Bundaberg Hotels
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One great day and a rainy finish
Entry 14 of 57 | show all | print this entry |
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So after finishing my last entry I decided that maybe it would be possible to find a kiteboarding spot here at the marina... there was a small sandy area just east of the last dock.
So I headed down and even though the wind was blowing around 25 knots almost directly onshore, not to mention into the sailboat berths, I thought that it would work. I gathered my gear and some helpers, set up the kite, and launched and it felt okay- a bit gusty but when the wind was blowing there was more than enough power. I also had John and Susan armed with cameras to catch the action.
After a few short runs I realized this was going to be a great kiting day after all!
I ended up staying around the sandy area for about 30 minutes. I came in to shore briefly one time and pulled a classic Tio Ted- had a bit too much speed in close, jumped off my board and in a giant splash landed face first in about a foot of water, in front of everyone. Not as bad as skiing into an iron loop on the beach but close! Later I spotted two other kites further down the river towards the ocean- I figured two other guys probably knew where a good spot was, so I landed, thanked John and Susan for helping, and told them I was heading down to the other guys and they didn't need to help catch the kite (or me if need be).
So I paralleled the all-rock shore, staying into the wind and weaving around some anchored boats, and came to another marina with a narrow entrance to a nicely sheltered mini harbor with a breakwater along the upwind edge and a large area of flat water that two other kiters were taking advantage of.
The entrance was probably about 25 feet (8.3 meters) or so wide and either side were sharp rock breakwaters, but I made it through just fine into nice, flat water. Ended up staying there for about an hour and a half until I was so tired I went in. One of my foot straps came loose and another kiter had a screwdriver that he let me use- then the same guy gave me a ride back to the marina, since trying to go out the narrow entrance would have been tricky and I was too tired.
A great session, but I am realizing that my board, bought in 2002, is now hopelessly out of date and I may want to replace it if I get to do more kiting here. We'll see! Also, check out the videos that John took.
That night we had a nice dressy dinner as part of the rally. Then they started the music- I will be kind and just say it wasn't geared towards my generation. So Joe and I went into town to meet Greg, who had called us to announce that he had been upgraded to the 'Presidential suite' in his hotel, with a jacuzzi, a bunch of people hanging out, blah blah. It was a good sized room with a well-stocked mini bar (at least until we arrived) but no jacuzzi and only one other dude. We went out but since it was Sunday there wasn't much going on. We did meet John (the dude), a backpacker from Ireland making his way to Cairns, and ended up having an afterhours party around the hotel with some locals and the remainder of a wedding party. John let me crash on the extra bed in his room and I headed back to the marina Monday morning after a long, tiring, but very fun Sunday.
I didn't have too much time to rest since the rum distillery tour was that afternoon. It had started to rain but despite that the tour was pretty good- a standard brewery tour alhtough they limited us to only one sample! It was tasty although there were about 3 other varieties I wanted to try. Ron Zacapa from Guatemala is still my favorite rum, but as for locally made dark and stormy's this is the place.
Tuesday was a big day in Australia- the running of the Melbourne Cup, which is the 'race that stops a nation'. Everyone in Australia is glued to the tv for this race- it is a cheap day to travel via airline and the streets are deserted. Or so I was told- the rally had a lunch for it, and the Aussies were very into watching all 5 minutes of the race. It was pretty exciting and judging from how much betting occurs on a regular weekday, which I witnessed, it probably does stop the nation and I'm sure the amounts wagered are huge. I would say it's similar to our Kentucky derby but the 20 million people watching the race is the entire nation's population.
Today John, Susan, and I went into town to buy supplies for the next portion of the trip and to visit the botanical gardens. Part of the park was the Bert Hinckler house, which was moved from England to Australia in honor of their most famous aviator, who was born in Bundaberg (but lived a long time in England). He grew up flying his own homebuilt gliders on a beach nearby, flew in WWI, and then broke numerous early records including fastest time from England to Sydney.
Pretty interesting for an aviation buff. One unique artifact was a piece of balsa wood wing spar that flew on the space shuttle Challenger in 1986- after the accident it was discovered floating in the Atlantic still in it's plastic bag and returned to the museum. Quite a story. The botanical gardens had some very interesting bird life but was a bit flooded due to all the recent rain, which started again as we were finishing up and just now (9 hours later) sounds like it's stopping. Hopefully that signals improved weather since tomorrow we start heading south towards Brisbane.
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