28 July 2011 - Babinda Rest Area, Queensland

This evening we are parked beneath the imposing rainforest clad Mt Bellenden Ker, just north of Queensland’s highest peak, Bartle Freer at 1622 metres. While I can hear the air brakes of the trucks as they hurtle down the Bruce Highway, we are tucked away out of sight at this delightful rest area on the banks of the Babinda Creek along with about twenty other caravans and motorhomes.        

May I come in?

  

We reluctantly left our inquisitive cassowary this morning before the checkout deadline of 10 am, and drove back toward the Bruce Highway stopping at Mourilyan to visit the Sugar Museum. We spent about an hour mooching about the exhibits, Chris examining the agricultural machinery and me, the history of the Kanaka labour. While I have read this over and over and seen the same stories or those very alike, I am still fascinated by the whole business. 

One new little snippet that came from my repeat lesson was the fact that the mangoes growing in the Solomon Islands were actually introduced from Queensland when the islanders were deported back after the labour laws changed. I had always thought that mangoes grew naturally or rather, originated from such places. Perhaps the same is true of those that grow in Vanuatu?

We watched a couple of excellent DVDs, both produced by the Sugar Cane Industry and therefore full of propaganda and buzz words to impress. There was however still much of interest even dismissing the PC-speak.

Close up and personal with a cassowary

Sugar originated in the South Pacific and has been grown in India since at least 1000 BC. These are two facts gleaned from the marvelous interpretive panels, however they do confuse me. This suggests that Indians traveled by boat down to the South Pacific, dug out some cane and took it home to plant. This is all news to me and will be to many more far more history savvy that I!

Certainly sugar cane arrived with settlers in the First Fleet, but the first crop of any substance was at Port Macquarie when a chap by the name of T A Scott brought cane in from Tahiti and produced 3.5 tonne in 1823.

Queensland grows 95% of the sugar cane grown in Australia, as far north as Mossman, with the balance grown in the coastal region of New South Wales from Grafton north. The plantations vary from 100 hectares to 1,000, with a trend toward the larger blocks as small holders are being bought up by the larger growers, much the same as is happening to pastoral land in New Zealand. Currently there are about 4,000 families on those holdings. For about 60% of those farmers, one third of the costs incurred in growing the cane is for water.

The second DVD explained the evolution of cane cutting machinery in an informative and entertaining manner. Certainly the attempts of invention are enough to fill a history book alone, and one has to give the Australians top marks for being so forward in their thinking and eventual success. It should also be noted that with Brazil, Australia is the top sugar producer in the world.

So as you can see this was an interesting museum to visit, but sadly like so many of the art galleries we call in to, there were incomplete exhibits. And Chris felt short changed. I was more frustrated by the fact that the official notices about asked for forbearance and advised that certain exhibits would be ready for public viewing by April 2011. Now I realise that the people in this region have had other things on their minds this year, far more pressing than pleasing a few grumpy tourists, but why don’t they simply change the dates on the notices and we would all be a little less grumpy.

We drove on north to Innisfail, a short distance, and called at the Information Centre. As we entered, we were just about knocked over by the musty smell, and not at all helped by the young girl who approached us. We really did wonder what qualities she had exhibited to her employers; we personally were at a loss to see them. Give us the wrinkly volunteers any day!

We made our way to Anzac Park and visited some cheapy shops on the perimeter to buy some essentials, including some travel DVDs for those TV-less nights. After lunch we walked up in to the town, an impressive collection of shops and offices built over several blocks on the edge of the South Johnson River. These streets are elevated and sloping and therefore not so flood prone as so many towns we visit. Much of the town was devastated by a cyclone in 1918, and underwent a massive rebuild in the architecture that was leading edge of the day; the Art Deco style. The result is a very attractive country town, surrounded by banana and sugar cane plantations. While Innisfail is hardly on the must-see list for tourists, it can be proud to present itself as a pleasant place to break the journey, and a pleasant place for would-be residents.

There is a delightful tale to be told regarding the naming of this town. It was originally called Geraldton, however in 1910 the crew of a ship loaded with timber confused it with Geraldton in Western Australia and took their cargo to the wrong place. A public meeting was held soon after and the name was officially changed.

Our dear New Zealand friend Sue was aware that we were closing in on Innesfail and suggested that we call in on her brother, who works at the local Fire Brigade. This we did and after we reminded him that we had encountered him back about twenty five years ago and swapped family style updates, he invited us to call on him at his home at Kurrimine Beach. We had passed the turnoff to this apparently unspoiled beach yesterday, unaware that Steve lived there with his family. Perhaps we will pay a call when we return south, assuming that we do travel back on the Bruce Highway

We had thought to stay at the rest area just four kilometres north of Innesfail, however when we called in and saw that while it was convenient, it was on a corner of the highway and it was also still relatively early to make camp. And so we continued up for another twenty nine kilometres to Babinda, whose charms had been shouted by many campers met over the past few weeks. What a good decision this was! While we were beaten to the best spots by those who had arrived earlier, we still secured an excellent overnight camp.

Soon after we arrived here this afternoon, Chris and I were suddenly distracted from our afternoon coffee by a crash outside. When we were in Sydney, Lance (from an insurance risk background) told us that there were 300 injuries every year caused by branches falling on campers. One was only just avoided this afternoon. A branch fell halfway down, nearly landing on either a very smart motorhome or a Spaceship camper. Chris and the driver of the motorhome lassoed the branch with a collection of ropes and chains and brought it down before any damage could be done. The tree was healthy and there was no evidence that the branch was about to fall; this has been a good lesson for all.