Monday 14th December - Fraser Island - Hervey Bay - Gladstone - 295Kms

We depart Fraser island at 08:30. We have to make sure that we arise early enough to make this ferry otherwise we will have to remain on Fraser Island. What a shame!! The ferry takes about 1.5 hours and will deliver us to Hervey Bay around 10:00.

Towns we pass through between Hervey Bay and Gladstone

Hervey Bay
(pronounced 'Harvey bay') was discovered by Captain James Cook in 1770 whilst travelling the east coast of Australia. He named the bay "Hervey's Bay" after Lord Augustus Hervey an admiral of the Blue, the Earl of Bristol and Captain Cook's boss. He wrongly assumed that Fraser Island was joined to the Australian mainland and the sheltered waters behind it were a bay. It is one of the ironies of history that Flinders, who returned to the area in 1802 on his historic circumnavigation of the Australia, did not locate the Fraser Island Straits on either of his voyages.

Howard
Howard is located just 37km west of the city of Hervey Bay, just 20 minutes drive, and is 285 km north of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. Howard was once a busy coal mining town, but now is a quiet rural settlement. It's still an important service centre for the surrounding mixed agricultural area of citrus orchards and sugar plantations.

Gin Gin
Gin Gin (pop. 3,000) is 51 kilometres west of Bundaberg. This is where the Bruce Highway from Childers joins up with the northern access to Bundaberg. The district was the haunt of the "Wild Scotchman" (James McPherson), Queensland's only authentic bushranger. He would lay in wait for the mail delivery and hold up the carrier. Eventually he was captured at Monduran Station and convicted at Maryborough. A re-enactment of the event is held on the fourth weekend of March every year. The society has purchased the police sergeant's residence to house the district's pioneering memorabilia.

Mirium Vale
Travellers who regard Miriam Vale as little more than a signpost to the picturesque estuarine town of 1770 are denying themselves one of the great culinary treats on the Bruce Highway. So, next time you approach this tiny town 150km north of Bundaberg, keep an eye out for the Giant Crab perched above the local roadhouse and restaurant and stop for a couple of Miriam Vale’s incomparable fresh crab sandwiches. Once you’ve satisfied the inner man, by all means trundle down the spur road to the twin coastal towns of 1770 and Agnes Waters where Captain Cook made his second Australian landfall. Nearby Turkey Beach also claims close links to Cook and his good ship Endeavour. Seems a member of the crew came across a bustard, or scrub turkey, and shot the bird which ended up on the Endeavour's mess table. This is dinkum, throw-in-a-line-and-put-your-feet-up-territory. A relaxing trip across the estuary aboard an amphibian craft gives you the rare east coast opportunity to watch the sun set over water.

Bundaberg
The earliest people to settle in the Bundaberg district were some Aborigines called the Taribelang or Daribalang. They probably arrived in the district about 10 000 years ago and lived and hunted in an area from Rosedale to the Burrum River and west to Wallaville. The main street is Bourbong Street which has sometimes been called Bourbon. This is a mistake because the name is not from the French royal family or the type of whisky produced in parts of the USA. The name comes from an Aboriginal word, "Boorbung", which was the name of a string of waterholes which used to run from the eastern end of the township to Rubyanna. Targo Street also comes from an Aboriginal word, "Tchago", which was the name for the place where Saltwater Creek runs into the river.

Bundaberg Rum - THE FAMOUS AUSSIE SPIRIT
One of the by-products of sugar milling is a sticky black syrup called molasses. The molasses from Millaquin Mill is piped next door to the Bundaberg Distilling Company, where the famous Bundaberg Rum is made. Bundaberg is unique in Australia as it is the only place where the entire range of sugar production activities occur; growing, milling, refining, research and distilling. Bundaberg Rum is by far and away Australia's best selling spirit. Recognizing that there was great interest in seeing the process the company put in place a visitor centre where an explanatory video is shown prior to guided tours of the distillery. Visitors are shown the entire process from the molasses pit through to bottling. Enthusiasts marvel at the bond stores where over $200 million dollars worth of rum is maturing.

The pride of Bundaberg Rum's visitor operation is Spring Hill House. The plantation house was transported to its current site in 1991 and lovingly restored. It now houses a museum, souvenir store and bar where tour visitors can taste the Bundy product right on site.

Bundaberg Rum also produces Bundaberg Royal Liqueur, Bundaberg Rum and Cola and Dark and Stormy. Dark and Stormy is truly a Bundaberg drink, launched in 1993 it is a mix of Bundaberg Rum and Bundaberg Ginger Beer.

Some East Coast Agricultural History I thought you might like

The drive from Hervey Bay to Gladstone will take you through some real true Queensland country typical of what you would see all the way along the East Coast. Pineapple and Banana Plantations and well as hundreds of Sugar Cane fields and slow people. Respectfully, they do have a slow life and that tends to shape the people into what they are today. Originally, the area was full of coal mines and although some still operate today, they are few and far between.

Bananas
The earliest recorded appearance of bananas in Australia was in the early to mid 1800s when Chinese migrants brought plants with them from their home provinces to begin life in Australia in Carnarvon, Western Australia.

In 1828, two plants growing on the island of Mauritius were taken to Lord Cavendish who grew them in what are now Kew Gardens in England. Some plants from his garden were given to missionaries who were travelling to the South Sea Islands in about 1840.

The bananas flourished in the tropical environment and a missionary named Williams took a few plants with him to Fiji. When sugarcane growers from Queensland went looking for cane cutters in the Pacific Islands they also brought banana plants back with them. These plants were used more as ornamentals and a special treat when fruit ripened than for commercial considerations. This was around the 1870s.

In Sydney, bananas were brought in bunches by ship from Fiji to supply the market there. Bananas taken to the Coffs Harbour region by Herman Reich in 1891 saw an industry begin to develop, later expanding to Yarrahappini and Woolgoolga and ultimately to the Tweed, Richmond and Brunswick areas of New South Wales.

Sugar Cane
The first record of sugar cane in the Western world was in 327 BC. Sugar cane is mentioned in Chinese and Russian records between 200 and 600 AD and it is believed that sugar cane was introduced into Spain and Egypt around the eighth century.

In 1493, Columbus, on his second voyage from Spain, carried a single variety of sugar cane to Santo Domingo where it was spread by early colonisers to Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Cuba and Puerto Rico. During the next three centuries, sugar cane spread throughout the tropical world.

Sugar cane was introduced to Australia by the First Fleet in 1788. However, early attempts to grow sugar cane around Sydney Cove, Port Macquarie and Norfolk Island were unsuccessful. It wasn't until the 1860s that a viable sugar cane plantation and raw sugar mill was established at Ormiston, near Brisbane, by Captain Louis Hope.

During the 1950s, the sugar industry boomed and dramatic changes were taking place within Queensland. In 1954, bulk handling of raw sugar was introduced into Australia replacing bagged sugar and mechanical cane harvesters gradually began to replace manual labour in the fields. By the late 1960s, more than 85% of Australian sugar crops were mechanically harvested. In 1979, Australia achieved 100% conversion to mechanical cane harvesting.

Today, the Australian sugar industry is internationally regarded as one of the most efficient sugar producers in the world and a leader in mechanical cane harvesting and bulk handling of raw sugar.

Cane Toads, Giant Toads or Marine Toads
Cane Toads are found in habitats ranging from sand dunes and coastal heath to the margins of rainforest and mangroves. They are most abundant in open clearings in urban areas, and in grassland and woodland. The natural range of Cane Toads extends from the southern United States to tropical South America.

They were deliberately introduced from Hawaii to Australia in 1935, to control scarab beetles that were pests of sugar cane. In 2002, Cane Toads occur throughout the eastern and northern half of Queensland and have extended their range to the river catchments surrounding Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. In New South Wales they occur on the coast as far south as Yamba, and there is an isolated colony near Port Macquarie. We'll definitely see them and they are now a real pest to domestic animals and yucky. Thought I'd put this in. Australia isn’t all Paradise..Hehe!