The last day trip my family and I did at the Sunshine Coast
was visit The Ginger Factory. The Ginger Factory is a tourist attraction with a
working factory, rides and restaurants. Entry to The Ginger Factory is free but
the tours and rides cost money.
We bought a combo pass for all the tours and rides. The
first thing we did was take a tour of the ginger factory. It was December 26th
which is a public holiday known as Boxing Day in Australia, so the factory
wasn’t operating. Boxing Day is traditionally a day where employers give a gift
to their employees after Christmas to thank them for their service but it’s
mostly a sale day where all the extra stock from Christmas is sold.
The factory had just opened so it was just my family and
another family on the tour. The guide led us through the factory where the
ginger is processed. The ginger is used in candies as well as for seasoning for
other foods. They also supply ginger for other brands from all over the world.
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After seeing the factory, we were lead to a tasting room to
taste ginger products. We ate some meatballs with ginger, a few canapés and
crystallized ginger. I heard coughing and gurgling from behind me and I saw
that an eleven year girl was chocking. Luckily, she coughed out the meatball
and her mum and the tour guide was on hand. I think her mum looked more annoyed
than anything else.
The next tour we went to was the Superbee tour as The Ginger
Factory also keeps bees. We learnt about honey production which was interesting
but I have since forgotten. There was a honey collecting demonstration which I
was kind of nervous about but no bees escaped and the bees were in an
enclosure.
When the tour had finished we decided to go on the ride
called Overboard. The Overboard ride is a gentle ride on a boat that is on a
track. The Overboard ride tells the story of a gingerbread man who escaped from
some bakers and travels around the world. As it was Boxing Day, we were allowed
unlimited rides. It is not an exciting ride and I think small children would
like it more but we rode the ride three times just to make the most out of it. I
thought the puppets were very good and it was fun to spot where the gingerbread
man and bakers and notice things we missed the first time around.
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We also went on the Ginger train which is a hundred years
old sugar cane train. The train went around a track around the factory. The
best part was when it went behind the building and their free range chickens appeared.
The chickens roam about the park and get excited when the train appears. They
ran after the train and the driver threw feed out to them.
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The last thing we did at the Ginger Factory was to look at
the gift shops. They have a main gift shop selling ginger and honey products as
well as others selling homewares, spices, car memorabilia and dolls.
The other things I got up to on the Sunshine Coast:
- Holiday on the Sunshine Coast
- Holiday on the Sunshine Coast part 1
- Australia Zoo
- Underwater World Sea Life Mooloolaba
- Eumundi Markets
This is such a unique attraction! And it sure looks like a ton of fun :)
ReplyDeleteI've never known that factories being a part of an amusement park sort of thing complete with rides even existed! They sure don't have that in Singapore haha. But I love the idea, I've always wanted to visit a factory and to be able to enjoy all these other attractions would just be a huge plus.
The food tasting sounds super interesting, I'm trying to imagine what those common dishes would taste like with ginger haha! I also really like their gingerbread men mascots, I think they're adorable :)
Great post, Carlyn! I felt so fun and happy reading it hehe :)
Hi Renae, I think as you are a foodie you would really enjoy the ginger factory. They have a cafe and a restaurant too which features a lot of ginger dishes so I think you might enjoy that. I think you would really like the ginger icecream which they make fresh everyday.
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