Australia - Turtle rum in Bundaburg

The joys of travelling include the getting from A-B and when these run smoothly that's all great, but there are times when things don't always go to plan and you have to be flexible and just get on with the situation in hand! 

We transferred in Sydney on to Brisbane and discovered on arrival that most flights out of the airport had been delayed due to high winds, which would mean we would arrive too late to pick up our hire car on arrival into Brisbane and to reach our AirBnB for the night. Luckily a kind flight attendant was able to move us onto an earlier flight, but on our arrival we found that our bags hadn't been transferred too! We had no choice but to head straight over to the car hire, and hope that when we drove back and our original flight arrived that our bags were on that flight! Luckily they were, and an hour or two later than planned we headed on to our AirBnB, on the outskirts of Brisbane. Having slept outside in a Swag for 3 nights and we welcomed the nice big comfy bed! 

We woke the next day and discovered that the weather was looking like it might not be on our side so our plans to slowly drive north to the Whitsunday's were changed. With the weather looking better north earlier in the week we decided to blitz the drive up to the Whitsunday's as quickly as we could.

Having driven for quite a few hours, we discovered on route that most of the Whitsunday sailing boats were already booked up until later in the week, so our weather planned idea wasn't even an option. We therefore looked for the closest interesting place to stop and decided on Bundaburg. 

With the sun just about setting we managed to arrange a last minute AirBnB for the night. Luckily our host Kerri was sitting in her living room with a glass of wine and phone next to her when our request to stay popped up and within a few minutes we had a place to stay in the coastal town of Bagara, just outside of Bundaburg. 

First night stay with Kerri

Kerri's place was great, with an awesome Thai take away round the corner, we spent the evening in chatting away and soon decided to stay another day in the area as we'd heard about THE turtles and the RUM! 

Finally a beach!

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

Bundaburg is known in Australia for its Rum, not just any rum but as our tour guides kept saying 'Bundaburg Rum'. 

We did the distillery tour which introduced to the process of rum making. Seeing and tasting the molasses, viewing the distilling tanks and walking through one of the oak barrel's used to give the Rum its colour and flavour. A completely different experience to the traditional rum distillery we had visited in Grenada earlier in the year. 

A rather large bottle of rum

The tour finished with the opportunity to have two tastings, so naturally we went for the most expensive vintage rums. Julia also tried the two bespoke liquors that are only sold at the distillery, a chocolate and coffee (pudding in a glass) and banana and caramel (sickly sweet goodness). Overall, a nice experience but the rum tasting was the best bit. 

Rum anyone?

Flatbacks and Loggerheads

The area of Mon Repos beach is the life-long home of loggerhead and flatback turtles. The loggerheads made up 90% of the turtles that used this area as their nesting beach, with the remaining 5% made up of others including the flatback. 

Turtles are born here, make their way into the sea, leave for 20 years and return to the same beach on which they were born to lay their eggs. That's quite some internal Sat Nav! 

 A turtle

Each turtle lays up to 160 eggs, up to 5 times in a nesting season, yet only 1% of all those baby turtles will survive the 20 year adventure across the oceans to return and nest their own little turtles. Not strong odds, but the work of the sanctuary that manage the beach is ensuring that if they do manage to return, the beach is a safe, quiet environment for them to lay their eggs, and that hatch make it down the beach and into the sea. 

We were there for laying season, and arrived at 6pm to experience seeing this amazing natural circle of life. 

A flatback turtle

Split into 5 groups based on time of booking, each group went out one by one as a turtle arrived up the beach. We didn't have to wait long, as with cold weather the night before it meant we had what seemed to be two nights worth of turtles coming up the beach, and were heading out by 7.30pm to a loggerhead.

Scared off by any light or movement we had to walk the beach in the dark and approach the turtle from behind. We could only get close, take photos and a low level of light once she had started laying, as this is when she has entered a trance like state. 

We watched her give birth to 161 eggs into an underground nest she had dug with her front flippers, cover it over and return back down the beach go the sea. She had laid twice already this season, and would likely lay another 2 more times over the next few weeks. 

She had laid her precious eggs below the dunes so we were able to be involved in helping to relocate the eggs to another nest (which our guide had dug) above the water line. These little ones would stay here for 3 months and hatch in the new year and make their own way down to the sea to start their life long adventure at sea. 

One of many eggs but every one important

As we headed back around 10pm our guide said they had heard on the radio a flatback turtle had arrived, so we were able to repeat the same experience with one of the more rare turtles of the area and meet some of the researchers studying these amazing creatures.

It was a very special thing to have witnessed and one stop on the way up the coast we would highly recommend, especially if you're travelling in February when the baby turtles would be hatching!

It's funny how things work out for the better when plans change out of your control!