Arriving at the cane farm about 15ks North Of Ayr
our back yard for 3 days
watching from our awning, the cane cutter coming home after a hard days work,
Ayr a bigger town than we expected
clock tower in the main street
a beautiful Nature reserve in Ayr, with some interesting statues and just a very pleasant nature walk around lagoons and little creek
waterlilies in one of the lagoons
Alva beach about 15ks from Ayr
popular fishing and camping spot surrounded by sugar cane farms
A complimentary dusk tour by the owner to experience a Cane burn
Tractor with attachment to separate the cane around the perimeter of the patch to be burnt
he just walks around the perimeter and lights up
That was a FIRE! You can't believe how close we were to all of this, there were, what an absolutely awesome experience.
water truck following it around
water truck following the burner person to ensure the fire doesn't spread to the wrong side
only the dry foliage and dead ground growth burns leaving the green cane virtually untouched, the fire subsides as quickly as it was started and once the dry stuff, which was the "fuel", is burnt it basically goes out leaving fairly clean cane to be harvested,
water truck at work
before the burn
after the burn
Charles Hill, site of old WW2 Radar Station and Bomb proof bunkers to protect the Radar equipment, the Radar towers have been dismantled, but the bunkers remain
Great views from up here
Burdekin Bridge just south of Home Hill
Burdekin Bridge
Burdekin Bridge
Sugar Mill at Home Hill
cut sugar cane in rail cages ready to go to processing plant
another tour of the cane farm, a bit more to learn
the farms in the Burdekin area sit on land with endless underground water supply making this area one of the most highly productive sugar areas in the world
fresh sugar cane regenerating 5 weeks after burn and harvesting
cane cutter/harvester and cane collector in the truck
harvester cuts the cane to this size and spits it all out into cages on the truck
cages are rolled off and onto rail tracks ready for collection by sugar company and railed to processing plant.
So finally it wasn't all about sugar cane, there were many lagoons with beautiful water lillies spotted around the farm
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