During the last weekend of November my sister Izzy and I were
invited to Junee to visit and photograph the wheat harvest. Izzy's boyfriend
Sam grew up in Junee and although he is currently living and working in Bendigo
his lovely parents, Sally and Peter, invited us all over from Friday to
Tuesday. During harvest season everything is put on hold and most people work
for almost a month straight either harvesting or transporting wheat grain.
On Saturday we all spent a few hours in one of the wheat fields having a ride
on each of the machines used to harvest and transport the wheat grains. First
machine used is the header, basically a huge lawn mower that separates the
grains from the wheat stalks. The header has a small bin where the grain is
collected but it soon needs emptying which is where the chaser comes into play.
The chaser is a much larger bin being towed by a tractor and as the name
suggests chases the header in the paddock so they are running side by side. As the grain is being transferred
into the chaser the header continues its work. Once the chaser is full all the
grain is then placed into a large truck ready for transport and sale.
Header on the left feeding the Chaser bin on the right
Sunday was an early start as Peter had lined me up to go in his friend Roger's light
plane. To say I wasn't nervous would be a lie, I had been in a helicopter
before but this plane had just enough room for two people! Roger took me over
the fields we visited the previous day and then flew me over Wagga Wagga and
back over Junee before landing on his small runway. Roger explained to me that early
morning is best for flying as the hotter the day gets the rougher it can be in
the air.
Junee from above
Once the sun had gone down I decided to take a little drive outside the town to
capture some night landscape photos including stars. The stars weren't on my
side as the Milky Way was not in an ideal position and the bright moon rose
shortly after to block out the stars, but I still managed to get a few nice
photos.
Starlight over a wheat field at 12am
Monday wasn't as action-packed as the first two days; we did get a chance to
visit the Junee Liquorice and Chocolate Factory though. What a beautiful old
building complete with restaurant, café and gift shop, and of course lots and
lots of liquorice and chocolate! It was very interesting watching liquorice
being made in long strips, you could smell it a mile away.
Tuesday rolled around and we said our goodbyes to Sally and Peter before
starting the 5 hour trip home. Driving home is always the worst part, going
back to reality and work. But I can't thank Sally and Peter enough for all they
had done for us over the weekend.
Another thing to add to my yearly calendar, but next year I will be making the
trip down earlier for the yellow fields of canola.
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