Bundaberg Tourist Attractions

Bundaberg (pop. 32,740) is famed for the production of Bundaberg drink, made from the sugar cane grown on the flat and fertile plains round the Burnett River. Other important local products are timber and vegetables (particularly tomatoes).
Bundaberg is a town of broad tree-lined streets and beautiful parks. A number of sugar mills are open to visitors.
The huge storage and bulk terminal facility at Port Bundaberg, 16km northeast, can store over 300,000 tons of sugar. From the Hummock, a 100m high hill, there is a good view of the green irrigated sugar-cane plantations. In the town itself there are a number of handsome Victorian buildings (the School of Arts, the post office, the customs house, Christ Church and the Holy Rosary Church).
Bundaberg was the birthplace in 1892 of the aviation pioneer Bert Hinkler, who made the first solo flight from Britain to Australia in 1928. He made his first attempt to fly in a glider on Mon Repos Beach in 1912. There is a monument to him on the Hummock, and the Hinkler family house in Mount Perry road is now a memorial museum. Bert Hinkler was killed in an air crash in the Italian Alps in 1933.
The large (and strictly protected) loggerhead and other turtles come to lay their eggs on Mon Repos Beach.
Bundaberg is the most southerly gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. There are cruises from the town to the uninhabited Lady Musgrave Island and flights to Lady Elliot Island (with resort complex).

Lady Elliot Island

Lady Elliot Island, a tiny coral island (42ha) with a small airstrip for light aircraft (coming from Bundaberg, 80km away). It is named after the Lady Elliot, a ship which ran aground on the reef off Hinchinbrook Island in 1812.
Lady Elliot Island is a happy hunting ground for experienced divers, with many wrecks to be explored. The underwater world can be seen, less strenuously, from a glass-bottomed boat. Also over 50 species of birds.

Lady Musgrave Island

Lady Musgrave Island is a tiny coral island (15ha) and is one of the Bunker Islands. The island lies at the west end of a large lagoon with a safe entry and good anchorage.
Lady Musgrave Island is a National Park, with no holiday accommodation. Camping is possible.
The vegetation suffered from over-grazing by goats which had been released on the island to provide sustenance for shipwrecked seafarers, but has recovered since 1971. Around the end of the 19th C damaged was caused on the island, as on many islands in the Great Barrier Reef, by the extraction of guano. Lady Musgrave Island is an important nesting place for birds, and turtles come here to lay their eggs. There are good diving grounds all round the island.