written, and as usual I have waffled on, I tend to write like I speak.
Happy thoughts sent your way and I can honestly say, that you appreciate your limbs when you don’t have the use of one of them!!!
Safe travels and love always,
bixandlites xoxox