Sugar, sugar

The sugar cane harvest was about to start and the road north from Port Douglas was lined with tall canes topped by graceful feathery plumes. Then there was a sudden blip in the scenery as the canes gave way to a series of large rectangular ponds with water bubbling here and there. A farming activity or sewage ponds? We later worked out it was a barramundi farm.

Further on was Mossman. This town, population about 1600, is home to the Mossman Sugar Mill and a feature of the township are the large trees beside the main road north (above left).

The local radio stations were warning people to be alert because the sugar trains would soon be running. There is a big network of narrow gauge traintracks throughout the sugar growing area. They run parallel with the main road then veer off into side tracks between the fields of cane. At harvest time the harvested cane is ferried to the mill. Near the mill the sugar train wagons were lined up waiting for business (above right).

Our timing wasn’t right to take a mill tour but we did a side trip up the Mossman Gorge up a narrow road with a canopy of lush trees overhead. There were a lot of cars in the vicinity belonging to people who were walking the nearby bush tracks or picnicking and being entertained by the colourful red-headed birds that were stalking about.

Further north was Daintree and here we discovered it was ideal tea-growing country and home to the Daintree Tea Company. While we didn't visit the tea growers, fortunately I had the foresight buy some of their tea at the local village and I will certainly be ordering more online from the growers, the Nicholas family. It turned out to be a very satisfying drop.

Daintree is another base for river cruises so we decided to return in a couple of days to try our luck with the crocodiles again.

As we exited the small township we came across a herd of pale coloured Brahman cattle. I was intrigued to see each beast seemed to have its personal coterie of escorts in the form of elegant white birds, which I later learned were cattle egrets. They vanished when I arrived with my camera but I did manage to capture a couple after a few minutes. They apparently wait for the cattle to stir up the bugs.

On the return journey I noticed tropical fruit farm with a retail outlet so we went in to inspect the wares.

The shop assistant was most helpful. She determined how many days I was staying in Port Douglas and then helped me pick out fruit that was ready to eat or would be before I left.

I came away with a grand selection – mangosteens, sapote (custard apple), dragonfruit, black sapote (chocolate pudding fruit), sugar bananas – and a couple of avocados and lemons to snack on for dinner in the evening to give the diet a fighting chance...

Next – we’re determined to find ourselves a big crocodile >>