We took the opportunity of it being a Public Holiday (thank you Monarch) to have a bit of a sleep-in - we figured everyone else would as well. I had meant to order breakfast for in the room - but hadn't, so we ended up at one of the local bakeries having coffee and croissant. Not bad, not Le Cafe Gourmand on the Coast, but not bad. We needed to have our strength up for our visit to the Botanic Gardens and also for the Bundaberg Barrel later this afternoon.
Our visit to the Botanic Gardens was specifically to see the Japanese Gardens - and I know they were there somewhere - but the best I could do was the Chinese Gardens, and the flowers outside the Fairymead House. As we were approaching. Sooz thought she saw a cat near the house - and by the time we turned the car around and went for a closer look, the cat had moved on. Thank goodness we did see the ducklings - eight of them! We were thinking about taking a ride on the Australian Sugar Cane Railyway train and would have if we hadn't run out of time - but we did see the train going around the gardens, and saw it stopping at the rail crossing so the duck family could cross safely. The train stayed stopped so the passengers could take photographs of the ducklings. As soon as the train had gone (clearing the road), we pulled over where we could and took duck photos too. It was good to see the drake (?) keeping a lookout while the family foraged.
I couldn't believe how many turtles were in the lake - and that my favourite pic of them was the single turtle head.
The next tourist attraction for me (Sooz opted to stay at home with instructions that I collect her included-in-the-ticket-price six-pack of fruit-flavoured brewed Bundaberg soft drinks. Also included in the ticket price was a tasting of all the range, and a self-guided tour so you could learn how they make the exported-to-67-countries drinks. I enjoyed it - especially when the person running the tasting made sure we all knew that if we didn't like the drinks, we didn't have to finish our tiny taste but could tip the rest - tip-not-spit - into the tipping buckets. The children were the ones who ended up not drinking most of the flavours. And who knew I would like the Guava so much?
I did learn something though - well, lots of things, but I had not realised that you need to invert all of their drinks before opening. Because they use fresh produce, there is often sediment that gathers at the bottom of the bottle, so inverting the bottle allows it to mix in with the drink; if the sediment doesn't fall into the drink by itself, you can gently move the inverted bottle (before it's opened) in a circular motion until that essential flavour is recombined. Yum. And our host demonstrated this for us - the circular motion means the drink - basically stirred not shaken - doesn't gush everywhere when you open it. Who hasn't had that happen after shaking up a bottle of soft drink? I also learned today that their Creaming Soda flavour is the best for spyders aka ice cream floats.
I loved that the flavours are in clear bottles so the displays are incredibly colourful - and, dare I say, inviting! What flavours did Sooz end up with? It was hard because we could have 2 x 6 packs - and there are thirteen flavours! Well, they actually have 16 flavours because they have 'diet' versions of Ginger Beer, Sarsaparilla and Lemon Lime & Bitters. Sooz did end up with the fruity flavours she wanted - while I kept to the white-caps ... yes, the low-sugar versions.
We've managed to use almost every inch of our motel room and I'm going to take the opportunity when we repack everything into the car in the morning to try to get it a bit more organised. (Wish me luck!)
Next stop - Rockhampton.
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