The stuff Mauritius is made of

It is not possible to drive around Mauritius without seeing sugar cane fields and we went off to find a factory that would show us how they got it from the field to the packet.  So we drove to the local factory at Medine, just a short trip up the cost.  We turned from the "main" road and down a less well maintained road lined by trees and running between two huge cane fields.

View to Medine Sugar Factory

When we pulled into the factory car park things didn't look promising.  As we got out of the car were were met by a lovely lady who introduced herself as the Health and Safety officer for the plant.  She informed us that the factory did not conduct tours due to safety reasons and that this was also true for the other factories on the island.  I can understand why this is the case having seen the blase attitude people seem to have and the size of some of the machinery that is used to crush the sugar cane!!! So we all got back into the cars and headed off in our Top Gear style convoy of 2 Nissan Micras (or March as they are called here) and 1 Hyundai I10 back to the main road and south toward our next destination, Bois Cheri Tea Factory.

We've had a packet of Bois Cheri loose tea leaves in our cupboard at home for nearly 2 years now so I was quite looking forward to seeing where this came from.  We arrived at the site, parked up and all headed for the reception along with quite a few other visitors, including a large group of primary school children.  My Dad pointed out that the last time he had come here was on a school trip!  As we hurried to join on the end of a small tour I realised that they have not tidied up the factory for the tourists and that this was a working factory that was not hiding anything.  Our tour guide, who spoke excellent English and even understood our accents, took us through the storage area where they keep the leaves after picking and the drying and cutting processes to make the tea look like what we are used to seeing.  The process was fascinating.  One thing that struck me was how old the factory and equipment looked.  I imagine that there is not much investment in new equipment and if it is working why replace it?  Also I was surprised at how the plant seemed relatively small for the amount of tea that is produced each day and got me thinking how big a Tetley sized factory would be.  I might Google it if I remember at some point!  After the manufacture process we watched the teabagging (stop giggling!) process and then the packing process.  A quick look round the Tea Museum and we were back in the cars and heading to the beautiful restaurant for some tea tasting.  The drive up the hill to the restaurant was a bit bumpy but the landscaping was stunning.  The restaurant was a total contrast to the factory.

Beautiful view from the Bois Cheri restaurant

New and well kept, it was located on top of a hill commanding gorgeous views of the south coast.  We sat and tried some of the different flavour teas and then bought a selection before having lunch in the restaurant.  The food, building and views all combined to make this a very, very nice lunch.  I would definately recommend a trip to Bois Cheri to anyone coming to the island.  An informative and interesting tour combined with beautiful views and food.

While we were in the Tea Shop Stewart noticed a poster for St. Aurbin.  St Aurbin is a sugar plantation in the south and the poster said that there were tours of the site.  So, with hope of still seeing the sugar processing process, we headed off to St, Aurbin.  As we pulled into the tree lined driveway I could see that this was a well kept sight and clearly ready for the tourists.  We pulled up in front of a beautifully restored building and paid to go on the tour.  While we wouldn't see the sugar processing the tour would explain a bit about how the sugar gets to the plant and what other things St Aurbin offers.  After watching a DVD about what they do and are planning to do we were sent off to the next part of the tour.  I quite liked how th etour was done as you would walk between the parts yourself and not being rushed by a tour guide.  The gardens all around the site were amazing.  We went through the Vanilla process and got to see the vanilla plants growing and in different stages of drying (did you know it takes 18 months from planting before vanilla pods are ready for sale?) and then walked through another section of the gardens where they are growing various plants that I have only ever seen the end processed seed from!  We got to the main house that has been converted into a restaurant and we had a cup of tea on the veranda over looking the back garden that has a rum distillery in it.

Main house and restaurant of St Aurbin

Overall it was a very nice visit although it was a shame the sugar factory is not up and running yet as that would have been good to see.  Another site I would recommend to any visitors.  I imagine that when they have the factory running it will be set up for tours so check with them if you do go there in the future.

As it was getting late in the day we thought it best to start heading back to the apartments.  Before we did thought Stewart mentioned that Rochester Falls was nearby and his guide book says that you should visit them.  So off we headed to find the falls.  It was pretty easy to find.  You just get in the general location of the falls from a map and then follow all the hand painted signs!!  Trust the signs.  Believe me I thought on several occasions that we were being lead into some local trap!!!  Once you turn off the "main" road the rest of the drive is on dirt tracks through sugar cane fields.  The tracks must be there for the use of the sugar cane trucks because they are not built for cars!!!  This now truly felt like a Top Gear special with the 3 small cars being bounced around the road because of huge potholes and massive rocks everywhere!!!  I was convinced that we were going to lose our exhaust at one point and then that were were not going to make it up and incline that were encountered.  But we did and the little Nissan March that we were in survived and got us through it.  I'm surprised no-one has made a horror movie about something that lives in the sugar cane fields as the eerie setting once you get even 10 minutes from a road is quite something.  So we arrived a t a point where a couple of locals were telling people to leave their cars and we walked down a track to where we were told the falls were.  We felt slightly better seeing other tourists walking back up the track!  After a couple of minutes walk (this is NOT buggy friendly!) we made it to the bottom of the hill and were greated by Rochester Falls.

Elinor and Charlotte in front of Rochester Falls

 It is a beautiful sight, as it cascade into the large pool of water.  The sight itself felt a bit grubby with litter dotted about.  There was a scout group there camping so this must be a well used and visited place.  Not quite magical but worth a visit even if it is for the drive to it!

We drove home a very tired bunch after what was a very productive day of tourist visits :-)