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Published: October 18th 2013
We first met Pat and Marian on our WA trek last year. A shared adventure to Wolf Creek Crater began our friendship and travelling together for 16 days cemented it. We parted having different destinations and time commitments. We just ‘hit it off’ with each other and were looking forward to catching up again as they continued their journey through SA on their way back to Qld.
Tragically Pat passed away as they continued to travel in WA. Marian lives in the Pioneer Valley just out of MacKay so our visit to Tristan and Zoe gave us the perfect opportunity to catch up with her again. It was just like old times.
Marian lives on an elevated mango farm with a stunning view of the Pioneer Valley. Mountain ranges in the distance framed the checker-board sugar cane fields, cattle herds with their ibis companions, the Pioneer River wending its way from right to left and chimney stacks billowing steam from the sugar mills. We could have easily sat on the patio 24/7 watching the clouds zoom by, the stars, wallabies and birds. This was an ever changing vista. So beautiful!
A range
of birds came to the patio for an early morning and afternoon feed. Seed eaters feasted on a platter of bird seed and kookaburras, magpies and butcher birds snatched morsels of meat thrown to them. A few cheeky ones dared to step into the house on the last day of our visit.
Our days began early. Getting things done before it got too hot was the norm. We girls walked daily from about 6 – 7 am while Greg dangled a line in the Pioneer River. Early morning rowers and platypuses playing in the water were a big distraction for him.
Marian took us to a few of the local hangouts. We discussed ingenious methods for picking the hand of bananas growing at the river’s edge, just out of reach down a very steep bank. It was probably a good thing they were not quite ready to pick.
A group of teenagers jumped from ‘Chicken Rock’ into the river below. Aptly named this dare devil game had the kids diving into water that at times may have been quite deep but right now due to the very dry conditions was much
A cane harvester hard at work.
The birds follow for a free feed on all the exposed bugs.shallower. Marian told us, lurking in the waters below were the remains of a former bridge. A number of teenagers have died at this site in the past. This practice has been banned in the area but kids still risk going there.
We were fascinated by the sugar cane growing everywhere and decided to take a tour at the only mill still offering these. Dressed in long sleeves, long pants and other safety gear we sweltered as we were led through the mill. First it was past the weighbridge and dumper, where the sugar cane trains deliver their load. Cut sugar cane must be processed within 24hours or it loses much of its sugar content. Next it passes through a train of crushers extracting more and more juice as it goes. The bagasse (fibre) is dried and used as fuel for the plant. Extra energy is converted to electricity and sold to the grid. The juice went through a clarifier which removed the impurities. Starter crystals were added to the syrup resulting in a mixture of sugar and molasses. In a centrifuge the sugar crystals were separated from the molasses. The sugar crystals are dried before storage.
The molasses is used for animal feed.
The mill was very hot, very noisy and very sticky at times. Together with having tasted various products along the way we were happy to get out and have a cool drink after 2 ¾ hours. It really was a fascinating tour.
Wednesday after finishing the stone guard repairs and our washing, the three of us headed to Airlie Beech. It was a gorgeous drive through many more cane fields backed by mountains. As with many other roads in Qld there were road works ahead. Next minute a sharp crack meant we had sustained our first windscreen chip. A good size one too! Fortunately a windscreen repair shop in the next town was able to do a patch immediately and we were on our way again.
Airlie Beach is a stunning location so nothing less than a sea view would do for a lunch setting. Surprisingly this was a little hard to find, but find it we did. We all enjoyed yummy seafood dishes then relished a stroll along the foreshore. There were obvious signs of preparations for ‘Schoolies’ coming up soon. The town
Teenagers jumping at Chicken Rock.
Note the rocks sticking out of the water below. Scary! will really be buzzing then.
Before we knew, it was 4:30 and time we got going home so we could get organised for an early departure this morning.
Our time with Marian went all too fast. Sadly this morning we bid each other farewell with the intention of meeting up again sometime in the not too distant future.
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Fiona Moody
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Dream Tour
I read your blog every day and wish we were there - you guys have been to some fascinating places in the last 2 years. We hope next time we are home we can tag along somewhere fun and interesting. Tell Zoe and Tristan hello from us!