As part of the long weekend away, S and I decided to visit Bundaberg. This is only thirty minutes away from Woodgate Beach so it was a short hop to a big town. While there, we did make sure that we filled up on fuel because the only place we saw fuel at the beach was very expensive. We did visit two tourist spots in town and another on the way back via Childers.
The first place was something that S remembers from her youth and this was the local zoo. The council runs a tiny, free, old style zoo located in Alexandra Park on the banks of the river. The cages were well maintained and animals were well looked after, we saw the keepers trying to keep the animals cool on a very hot day. Even though it was hot, most of the animals and birds were quite animated which delighted the small children visiting the zoo.
This was a surprising little zoo and would spend more free time here if we lived in Bundaberg. We did see a lot of lizards in the zoo but these were not part of the exhibits, these were just relying on the food and water available and seemed to be thriving.
The second place we visited was the Bundaberg Ginger Beer factory. This is a tourist spot where you can see a display of the brewing process of their world famous ginger beer. I have personally purchased this brew as far away as Whitby, UK in a fish and chip restaurant. The information provided says that the drinks are exported to fifty-seven countries. They make more than just ginger beer and while there, we got to sample seventeen flavours. As a bonus, if you take the $12 tour, you get to take home a six pack of whatever combination of flavours you like.
We got to try their new flavour which is Ginger Beer with Lemon Myrtle which was quite nice. My favorite ended up being the Diet Ginger Beer which has less sugar and more ginger in the recipe. The self guided tour highlights the history of the company and there is a corridor where the brewing process is being shown. There are explanations for each process and some of the moving machinery used in the factory. The live view of the factory is prerecorded but I would expect that on a public holiday. Not sure if they show the actual factory working on any other days.
Our final destination visited was a bird sanctuary near Childers about forty minutes from Bundaberg. Entry was $20 each and is partially a construction site where new owners are trying to update the facilities. I must say it is needed as the enclosures are looking a little dated and part of the new build will be a coffee shop. We did visit in the middle of the day and it was hot. The birds were not moving that much but did appear to be well fed by the visitors and the $2 bags of food that can be purchased. At that time some of the birds were very picky of the food being offered, for example, one of the birds was digging through the bird seed to find the peanuts it liked. If you want to visit, I suggest going early in the cool and the birds may be a lot more animated.
Gum trees and Galaxies 