Sept 13 ... Ingham

After some days of happily sitting around the van being very lazy, we decided to venture forth yesterday. Firstly we went into Ingham to do some shopping. It is another Queensland town full of character. There is a huge Italian population in this area and this is obvious in lots of ways ... the shops, the architecture and the culture. It is common to hear Italian being spoken on the street and we were recommended a "deli" in town called Lou's Food Emporium ... and it certainly is an "emporium". Everything looked fresh and the variety and quantity were astounding. We had a lovely time buying figs stuffed with mascapone, French Roquefort and Gruyere cheeses, and lots of other tasties.

Cheeses from everywhere!

A million different type of olives.

This shop is part of a "Food Trail" for Ingham and I have written it down for next time. Unfortunately, I ate something a few days ago that did not agree with my super sensitive system so I am on toast and vegemite for a while. But this is something to really look forward to on a future visit.

From here we set out for Lucinda via Halifax. This is the area in which my Grandfather, Archie Martin, was born and raised. He was one of five children and he lived with his family on the banks of the Herbert River. His mother's maiden name was Ufer and we easily found "Ufer's Rd" and followed it along to the house. The house was still in use but I think it may look a lot different now to when my Grandfather was a boy in the early 1900's. I know very little about my Grandfather's history, but on a later visit to the local cemetery, I also found the grave stones of Hilton and Alice Ufer, who must have some family connection.

The Herbert River in front of house

Grandfather's Childhood Home

View behind house

The Ufer graves

Halifax was only small but it had a few beautiful old buildings. As usual, the two nicest were the pubs! It is the same in Ingham which boasts the original "Pub with no beer" which apparently was drunk dry by the American Armed Forces when they were here during WW2. Subsequently a poem and then a song have been written about it. The Day Dawn Hotel was built in 1875 but it has subsequently been pulled down.
We pass the Station Hotel, built 1925, on our way to town and I think it is an attractive building with it's Victorian style, cast iron columns and lacework.

A short distance from Halifax is Lucinda where there is a famous jetty. The jetty is a private one that runs from the sugar storage facility, 5.76 kms out to the ship loading dock at sea. It was quite hard even to see the end of it. The "jetty" has a covered conveyor belt on one side and a road on the other. This is the final stage of a massive sugar industry in this area.  As we drive to and from town we see the big harvesters in action and there are long sugar trains everywhere. Their rails criss cross the roads and there are flashing red lights wherever you go, even through the centre of Ingham.

The Lucinda Jetty

Cane Train

The trains take the cane to two mills around here. The Victoria is the biggest and it is on our road. It was CSR's first foray into sugar in 1883 and it was established during the "plantation era". In those days, a plantation was like a small town.
Crushing is in full swing but all the smoke about is not from the mills, rather from a number of bushfires that are burning locally. The refined sugar is stored at Lucinda before being loaded onto ships.

Harvesting Cane

Covered wagons take refined sugar to Lucinda

The Victoria Mill

While over that way we also visited Taylor's Beach. It was low tide but we were still a bit disappointed as we had expected a much prettier place. Despite the coastal areas having heaps of rain lately, this little spot seems to have missed out and the vegetation, especially the grass, is tinder dry and crackley brown. So the parks and foreshores of these little places are not at their best, and it made us appreciate Forrest Beach even more.

Taylor's Beach looking north

Taylor's Beach looking south

We have had a few days of wind here though and it is fairly unpleasant to be out side. It is warm and sunny but better suited to doing things rather than sitting around. So this morning we were off to town again, primarily to buy me Sao biscuits and some ingredients for soup! After our brief shopping expedition, we drove out to the Ingham Cemetery. It was really unusual in that the Italian population have persevered with their tradition of building mausoleums for their family graves. These were mostly tiled, with LOTS of fake flowers and photos. It made for a very interesting walk around just to enjoy the variety of designs.

Ingham Cemetery

Mausoleums at Ingham Cemetery

Now we are back at the van for a quiet afternoon. Garry has his paper and I might get my French back out...or I might just read. We were disappointed that the cloud obscured the full moon last night but that has mostly gone today and we just need the wind to drop and it will be "paradise" again!