Add the Sarina Sugar Shed To The Itinerary
In this blog post I am going to share our experience with the Sarina Sugar Shed plus lots more things to do in Sarina while you are there. We arrived in Sarina on a sunny hot Queensland day, so the humidity was high! Over the previous months we had been in Far North Queensland and were slowly making our way down the coast with a few trips inland.
If you have ever been in Far North or North Queensland then you will know about the endless cane fields that fill the side of the streets. Plus the aroma from the sugar cane mills that you sometimes can smell when driving or are near a mill. That sweet smell was a first for us, we are originally from Western Australia so sugar cane is not something you will find in the west. Some people have told me they really dislike the smell but we found the smell to be sweet and we didn’t mind it.
So after five months of seeing endless cane fields we decided it was time to book in for a tour to give us the knowledge to answer all the questions our kiddos were asking us. Hopefully our kiddos would listen to the whole tour and wouldn’t get too distracted.
and let me tell you they did well. Our youngest traveller Little C is usually the first to ask ‘when are we finished’ but he didn’t ask that until at least 20 minutes into the tour. So I was impressed, there must have been something there that really struck his interest.
Table of Contents
About Sarina
Sarina is a rural town with a population of about 5500 people. It is essentially a sugar industry town surrounded by canefields.
Sarina Sugar Shed
If you are in the area, I highly recommend going to the Sarina Sugar Shed. The tour is very reasonable priced and gives great insights about the Australian and international sugar industry. I don’t want to give too much information away because I want to leave some surprises for you when you do the tour but I found it a real eye opener.
The tour includes an in-depth history lesson by a tour guide where you will go and look at old equipment with loads of photo opportunities. You will also see the working sugar mill in the background. The day we did the tour was a scorcher so umbrellas were handed out to everyone to offer some shade as we did the outside part of the tour.
The tour itself offers lots of hands on taste testing and visual learning opportunities, which is how this was great for our three children They really thrived on the hands on learning and it all made more sense to them.
When you come to the end you have more taste testing- my favourite part was the rum tasting at the end of the tour in the very cold air conditioned room at the end of the tour. The kiddos really enjoyed the freshly spun fairy floss on a stick…..yes we all may have had some of that!!!
The staff are extremely friendly and make all efforts to ensure that you are well taken care of.
COST-
I am always hesitant to put costs in my blog posts only because they can change fast without me knowing. I try to update my blogs regularly to keep you all informed of these updates.
Adult- $22 each which includes the rum tasting at the end
Children- $12 each (under 5 years free)- includes fairy floss at the end
Family pass- $68 for 2 adults and 2 children
We found these prices to be reasonable and in line with what the tour was providing. These are the usual rates for tours and at the end we all walked out with a wealth of knowledge.
Big Things- The Big Toad
As you travel around Australia you will find that ‘BIG THINGS’ is actually a big thing! In Queensland alone their are ore 150 BIG THINGS to find and take a selfie in front of. The big toad in Sarina is one of those BIG THINGS. It is found at the entrance of the town on the main street.
Why a toad? Well in 1935 the cane toad was introduced to eradicate the beetle but while doing that the cane toads multiplied ten fold and became a house hold problem.
Sarina Main Beach
We love the coast and always like to check out the local beaches. Sarina has a coastline but only one or two swimming spots that are decent with sand. Are there crocs? Well throughout Sarina yes the warning signs are there before you enter the beach. So swimmers beware!
Alcorn's Bakery Sarina
I don’t know about your family but our family must have visited every bakery and pub within nearly every town! Sometimes for a sausage roll and sometimes for a sweet treat (usually a vanilla slice) if we have a long car drive coming up. Alcorn’s Bakery was one we really enjoyed. There is something for the whole family and Moomoo loved that she could get a fruit platter for lunch.
Apex Park
We couldn’t really find an outstanding park here in Sarina but we did find the Apex Park. It is a basic park where the kids can burn some energy and kick a footy. There are BBQ’s here to cook up some lunch while on the road.
Fresh Water Point Lookout
While driving along the coast there are some easily accessible lookouts. These aren’t the best we have seen but it does give some bonus points for places to see in Sarina. Head down Miran Khan Drive and go for a walk to see what you can see explore.
