Bargara

January 14-15, 2006

With a departure time of 9:30 am set all were ready except for our tribal leader, who had decided some last minute repairs were in order to secure a successful trip, dang CV boots. This was the first group of travellers to leave for Bargara and they were (drivers only) Justin Hettrick SC599, Tonelle Rogers (Brett’s daughter) SC306, Reece Corbett SC590, Wil Spelta SC572, Kelvin Bradshaw SC595, and myself SC574. Eventually Grant Rogers SC577 was to arrive giving us a total of 7 cars heading out from the Big Fish leaving at 9:40 am on Friday morning, his excuse was he had been at home waiting for Curlie to arrive.

Our first stop was the park just out of Gympie for a cuppa, loo break and a stretch, not what you would call a long way into the trip but enough to warrant those cries of “I need to go to the toilet” from the back seat. After a few pics a cuppa and 20 mins we were off again on our way up to Childers, our next stop. The traffic wasn’t too bad with the group able to stay in visual range for this next leg. A distance trip no matter how long always manages to bear witness to something that seems odd at the time and more bizarre the more you think about it. In this instance we had caught up to a Winnebago who’s driver somehow thought that the drive had turned into a race for sheep stations as he set about racing Grant to the end of the overtaking lane almost clipping his van as he reluctantly pulled in behind him.

Arriving at Childers, Justin went off to pick up a family member whilst the rest of us decided another cuppa was in order at a park on the south side of town. Soon after it was on to Bundaberg’s Information Centre to retrieve our turtle watching tickets and to appreciate the very nice air-conditioned room. Once everyone had collected their tickets and had a look around the centre it was off to Bargara’s Nielson Beach Caravan Park to set up camp for the weekend. Many of us have been to this park before and that is the reason we have been coming back but the new caretakers seemed a little less friendly than in previous years but that could have had something to do with the great number of us arriving at the same time.

As we where setting up Brett Rogers SC306 and family, Dave Martin SC180 and Big John McKenna SC054 arrived at almost the same time to begin setting their camp sites up. Brett experienced an issue with setting up, finding his camper had increased in weight in a short amount of time as it proved rather difficult to move any further, the cause was later to be discovered was I pushing out of sight in the other direction. Later that night Barry Morrison (Wilbur) arrived after leaving work late Friday afternoon.

With more things to see and do in the area than time was able to offer it was decided by some to do the brewery tours (Rum and Ginger) and others to make a trip to 1770 on Saturday prior to our nightly visit to the Turtles at Mon Repos. Very few of our group had been to 1770 and for those who had previously, it had been some time since their last visit. The road to 1770 is now sealed all the way and in pretty good condition for most of the journey with the time taken at posted limits about 80 mins. On arrival in town the first place to check out was the LARC tour (Light Amphibious Re-supply Craft) it was then discovered that the LARC only ran at certain times and the time we were to be in town was not one of those times, as luck would have it due to the numbers involved Megan Rogers was able to persuade the operators to put on a special 1 hour tour starting at 2:30pm.  In the time we had to wait for 2:30 to come around we did a driving trip around town and had some lunch and a swim at the local park before meeting at the LARC to begin our tour.

The tour was informative and fun with a few attempts made by the LARC’s skipper to get a decent wave smash hindered by a strong breeze flattening the surf out. We did however do a few duck dives into the channel and were buzzed by the local joy flight operator whilst travelling south back to the marina.

Due to our meeting time of 6pm at the turtles a swift trip home from 1770 was the go. We arrived back at camp in enough time to turn around and head out to Mon Repos for the Turtle experience. No sooner had the place opened and we (group 1) were called down to the sand. Even though we had tried to book as a group we still had our club spread out over 3 groups. At our first trip down to the beach we saw some hatchlings boiling out of the sand and heading for the sea, for a creature so small they travel out of the sand then proceed out in the ocean about 100 km before they have their first meal! Our second trip was about 9:30 pm. In this trip we witnessed the Suby turtle, she picked the rockiest place to come out of the ocean then the steepest bank to climb before laying her eggs. (Surely only a Subaru Driver would do that?). We arrived back at camp around midnight and it was not long before we were all in bed again.

Sunday morning came and it was time to pick up and leave with a decision made to see the Ginger Beer factory made all the more a must-see by those who had been there on the Saturday. The $5 self tour was good with the kids and kids at heart enjoying it. At the end of the tour you are able to taste the different drinks they make at the factory; these include the famous Ginger Beer as well as Horehound, a Peach Drink, Lemon Lime Bitters, a berry drink and some diet varieties. After the tour and a re-supply of all things Bundy we headed out to the port and then the marina for a few pictures before heading into town for a picnic lunch at one of the parks along the river and then at 2pm we headed south back home.

As with all trips there has to be fines given out for amusing behaviour:

Fine 1; Big John for forgetting who Brett Rogers was.

Fine 2; Wilbur for getting the park operators out of bed cranky

Fine 3; Dave Martin for trying to capsize big John’s camper while reversing under it, anyone who has seen the Skipper and Gilligan in action could appreciate the very funny side of this.

Fine 4; Big John running out of fuel 2 km past a servo.

Fine 5; Reece Waits in line for hours only leave just as we were being called to the beach

Fine 6; Brett Rogers for driving in an illegal way in front of a policeman yielding him a fine.

Fine 7; Kelvin for taking illegal flash photography at the turtles many times over.

Fine 8; Kelvin for not driving his Liberty on the weekend.

Dave Gibson SC574