Could you pass the sugar please?

We have passed the sugar for the past 800+ miles... We have been driving through the heart of sugar cane country. From the Bruce Highway (our main road of choice) the fields seem to stretch forever. We learned (from a helpful info center employee) that we are visiting in prime harvesting season. By day we see all sorts of serious farm equipment cutting down the cane and processing it into what looks like mulch. The Cane Train (a small train dragging cars full of the cut cane) chugs along side the highway, sometimes stopping traffic while it crosses to the other side. When we are still driving at dusk we are able to see cane fires in the adjacent fields. We have heard two reasons for the fires: 1) fire rids the remaining cane stalks of snakes and rats and other disease causing vermin or 2) that the fire increases the sugar content in the end product which can be more valuable for the farmer. We have no way of knowing whether either of those is correct, but we DO know that we like the fires – rolling down the windows driving through the cane (and especially near a fire area) rewards us with a delicious smell of sweetness. An added benefit for you Coke drinkers is that Coca Cola here is made with pure sugar cane – none of that high fructose nonsense used in the states. Mmmm…..



Cane fire in the distance, we wish we could post the smell in the air!



Our view for a large part of the trip.



This guy was much better to look at than the cane fields. He was on Hamilton Island.