Brisbane

Prior to arriving in Brisbane we explored the fascinating city of Bundaberg, famous for a certain rum that bears the city’s name. We’ve always recognised the Bundy brand name, as it’s been one of Australia’s most iconic trademarks. The most fascinating part of the factory tour was entering the molasses store – a million litres of thick syrup left over from the sugar mill that is conveniently just nextdoor. The roof keeps in the warmth and the remarkable smell. Instantly reminding us of treacle, the sweet odour was reflected in its taste, as we were given a small sample on a stick to try. The tour culminated in a little tasting at the end, and it is a unique Australian product.

Our two week stay in and around the Brisbane area included some catching up with old friends and workmates. We parked the van in the driveway of Karen, a former work colleague of Anne’s, and husband Rob who live in the northern Brisbane suburb of Narangba. It was a handy location from which to explore not only Brisbane but also its northerly tourist destinations. Bribie Island could almost be a Brisbane suburb and had some very nice parks, marinas, resorts and seaside residences. Redcliff is a northern coastal city famous for being an important part in the early childhood of The Bee Gees, and we found a recently constructed mall dedicated to the Gibb brothers. It was a cleverly displayed story of the group and was opened in 2013 by Barry Gibb himself, sadly the only remaining Gibb brother left alive.

We also visited a couple of my old workmates, Phil and Mirek, who both left work many years ago and retired with their wives to the Queensland warmth. It was an awful coincidence that at the same time we were told of the untimely death of another old workmate, Adrian, who had been visiting his daughter in Ireland but fell down her stairs and hit his head. He lay in a coma for ten days before the family had to make that most awful decision to turn off life support. It was such a shock, but in a small way it was comforting to share the news with others who had also worked with Adrian.

We had left home a few months before with a plan, which was to meet up with yet another old workmate of mine, Graeme, and his wife Christine on the Sunshine Coast after our Brisbane stay. They came to Queensland to see their son, however that plan was thrown out the window when their son ended up in a Brisbane hospital following a serious motorbike accident. They parked their caravan at nearby Ipswich to enable easy visits to the hospital, so we parked ours next to theirs and still enjoyed their company for a few days. In the following week their son made a full recovery and we took the opportunity to explore Warwick, Toowoomba and the surrounding Lockyer valley.