Bundaberg rum

We had left Midtown marina on Wednesday morning. At first we wanted to fuel up at 8, but the fuel dock was taken by a fishing boat, so we just waited for the office of the marina to open so that we could surrender the keys to the toilets et recover our 100 dollars deposit in cash and then left. We went to Port Bundaberg marina, just one mile up the mouth of the river, free of any restrictions due to the tide, waiting for an hypothetical improvement in the weather that never materialized.

On Thursday, we took the shuttle from the marina to go and visit the Bundaberg Rum distillery, supposedly famous in all Australia. This was merely a disappointment. The visit is expensive, at 25 dollars, and there is very little to be seen, apart from a few pipes, tanks and pumps. The visit is done in a very restricted way with tons of rules that include surrendering your camera, wallet, phone, etc... before the visit. And even though there is very little to visit, even less is shown to visitors. This rum, unlike rum Barbancourt, is made out of molasses which is fermented and then di

stilled, in a very industrial manner with lots of chemical involved. The taste is very similar to that of whisky but the price is more to do with gold, at 45 dollars for the lowest grade.

After the visit, we took a cab to go to the commercial centre of Bundaberg and we realized that the city is a lot larger than we first thought. What we had seen was the "old" Bundaberg (maybe 150 years), but the city has expanded the american way towards the west with lots of businesses, commercial centres and fast food joints.

We then returned by bus to the marina.

Friday, we fuelled up at the marina, had lunch and a nap and left in a strong squall at 5:00 p.m. for Lady Musgrave Island. All the way, we had a well established trade wind from the SE at 20 to 25 knots with gusts at 30 knots and we had a hard time slowing down to arrive at the lagoon after daylight.