Holiday Part 2

The next day we had to be out of the house because the realtor was showing the place so I planned a tour of the sugar mill. Before we could go though, a visit to a local clothing store was necessary. Safety regulations require closed-toed and closed-heeled shoes, which half of our group did not own (sandals and bare feet get you in everywhere else around here, even the grocery stores, churches, and restaurants. No shirt, no shoes, no drama, mate.) We lucked out on a great sale and even found a beautiful pair of leather boat shoes for one member of our party, one who didn't even need shoes. They were only $10.00 (AUD). How could I pass that up? On to the mill we went.

The sights! Humongous steaming pipes and vats; a massive antique steam engine so close you could touch it, and lose your arm if you were not pulled completely inside the machine and pulped into cane juice (but we were good and stayed inside the very narrow yellow safety lines and were fortunately not wearing any loose articles of clothing); a certain industrial beauty; our friends' dad up on a very high catwalk waving to us.



The sounds! Well, whatever deafening roar we could hear through our mandatory hearing protection. Thunderous clanging, whirring, and a constant hissing. Our guide wore a bull horn strapped to her side but none of her commentary could be heard. Luckily we had been briefed before about the process of making sugar and she held up information cards throughout the tour to explain which part of the operation we were viewing. We also had to don hardhats as part of the safety requirements, but with all the giant machinery, hot pipes, boilers, and steam venting all over the place, a hard hat wouldn't really help. All I could think the whole time I was in there was, "She's gonna blow!"



The smells! Mmmmm. Molasses. And other vague molassesy smells.

And of course we got to taste our way through the plant, sampling the syrup and various refining stages.



One of the difficulties in planning sightseeing activities while Jorge is gone is that if we did want to go anywhere majorly exciting, like, say, the Undara Lava Tubes for example, we would eventually have to do it again when Jorge got back, which is generally too complicated and too expensive. Well, this was pretty incredible so I'm definitely going to have to take Jorge when he gets back, after the kids head back to school. I have an affinity for factories thanks to Fred Rogers and Mr. McFeely. The best episodes of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood were always the ones where he toured a plant, whether it was a crayon, pencil, bowling ball, bubblegum, or shoe factory. Even the mushroom farm episode was pretty cool. Our friend told us to be sure and talk to her husband, he can give us a free private tour. I can hardly wait.