Friday, 03 August 2012

Day 6 riding

The wild parrots I thought were so colorful and lovely yesterday turned out to be loud and pesky this morning.  Both Ian and I slept poorly due to the highway noise and the cold.  (He’s worse off than me, I think, since I had my heated jacket on.)  The tent site was nice, though.

We took time this morning to eat breakfast since we’d skipped dinner last night.  That combined with getting fuel and checking the oil level and tire pressure added up to us getting a late start.

We headed through Maryborough and on to Bundaberg.  Ian suggested we go to the rum distillery.  I’d seen signs for a quilt show in the Civic Center and thought that sounded like fun.  (The Australians have a great reputation in the quilting world and I wanted to see their craft work in person.  I learned later that Ian thought I was joking.)  Anyway, we ended up at the distillery.  I have to admit, it was pretty interesting.

We didn’t have time for the formal tour as it was getting late in the day.  Nadine gave us a mini tour and lots of great information on the history of the distillery and their products.  I particularly enjoyed hearing about their marketing and logo progression.

Bunny even got in on the fun with the bartender / sample provider, Roz.  We had to pass since we were still riding.

We talked about spending the night and taking the tour in the morning.  Actually, Ian was thinking of taking the tour.  As interesting as it was, I was more tempted to go to the quilt show in the morning.  We passed on both and settled instead on the photo op with the oversized bottle.

It was getting late and we wanted to get to the town of Agnes Water before dark.  (Riding at dusk / dark can be dangerous if the wildlife is out and about.)  The receptionist at Freckles Backpackers (hostel) showed us our room and gave a great recommendation for dinner to a restaurant called The Tree.  There was a shuttle so we could enjoy an adult beverage.  The shuttle driver told us most of the caravan parks were full because the Camp Quality Variety Bash was in town.  It’s a car rally / fundraiser with a lot of colorful participants so we were lucky find accommodations.  The driver also gave us a few recommendations for our dinner order.  The Tree was more up-scale than I expected, the scallops were fantastic and wait staff was very friendly.  What a delightful way to end a good day of riding.