There will be days like this

Wednesday the 27^th of October 2010

Today started off like most, get out of bed, shower, breakfast and load the bikes etc. But I guess we should have known it was all going too well.

We rode into Bundaberg, home of the mighty Bundy Rum. It was at about this point things started to go awry. Firstly the library was closed when we got there, then the Information centre was not where Tom Tom said it was. Once we had visited the Info centre we headed for the land of Bundy.

The tour was interesting, especially the bit about the fires of 1907 & 1936. One story was the locals were drinking the water / rum from the river that runs next to the distillery because that’s where all the alcohol ended up. The alcohol basically poisoned the river killing the fish, so the locals then dinned out on the fish that had been poisoned. Seriously though check out the size of the fish in the river back then.

The downside to the tour is that you can’t take anything with a camera in due t the risk of fires. So when the tour started officially we had to leave behind our cameras, phones and even our watches. So filming was made a little difficult.

I learned something very interesting today. Do you remember the song Nutbush City Limits by Ike & Tina Turner?

There are a couple of problems with Nutbush City out on Highway # 19, and they are

“motorcycle not allowed in it” and

“salt pork and molasses is all you get in jail”

If they really wanted to keep me out and keep me from going there and committing any crimes then all they had to do is tell me I would be getting is molasses!!!

Alan and I got to taste it on the Bundy tour, it really is disgusting it took hours to get rid of the taste from my mouth. Now the salt pork I would be going back for seconds!!!

At the tours conclusion we were able to partake of some of Bundy’s finest offerings, as you know I don’t really drink so Alan had my share. The Bundy shop is pretty cool as it has lots of interesting things to buy, we just can’t carry it home…

We wanted to get some photos out front with the bikes parked under the big Bundy bottle, but alas we were thwarted because the auditors were onsite. So even doing video stuff was out.

We then headed for the library, which I have to say I’m becoming a huge fan of the local libraries. It’s the free internet that’s got me hooked.

Here is where the real misadventure starts.

We headed out of Bundaberg towards a place called Seventeen Seventy (1770) on all the road signs its 1770. It’s about 150Klm’s from Bundaberg and is a pleasant enough ride through cane farms and the general bush scenery. When we got to 1770 Alan decided to go off road again and nearly dropped his bike in some soft sand, he ended up in the bushes but kept his Harley upright. In his words a lesser man would have dropped his bike, fortunately I was far enough back to see where he ended up and didn’t go there.

After that we rode along through the town, it was described to Alan as a mini Byron Bay without the crowds. As we were leaving 1770 and heading towards Rockhampton we realized that Alan had lost his shoulder bag which contained his phone, wallet and camera etc.

So we turned around and headed back in search of the missing bag whilst we were parked and making plans for the recovery of the bag we were passed by about 30 people on scooters done up to look like Harley’s (some were complete with ape hangers).

I basically retraced the ride back towards Bundaberg when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket (I’m with Vodafone so out here it doesn’t tend to get reception unless you are close to a major centre) I had a message from Sally (Alan’s partner) saying that someone had found the phone etc so whilst I was making the call to the guy Alan pulled up. The details are too horrible to go into but let’s just say that Alan’s bag is about 350Klms from where we are. (back in Bundaberg) it’s ironic that after all the grief given to me about my bag Alan is the one to lose his.

Thought’s of the day

There is half a day I will never get back

I really hate people who litter, I wonder how much they actually love the country they live in.

Cheers

a