A CRUISE IN THE SUNSHINE

It was our last day on the central coast of Queensland. Since we were here celebrating George's birthday, he was asked to choose what activity to do on the last day. He chose to go on a river cruise on the Burnett River which flows through the town of Bundaberg.

 We arrived at the mini dock at 9:00am where the "Bundy Belle" was waiting for us and a few others too. It was already a hot sunny day.

 The captain of the boat was also a local school music teacher but he gave us a running commentary on places and their history as we lazily motored along the river. We couldn't go any further up stream than this because the huge floods last year filled the river with silt and sand. The water came up to the top of the bridges and did a lot of damage in the city.

 So we headed towards the mouth of the river. George, in the checked shirt, chose to sit in the hot sun on the top deck.

 Paul, Helen and the rest of us sat inside and collected a cool breeze through the windows. We admire Paul so much as he is having treatment for cancer and he is in quite a lot of pain but he keeps fighting it and joining in with us whenever he can. We hope this new treatment will give him some relief and more time with us all.

We passed the rowing club and.....

 the sailing club. Behind the yachts is a huge sugar storage shed and the wharf where ships come to fill their holds with bulk sugar. Bundaberg is famous for its sugar, rum and ginger beer.

 We passed miles of marinas crammed full of million dollar yachts shimmering in the sun.

After three hours we had returned back to the little wharf and a huge seafood restaurant. We didn't take long to decide this is where we'll have lunch and.....

it was delicious!