A few days behind the scene’s , but here we go again . Not too much happening , Thursday , we went to inquire about a new phone at Woolworths - yes Woolworths - they use Telstra !!! and for $20 less a month and another $20 back in credit on our rewards card , how could you refuse ???
Phone tucked away , we headed to the botanic garden for lunch .The garden has a road that runs around it’s system of ponds , lakes & displays . Stopping near the fig tree chapel , we wandered across to Hinkler’s Aviation Hall - a tribute to Bundaberg’s famous son and aviator . His house in England has been pulled down , transported , and rebuilt here . It’s a double storey very small house , and you can look through it after you’ve looked in the museum . It overlooks a rose garden and some of the lakes of the gardens . This plant was flowering .
We entered & paid and headed into the main attraction - the Avro Pup that he set world records with for distance & economy at the time , and also flew from Sydney to Bundaberg creating another record for distance , landing it the foundry green , then taxied the plane up the road to his families house , parking the plane in the front yard .
His life story was there for everyone to read and watch , it started with his fascination for flight . He built his own glider , and flew it near Mon Repos Beach - coincidentally , he named his house Mon Repos , this is a recreation of the glider .
He went on to bigger and better things and ended up in England to work in the fledgling aviation industry . He was a talented designer / inventor and pilot , who also enlisted in the Royal Air Force in WW1 , eventually flying some missions at the end of the war . He was a bit disillusioned by the war and all that it stood for , his love was for flying and designing . This is one that he designed - The Ibis - an aqua plane that could use runways or waterways to take off and land . It was different as it had 2 engines , in line , one pushing , the other pulling . The propeller from the front engine would have been just above the pilots head , luckily there was a glass panel above your head .
Then there’s the Sopwith Puss Moth plane , similar to the one he died in when he crashed into mountains in Italy .
After that we looked through his house , all set up in the era .
From here we walked down to the lake and along the boardwalks running across it , then around to another lake and a Japanese inspired garden section .
Next to the Japanese Garden is Fairymead House , which has information about the sugarcane industry here - we missed seeing inside as it was getting late in the day , so we continued going around the lake to get back to the ute .
Friday was chill day , trying to organise the new phone . Saturday was golf and some chores to complete , getting ready for a change in location . Golf finished better than it started , opposite to last week - funny game !! Back home and time to load the kayak & bikes ready for tomorrow .
Sunday arrives after another cool night , packing and hitching up in no real rush , we left Bundaberg at 10am , heading north , we stayed off the highway till Miriam Vale . It has some lovely old style buildings and a playground kids would love , 2 covered twisting slippery dips about 10metres above the ground , covered play areas and climbing nets , etc , etc - it looked awesome - if only I was a little bit younger hahaha .
Heading up the busy Bruce Hwy , we pulled off at Benaraby and headed out to Lake Awoonga - we’d promised ourselves we’d come back here & stay years ago - so here we are today !!
Set up , we then went for a drive around to revisit the area around the edge of the lake - it’s a serious fishing spot for barramundi - the minimum size you can keep has to be 120cm and ther’s a bag limit of 1 per person !!! That’s a very large fish !!!
We stopped at Castle Rock Lookout , many trees are now growing up and starting to block the view , but you can still see castle rock across the other side of the lake .
At the lookout we found a few Bat’s Wing Coral Trees - very obvious why they are called this - we haven’t seen any for about 9 years , they also have a thorny trunk & branches .
Checking out the spillway & wall , boat ramps and picnic areas . They have done the picnic areas beautifully , there are individual sheltered picnic shelters all around the place , there are walking trails and Bbq’s - it’s a beautiful spot !!
That’s it , here’s a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hAM0sypaphyxOZSOBzli3iiFbyo&usp=sharing
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