Year 2 – 21 March 2025 – Bundaberg (“Bundy”)

If anyone reading this and is free from late June to mid July 2025 to come to Australia then do contact me as I am short of crew during this period at present.

It rained in the night but it was good morning and we did some washing etc. We had breakfast in the cockpit and chilled. We went ashore to the marina and enquired about buses and taxis etc. We got hold of a good taxi and agreed a return trip to Bundaberg Town which is about 14k away. The driver suggested we went to the Bundaberg Drinks factory and the famous Bundaberg Rum Distillery and that we booked a tour online.

We had a coffee in the marina café and booked a table for tonight. The driver was great and talked about the area and showed us around a little as we went toward the town. He explained they grow sweet potatoes (72% of Oz production is here), strawberries, Macademia Nuts and sugar cane in this area as the soil is volcanic and red and fertile. Macademia nuts are sought after and it takes 5 years to grow a tree and then by the 7th year it is in full production and they sell everything and it is expensive.

We came to the Bundaberg Soft Drinks factory which was established in 1960 and it is particularly famous for its ginger beer (non alcoholic) which we had had in NZ and Oz on many occasions. They now have 13 different flavours of fruit drinks. For their ginger beer they grow the ginger and then slice and grind it into a flour. They then make a wort which is a mixture of ground ginger, sugar cane and water. When heated the starches in the ginger breakdown releasing a powerful zest. A special yeast is added and it is left to brew for 3 days which gives a strong and full flavour. The brew is then filtered leaving the right amount of ginger flavour. They then add bubbles before bottling. It is actually a delicious drink and goes well with rum making a dark and stormy cocktail.

Talking of rum we then walked to the famous Bundaberg Rum Distillery and it certainly smells of molasses (by product of sugar cane) as you get closer. In fact in the mid to late 19 century they had been crushing sugar cane for years and they did not know what to do with the molasses and it was getting into the water supply and rivers. In 1885 there were 166 sugar mills in Queensland and a lot of molasses they did not know what to do with. A Frederick Buss called a meeting in Bundaberg in 1855 and proposed a solution by opening a Rum Distillery and that is how it was formed.

The tour was very interesting and rum is made out of 3 important ingredients – molasses, water and yeast. Sugar cane is grown, picked and crushed but this cannot be done all year round so they have created molasses wells so they can continue production all year round. One well which we saw and smelt holds 5 million lts and the others 2.5 million lts each. We were asked before we started our tour to leave all phones, cameras, watches and anything with a battery or keys etc which could create a spark as the rum is very inflammable. Once we had seen the well they mix the molasses with the local water and add a special yeast which they make themselves and there are copies in Norwich in the UK so if they need to get some more there is a bank there. Apparently from one cell of their yeast they create 2 lts in a few hours. They then use some yeast expanders and within a few days they have made 400,000 lts. After the first fermentation the rum’s alcohol content is only about 7%. They then add green steam and they do this process twice to get to a 75% alcohol content. It is then matured in American oak barrels for different periods. There is a monitoring process to ensure that its consistency and quality is maintained. It was a very interesting tour and we then were given a taste of 2 different rums. I find it difficult to taste rum neat and need a mixer with it. David and I bought a bottle which we will taste properly on board.

We then walked into town and it was quite hot but we found the Club Hotel which had been recommended and then the Old Bindy pub where we had some lunch. We then got some more wine and beer and the taxi man picked us up showed us the town a little and we then returned to Stormbird. We rested for a bit and then went ashore for some supper. It had been a good interesting day.

The picture of the day is David and Trevor outside the rum factory.  

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from late June to Mid-July so if of interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com