Sarina Qld August 17th 2023

 Sarina Qld August 17th 2023

It’s almost like a time warp: all the roadworks from last year are still there, perhaps even multiplied. They start as you pull out of Bowen and never really stop until you get to Mackay, which they have now bypassed with a Ring Road. I missed t he turn and had to take the old bypass, which was just fine.

The plan was to spend two nights in Sarina. On the Friday we were booked to do the Sugar Mill tour, and on Saturday I was going to go the 30km back into Mackay to do Parkrun. The mill tour we had booked months ago based on our experience last year, when it had been booked out for weeks. Judy had done a check and found that they had plenty of availability, so a plan was hatched to do the tour this afternoon, and decamp to Rockhampton tomorrow. As it turns out, I haven’t done the Rockhampton Parkrun, so that’s a bonus for me.

The Sugar Mill tour turned out to be a Sugar Shack tour, which was Ok and informative as the guide told us all about cane, haw they plant and harvest it, and how they process the canes to produce sugar and lots of byproducts. The biggest claim about sugarcane farming is that “nothing is wasted.” Even the muddy sludge gets sent back to farms as a nutrient rich topsoil.

Original sugar cane "billet" planter.. Sarina Qld

Original local invention. Full cut stalk picker-upper. Sarina Qld

Chopped stalk sugar cane harvester. Sarina Qld

Rollingstone Qld July 20, 2015

Rollingstone Qld July 20, 2015

Our bad-weather hoodoo caught up with us again: today is 100% cloudy and threatening rain. The wind has picked up and you start to wonder why you are parked right on a beach.

Not to worry, we wandered off in the car to have a look at the country between here and Ingham (no - nothing to do with the chicken kings), but didn't make it out of the park before i just had to snap these huge seed pods hanging from the trees.

Seed pod. Caravan Park, Rollingstone Qld

Next stop was just up the road near the highway. They have huge fields of pineapples and one of the fields is just starting to come into fruit, so we stopped and took some snaps. As it turned out we were right next to the highway with only a railway line between us. There are railway lines all over the place up here in Queensland especially because of the sugar cane, so one gets a bit complacent about crossing them. But wait! This one is the main line north and as a small truck came to an abrupt halt, the intercity sun land express went roaring through.

Baby pineapple. Rollingstone Qld

here comes the train. Rollingstone Qld

Let's stop, Good plan. Rollingstone Qld

On the way to Ingham, there is Crystal Creek National Park and the Frosty Mango, they will keep for tomorrow. Pineapples give way to cane fields, another crop that seems to grow all year-round and the fields are in various states of growth from freshly sown to ready for harvest.

Ingham seems a nice sort of place and has a much more relaxed feel than its bigger cousin, Townsville, just 100km down the road. On the way back, we turned off and followed the dirt road down toward the heads of the Crystal Creek, but failed to find them, or the beach, before we gave up and returned to the highway. We took a few snaps, but didn't see any crocodiles in the creek or on the sandbar. There are more than a few places here that give you that Deliverance Country feel.

deep in the scrub, people still live here - cue: theme from Deliverance. Crystal Creek Qld

Crystal Creek Qld

Crystal Creek Qld