Travels Around Queensland - Hervey Bay And Environs

As regular readers will know, Mr P. and I headed north a while ago to help celebrate his uncle's 80th.  We tend to head south for breaks as we both like the cold, so this was a bit unusual for us.  I have put up a few photos of our trip on other posts, but I thought I would add a quick travelogue to show off what we found.

Ceratodus (Lungfish) by John Distler Olsen

This is a fabulous sculpture down by the river in Bundaberg, near the motel we stayed at.  The Latin name is Ceratodus. Apparently, they have been around for 380 million years, and Queensland has one of only 6 remaining species in the world.

sugar cane train

This was taken from our car, as we drove by.  There were seemingly endless wagons going by, filled with newly-harvested sugar cane.  The harvest period is from May to November, and you will see the trains go by up to 15 times a day.
  

sugar mill at Bundaberg - kinda spooky at night  

Looks like they keep the Milliquin mill going 24/7 during harvesting season. A bit of a steampunk atmosphere there, don't you think?  And that's steam coming out of the chimneys, not smoke.  It creates surplus electricity which goes back into the grid.

just a few things to watch out for when swimming in QLD waters

Phew, at least it wasn't stinger season when we were there:=)  And no sharks on this sign, unlike the one down in the Northern Rivers area when we were there on the weekend.

Sea Crab sculpture by Chris Trotter 

This was on the reverse side of an artwork also by Chris Trotter called White's Seahorse.  There is a similar piece close to our house in Brisbane, so we were interested to see this one in Tannum Sands.

octopus bike rack outside Hervey Bay Regional Gallery

Art by Stainless steel artist Chris Calcutt, who did several other artworks around the Hervey Bay area.  I even bought a very small whale sculpture of his at the Gallery shop.  Such clever stuff.

sea turtle

I didn't get the artist's name - oops!  I love the colours of this beautiful public artwork outside the Hervey Bay Regional Gallery.

of course cake!

doughnut and cannoli

And of course there had to be cakes.  Mr P. had 2 as you can see. My Black Forest cake was a bit dried out sadly.  Hubby scoffed his down so I don't know what they were like.  These were from Santini's in Torquay, which also runs a pizza place next door.

look at all those electric jugs!

I had to show this one again.  These are full-sized, old-fashioned electric jugs just like mum used to have:=)  They are on every step and on the little balcony.  This small, art deco house sits all by itself on the Esplanade.  Wonder how long before the developers whack a hotel or units on the block?

looking out over the Bay from Urangan Pier 

Such a shame we were too early for the whales that come right into the bay each winter.  Next year for sure.

not too early for the pelicans tho

another piece by Chris Calcutt

A mackerel as you can see.  There are a few fish scattered around the lawns, sculpted in stainless steel.

my fave!

I had to end with this one!  An absolutely stunning artwork by Chris Calcutt (I think) and others, standing at the front of the Gallery.  It had just been polished for the first time since being installed in 2012, so it was shining and gleaming in the winter sun.

We had a lovely couple of days here; and hope to return next winter when the whales are swimming by.