Log One Hundred and Twenty One – Digital Detox and Snorkels

9 August 2025

We have left the inland towns and the rail trail and are now on the coast. This is sugarcane country along with strawberry farms and all the summer vegetables and fruits we expect to enjoy year round. In one campground the owner was giving away her home grown avocados.

Every Australian knows Bundaberg is the home of Bundy Rum. Given the national significance of Bundy a tour of the distillery was mandatory. It turns out the whole rum process is simply a recycling industry.

The sugar mills produce a byproduct called molasses and they produce a lot of it. The sugar mills have no use for molasses and while some of it goes to stock feed a great deal is used to produce rum.

Molasses is the foundation of the spirit that becomes rum. The byproduct from the distilling process is then used by the sugar cane growers as fertiliser. It’s just one big circular economy. Of course the rum also is subjected to further processing often with coke, not the sniffing type.

We also visited the ginger beer factory which the rum distillery also utilises in the production of alcoholic ginger beer.

On an absolute whim we called the Lady Elliot Island eco resort and discovered they had a vacant room and seats were available for flights to and from the island. We are not good at planning too far ahead.

Lady Elliot Island is pretty much at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. It has no internet or mobile phone connection and so a great time for a digital detox and no news of the world!

The water at Lady Elliot is still warm but not quite as warm as the tropical end of the reef. Wet suits were deriguere. It does however boast amazing fish life along with turtles, whales and manta rays.

Lady Elliot has a laid back vibe with people wandering around in wet suits or their swimming gear. Hair is generally sun bleached and there is very little sign of high fashion.

We enjoyed two 50 minute snorkel dives off a boat and one off the beach. The off beach entry was very tricky negotiating an unpredictable rocky bottom and waves. Reef shoes were a necessity.

Whilst the entry was tough it was a doddle compared to getting out. The tide had dropped and we were forced to navigate up the gutters in the reef to get close to the beach. When the water got too shallow it was a case of dragging your body up and on to the rocks and then try to stand. This was all done while the waves were trying to knock you over. If you can imagine a beached whale trying to get back into deeper water you have the idea. Elegant we were not.

In our three dives and trip in the glass bottom boat we saw turtles, so many of different coral reef fish, manta rays and acres of amazing corals. It can be quite disconcerting to look to the right and see a turtle quietly swimming right beside you, and so close. There were hawksbill, green and loggerhead turtles in abundance.

Apologies, I did not buy the water proof wallet for my phone so no underwater photos.

After all the snorkelling and walks around the island we returned to the mainland and a day of rain. The rain has created an opportunity to take a break and rest.