Day 20 - A long day

We had to be up early today as we’d to check out and catch the shuttle to the bus stop where we’d get on the Oz Ex bus to take us the 4 hour journey to Agnes Water (1770.) All went smoothly until the Oz Ex driver informed us that Agnes Water wouldn’t be happening as all the roads to it are closed due to flooding and we’d be going to Emu Park, close to Rockhampton. This was a set back as we’d already put a non-refundable deposit on a hostel for the night there!

Oh, we did have the leftover pizza for brekki!

We set off and after a couple of hours we stopped in Bundaberg, famous for Bundaberg rum. Here we went to the Distillery where we paid the $10 each for the self-guided tour of the museumy bit. This also included two free drinks each at the end of the tour! We got 4 drinks to share: a special reserve shot, a limited edition ($80 per bottle) shot, a 5 times filtered clear rum with mixer, and a chocolate and coffee liqueur shot. Corrie has learned that she isn’t a fan off the pirate’s tipple… Danny was left to polish off the 4 drinks that remained; a task he didn’t seem to grumble at!

After this stop we went for lunch where Corrie had some toast and a milkshake… Danny got this ridiculously oversized sarni:

Then it was on with the trip; we had a final stop in Miriam Vale (very close to the blocked off Agnes Water) where we picked up 3 extra passengers who’d managed to hitch hike their way through the floods. These guys informed us of the extent of being trapped in the town with a population of 56 people. They’d been stuck there for 4 days in the floods and there’re about 150 other travellers stuck there wanting to continue up the coast. The supermarket there has been rationing its food supplies whilst the town waits for the water levels (formerly about 2 metres deep) to drop.

After this pick-up we stopped briefly at the border of the tropics. From now on in our journey up the coast we’d be in tropical weather… in the wet season!

We were then told that Oz Ex had arranged for us all to stay, for free, at a hostel in Emu Park with a meal for $5 each. This was warmly received by everyone but we did all expect to be staying in a run-down dump… We were, thankfully, mistaken as the accommodation was excellent. The two of us were given a lovely private room with TV and en-suite etc and the food was also great for $5. As we were well within budget we decided to treat ourselves to a few beers to celebrate!