It was a delayed July 2021 birthday weekend away. Our aim is always to avoid the school holiday wherever possible and like most of our trips nowadays we book last minute and just make the best of what's available.
The Burnett River is a major river system in Central Queensland. It was named after the European Explorer, James Burnett who visited the area in 1847. The traditional custodians of the area are the Taribelang Aboriginal people.
The centre of town: Bundaberg Post Office and War Memorial.
Bundaberg Rum Factory (photo taken from the Tourist Information Centre).
It's sugar cane country out here!
My partner, standing in front of the sugar cane, to give you a sense of how BIG this plant is.
The only hill for miles. Bundaberg is pretty flat.
These plates are quite common at lookouts in Australia. It shows you the distance to different locations in each different direction.
We had great weather while we were there. Blue skies and mild weather. So while it was winter for us, "winter" this far north is never actually very cold.
We had beach front accommodation at Bargara. It was almost warm enough to swim. Almost.
Delicious and healthy lunch at Burnett Heads.
Pelicans at Moneys Creek Bargara
On the road to Elliott Heads for a quick look around we had to cross (yet another) railway line. They are everywhere up here as its the trains that deliver the sugar cane to the factory in town for processing.
Looking out to Dr May's Island, a small ecological park at the mouth of Elliott river. Also know as rock Island which is a protected place for nesting shorebirds.
We were so glad we took the time to walk out there. It was stunningly beautiful.
It felt like quicksand under our feet when the tide out.
On the Saturday we went to parkrun of course. This was a new parkrun for us and thankfully, the nice weather continued and we got the best that Bargara had to offer. (Photo credit: Bargara parkrun volunteer photographer)
Bargara sunrise over the water :)
Photo of the back of me as we stood and listened to the parkrun first timer's brief. (Photo credit: Bargara parkrun volunteer photographer)
parkrun tourist photo square (with the words flipped for some reason!)
Photo of the start line just before they said 'go!'. (Photo credit: Bargara parkrun volunteer photographer)
The course was a flat narrow path with a loop at the north end, in a spooky, misty wetland. Started and finished on a nice grassed area near the surf club so we could have a quick dip in the water as well. (Photo credit: Bargara parkrun volunteer photographer)
Caught on camera! Always try to smile for my running photos. (Photo credit: Bargara parkrun volunteer photographer)
My partner, Caroline, keeping good form for her sprint finish.
Arrows on the path, directing us towards the parkrun finish line.
The Strava data from this morning's run. (Photo from Strava)
We had a quick visit to the Mon Repos Turtle Center which was well worth the effort and very educational even though it was not turtle nesting season.
There were a lot of displays inside that were great teaching tools including collected remains of turtles as well as life-like replicas.
This was the path down to the beach.
Mon Repos Beach where the turtles make their out of the water, usually after dark, to dig a hole and lay their eggs just above the high tide (water) mark.
The beach is covered in these awesome and unusual volcanic rocks. It was a cold day and they were lovely and warm.
A quick stop and a stretch of the legs at lake Alford Gympie on the drive home.
Bundaberg, Bargara and Elliot Heads, Capricorn Coast, Queensland
