Rosie and The Operator are leaving Brisbane for a two day weekend interlude to Bundaberg, where we will be hosted by Ballerina and The Buffoon. This 370 km journey started at 6.00am when we exited The Famz parking garage in Whipper and PinkyFluffs brand new Mitsubishi Outlander SUV….and I mean brand new, there was only 700km on the clock. Navigator on, we hit the Bruce Highway, the sun was newly risen and excruciatingly blinding, the road was nice and quiet and we motored along at a steady pace only really stopping for roadworks and a coffee in Gympie.
The road was uneventful and not very scenic, pine plantations surprisingly flashed passed the windows for most of the journey. The three lane highway dwindles to two lanes each side and then down to a single lane up and back. The sun was out in full force and the fields were full of gum trees and scrub, drab, limp and strangely colourless, like the life had all been sucked out of them…for winter it did seem pretty dry. 3.5 hours later we drove through the pretty Victorian town of Childers and Rosie rang the Ballerina to let her know we were an hour away. We then turned onto the Isis Highway and the landscape changed to one of green bounty, orchards of macadamia’s lined the roads and sugar cane fields looked lush and green.
Then we were there…on Ballerina and The Buffoons doorstep, it didn’t seen real. Rosie and The Buffoon heckle each other a lot over the WWW and Rosie does heap scorn and derision over This Famz choice to pack up and leave Godzone, but here we were finally able to see for ourselves why they love this patch of the world.
It didn’t start out well…..upon walking in the door, the first thing you see is a huge poster on the wall with the pictures of the Top Twenty Deadliest Snakes in Australia…Rosie is still reeling from this when she turns around and….on the opposite wall The Top Twenty Deadliest Spiders in Australia. Ballerina quite matter of factly informed me you need to know what to look out for….
The choccies and lavender were a thoughtful touch….when we put our bags in the guest room, even The Operator was a tad freaked advising Rosie to keep her suitcase shut….just in case something crawled in….
Creepy crawlies aside, it was so great being there! Ballerina showed us around their flat and it is lovely, totally designed for the hot summer months it was cool and inviting with a deep porch and shutters on the windows to keep out the heat. Out the back Ballerina had a beautiful passionfruit bush with passionfruit the size of baseballs, Rosie has never seen them so big! The Buffoon was talking to the neighbour who was dressed for the cold…he was gutted for us that we had come over when the weather was so shit….Rosie was in short sleeves and wiping sweat from her nose on this crappy 23c winter day.
Ballerina is also the Queen of Hospitality, she was up early and had made a divine Russian Applecake which was served with lashings of cream, it was beautiful and the coffee excellent after a long drive! Did Rosie mention she couldn’t believe she was there….only a few times? Well that excitement is down to the fact I didn’t take many photos, sorry guys. Ballerina and The Buffoon were acting shifty…they had a surprise and were going to take us to it.
The Surprise – Ballerina and The Buffoon have just bought their own slice of the Aussie dream! They have bought a huge corner section 13 mins out of Bundaberg in a beautiful new subdivision full of flash gated communities. The ‘Sold’ sticker just went up yesterday! Congratulations!
The pool is already built! As part of the estate they have bought into, a private community pool is available for all 20 home owners to use. The bonus, The Famz have the section next door to the pool…and there is a gate in the side fence that leads to the pool grounds…please wear togs Buffoon when you take to the water….Just to reiterate the beautiful locale….there is a golf course across the road and from their front gate to the beach….280 metres! ( please also remember the speedos vs undies thing as you wander to the beach Buffoon. )
The body of water they overlook is the Coral Sea and the new address is just as beautiful, Coral Cove. All the best for your hopes, dreams and the future Ballerina and The Buffoon, Rosie and The Operator will certainly be back to visit! A beautiful coastal walkway winds around this coast from beach to beach, pink headed galahs peck at the ground and sit in the trees….Rosie has only ever seen similar parrots in a cage and it is glorious to see them in the wild where they should be.
Coral Cove is mainly a pebbly sanctuary area, but only 5 mins up the road or via the walkway is Bagara Beach, miles of beautiful white sand sitting on a tidal estuary. Its winter on a Saturday afternoon and there is only a handful of people on the beach, tropical plants and lush bush grow right to the edge of the sand.
The Buffoon is driving us around and the Ballerina is navigating, we are on our way to lunch. We stopped at Miras Café, an out of the way place that you would have to be local to know it was there…set back behind a berry orchard it was great. It had a beautiful open sided dining room overlooking the orchard, tables and covered gazebos were set in the gardens and we had a nice private possie with excellent service and divine lunch. After lunch we walked to the berry shop out the front and sampled the superb jams, sauces and ice-cream. Yummers.
A quick freshen up at and we were driving into The Outback…the road got narrow and lumpy and twisty and turny. We were headed for the property of Kiwigirl and Longhaul, chums of The Famz. They have a 5 acre lifestyle block in god knows where in what seemed the middle of nowhere…Longhaul wryly advised us we were still 4 days drive from The Real Outback.
They are living the dream in this tranquil, quiet oasis they have created. The golden evening sun was filtering through the gum trees and reflecting on their dam, it was so quiet…and then the beautiful evening chorus of birds started singing, glorious! Longhaul is abit of a young David Bellamy in both looks and interests, with Kiwigirl they have planted an exotic garden around their home from plants around the world.
Here are Rosies pineapple plants…they will be ready next summer….There planting theory is, give it a go and give it three years…if it doesn’t take, flower, or fruit in that time it doesn’t like the conditions and out it will come. They have coconut trees grown from the coconut…Longhaul was a little bemused that Rosie didn’t consider this was a seed…
Check out the Lady Finger bananas, Rosie has never seen them grow in a tree before either. Kiwigirl was busy relaying to Ballerina the tale of the carpet python she chopped up with the shovel in the garden. Triumphant Rosie had consciously made sure she didn’t wear her sandals on this visit…good call Rosie! Then it was suggested that I hug the gigantic gum tree in the front yard, parden? Hug the gum tree, it is peaceful and therapeutic….okay…
Rosie is not a hugger. Rosie can handle the intimacy of the inanimate, surely, Rosie looked around and everyone was smiling in anticipation…or were they mocking….my arms around the wide girth of a tree I placed my cheek on the cool hard surface and closed my eyes. The tree was rock hard yet the surface was almost suedey feeling. It was cool, solid, ancient …and alive. Cynical ole Rosie actually found it quite …uplifting…The Operator was kicking at a twig loaded with ants and shaking his head. Look my tree has a belly button!
The Ballerina had designated time for a drink at Kiwigirl and Longhauls local The Bucca Tavern.
Its byline is ‘Where the Buckin Hell is Bucca?’ http://www.buccahotel.com/ The Buffoon has a tale to tell about the Bucca…true…The Bucca sits on the highest ground in the area, behind the pub is an enormous gully that stretches for miles. During the terrible Bundaberg floods this yeat the gully filled with water and was lapping at the doorstep of the pub….it was merely centimetres away from breaching the bar and adjoining accommodation, but never did. The pub was isolated for a couple months while they waited for the water to disappear…the creepy part of the story….the snakes had nowhere to go because of the water giant brown snakes slithered through the main bar and hundreds were living in the trees in the back yard.
The Operator loved the Bucca…a round of drinks for us all, plus cigars was $38…most excellent. It was a tidy pub, almost a theme pub but not quite, no loss of integrity to authenticity was lost…we were all having a great time! The Ballerina was checking her schedule…we were booked in for dinner at a Fish Restaurant in Bundaberg….what to do…we stayed and had a pub grub meal at the Bucca with our new friends. It was getting a little chilly, the locals had all disappeared and the music had been turned off….the hint to go home was not subtle. It was only 8.30. It was pitch black outside with a canopy of stars overhead and a stunning milky way. We were going to follow Longhaul in their car to their place and then follow the road back to Bucca. The Buffoon followed Longhaul, Longhaul turned off the road onto another….The Buffoon tooted and carried on straight. Hmmmmmm…we came to a blocked off dead end…oh, said The Buffoon…guess we were supposed to turn their too…..hhhhmmmmm. We eventually got home, my bed was nice and comfy and the room was soooooo dark.
Tomorrow – on Tour in Bundaberg…in the town where you are allowed to marry you sister…and many do. Gospel according to The Buffoon.
