Burnett bites

A 230km tasting journey along the Burnett River wanders through horticultural country so fertile it could fatten a crowbar.

Story + Photos Mandy McKeesick

Only the most adventurous would find the Burnett River’s beginnings in the precipitous hills north of Monto in Central Queensland. Even as it meanders through cattle country west of Eidsvold, it is still relatively inconspicuous. But as it approaches Mundubbera, the Burnett is joined by the Auburn and Boyne rivers, and from here the waters underpin one of Australia’s richest horticultural regions. As they say, you could fatten a crowbar here.

The drive from Mundubbera to Burnett Heads, north of Bundaberg, where the river empties into the Coral Sea and the Southern Great Barrier Reef, is a mere 230km on sealed roads. But why hurry?

It is best to start this journey hungry and taste your way to the coast, beginning in Mundubbera, where table grapes clamber over trellises, melons sit fat in fields, avocados hang temptingly from low branches, and hectare upon hectare of bird and insect netting guards crops. “We are the largest covered blueberry farm in Australia with 100ha under netting,” says Sally Jolly, farm manager and agronomist for Smart Berries.