Rum, rum, rum and hatching turtles!
Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Tuesday, 12 April 2011 13:51
On Saturday we drove to Bundaberg and headed straight for the information centre, our usual port of call in a new place! Bundaberg is famous for it’s rum, and also we knew that one of the beaches was a turtle nesting area, so we went to check out if there would be any action. When we arrived there was a big banner across the desk saying the turtle hatching viewings had been extended for this weekend, so we were very lucky! We booked onto that, and also booked the 3pm Bundaberg rum distillery tour. We found a local campsite and pitched the tent, we were the only tent campers on the whole site! Grabbed lunch and then headed to the Rum distillery. We 
walked through the entrance and read some of the info about the early distillery, set up by three local sugar refiners as they wanted to do something with the molasses they produced (a by product of sugar refinery). It became a very lucrative business for them, especially as they had lots of molasses anyway! The tour began by taking us to the molasses store, which we could s
mell before we could see! The air was thick with a lovely sweet smell, that was quite familiar. I was racking my brain wondering what it was, and then our guide said molasses was used in making treacle, and that is exactly what it smelled like!!!! The store was a very large wooded building, and we were allowed to look inside, walking through it on a viewing platform. Looking out into a vast expanse, it was incredible, loads and loads of thick brown sludgy liquid, although it was so thick it was not very liquidy! It smelled amazing, and was quiet impressive to look at! Our guide told us it was 3 metres deep, and when full could be 5 metres deep, apparently we saw 5 million litres of molasses!!! After seeing it, we were allowed a taster, our other guide handed us a lollipop stick and poured a little on it for us to try, I did not like it at all! I am not really a fan of treacle, and this was pretty much like it, but a little bit worse! Some people really liked it and went back for seconds! Next we went into the fermentation part, and were able to look at the machines that did all the work. The molasses is mixed with yeast, water. We were shown how the yeast makes it all froth up through a window in a huge tank, and then 36 hours after, this is 8% alcohol, and it is poured into the distillation chamber. It is distilled twice to become 78% alcohol. 40,000 litres of the original liquid only makes 4,000 litres of 78% rum! They then take the rum (which is clear), and add caramel to colour it and water it down to the different strengths required for each product they make. Originally when the rum was made, it was transported to other countries in the huge barrels that Port etc was transported to Australia in, and during transit took on the dark colour from the residues and wood. When they made new barrels and started to transport the rum in them, people complained as they thought the rum was off, as it was the wrong colour, so they started to put the caramel in to add colour and a bit of flavour! Once we had seen the fermentation and distillation we were shown how the rum is stored. It has to be stored for 2 years to mature. The barrels it is stored in are the height of Ben and I put together, and hold between 40 – 60,000 litres! The barrels in themselves are a work of art, no glue is used to make them, they are spectacular! Once we had seen the storage, we were taken to the bottling area. Unfortunately as it was a weekend, they weren’t bottling, but we were able to watch a DVD to show the process, and could look at the machinery. We were then told about all the rum products they make, and told what options there were for our tasting session. They took us downstairs to the ‘bar’, and we could have two tasters of our choice, and they were full sized drinks too! Ben had the five year aged rum straight, and the Red and Coke. I chose the liquor with a dash of cream and regular rum with lime soda water, I had a sip of each and Ben finished mine off too as I was the designated driver! After a quick dinner we got ready to go and see the turtles! They close the beach from November to April for nesting and hatching. You can buy a ticket (only $10 each) to see the nesting from Nov – Jan, and the hatching from Jan – March. Luckily they had extended it until the first weekend in April which was good news for us! Basically you turn up at 6.45pm and it’s already dark as we’re in Queensland! We were given a little talk about the hatching, the fact that we will be in groups based on when you booked, and that obviously it's nature, so they can't guaruntee anything, but the longer you are prepared to wait around, the more chance there is you will see something! They are open until 1am in peak times! We went through the centre which had great displays all about the turtles and the work they do there, which has been going on since the 1950's, seeing some of the same turtles from the time still turning up to nest! We were shown a DVD in the outdoor amphitheatre while there were rangers down on the beach spotting any activity! Group one got called at about 8pm, and we were hoping we wouldn't be much longer, then at about 8.30pm we got our call. We grouped together and were told we could use our torches to walk down to the beach, but had to turn them off when we got there as the hatchling turtles follow light to get to the sea and we would confuse them. So we set off down a track to the beach. The ranger met us and took us to the nest he had found. We all gathered round and he told us that he had covered it back over to trick the turtles into thinking it was not the right time, and so he started to move some sand back, which got them going again, and soon lots of tiny little turtles were popping out of the sand! We were told that they would have hatched about 5 days ago, in 
the nest which is about 60cm deep, and then spent the days eating the contents of their egg to get strong and moving up closer to the surface. It was amazing to watch them crawling out of the nest with such strength, and then immediately make their way towards the sea! Since we were all huddled around the guide had made a little pen to put them in and keep them safe until they were all out and we could set them free towards the sea! The guide had a
headtorch on, and it was amazing to see how they followed the light! Nearly had a few escapees as they climbed on top of eachother trying to get to the sea!! The guide bought two round for us to see, touch and take photos with which was amazing! They were so tiny, but so tough, little legs flapping around knowing it had to get to the sea! After we had seen them upclose, he put them all in a soft bucket while we counted, all 77 of them! Then we lined up in two lines making a passage way down to the sea. They chose a few people with torches to stand in the middle with their legs apart to shine their torches on the ground, making a light pathway all the way to the sea, sadly I did not get picked! However, it meant I could watch the whole thing, and it was amazing to see them all hurry down towards the sea in the moonlight! They were quite fast considering their size! They all made it and got washed around in the waves before they would have paddled as much as they could to get as deep as they could quickly! It was an amazing thing to witness and I will always remember it! Sarah x
Fantastic!! X