Taste of the Tropics Tour Sarina Sugar Shed: A Journey Through Queensland's Sweet History

Experience the sweet history of Queensland’s sugar cane industry on a guided tour of Sarina Sugar Shed. Taste award-winning liqueurs, sauces, and more!

Duration: 1 hour
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Sarina Sugar Shed - This is a one-hour fully guided tour. The tour starts with a welcome and introduction, followed by a short walk outdoors, past our sugar cane patch and historic machinery.
    Your guide will take you on a brief historic journey into the pioneering days of the sugar cane farmers in the Mackay region. Then it is back indoors, into…
What's Included
  • Local guide
What's Not Included
  • Transportation to/from attractions
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

Sarina Sugar Shed showcases the rich heritage of the sugar cane industry in the Mackay region. Your fully guided one-hour tour will take you on an interactive, educational and tasty journey of the Queensland sugar industry from paddock to plate. Taste award-winning liqueurs made in our on-site boutique distillery, as well as our gourmet range of sauces,…

Location
Sarina Sugar Shed
Railway Square
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.8
(246 Ratings)
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472petere472
May 20, 2025
Sugar Shed Tour - We did the taste of the tropics tour. We were lucky as there were only 3 in our group tour. Our guide Julie was excellent. The tour firstly covered the history and background to how sugarcane is grown an harvested. We then had a demonstration of how the sugar is extracted in a small scale version of the sugar mill. Finally, we were given a tasting of different regional products and liquors and distilled rum products, including fairy floss! The hour long tour and tasting was very well presented and well worth a visit.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Brianno2409vz
May 18, 2025
a must do in Sarina - we enjoyed the tour and our guide was very passionate about her work and would recommend if staying in Sarina. we did not realize how involved the process to get sugar was and the bi products that are derived from it.
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Penny9491
May 13, 2025
Educational and entertaining. Well worth the time! - This is an excellent tour, though it doesn’t fit the usual definition of a tour. There’s little walking. The amount of information shared is insightful. I never suspected how efficient and earth friendly sugar mills are. It is quite impressive. If you’re interested in educating yourself take this tour. The tastings at the end are an added plus.
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Miv0m
Apr 7, 2025
The taste of sugar variety - It was a nice experience, especially for someone who is new to tropics and sugar cane stuff.Good combination of seeing, listening and tasting.
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Debbie
Mar 7, 2025
Perfect place for a delicious lunch or rest stop 👍 - We were driving from Airlie beach to Rockhampton and was looking for something pretty much on the way. I found this on Google maps, checked out the website and decided to book the next tour. We arrived early and were warmly greeted by staff. The experience was interesting, informative and interactive with lots of things to taste. Had a delicious chicken, cheese and mango chutney toastie for lunch after the tour. After sampling the sauces, chutneys and liquors we left with some souvenirs for family at home and some beautiful onion chutney for us to eat during the rest of our road trip! Shout out to Jess for a great experience :)
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R842eitaniac
Jan 30, 2025
Fan-bloody-tastic - This was a great tour, our tour guide was fantastic and knowledgeable. Highly recommend to visit. Took my daughters there who were visiting from NZ, they found it very interesting .
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Y1332qumatthewc
Jan 7, 2025
Rum tour and sugar cane tour - Did a spur of the moment booking to break up a long drive, thoroughly enjoyed both tours, very informative and well presented by Julie the tour guide. Would highly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aloc11cola
Dec 28, 2024
Highlight of my time in the region - A very informative tour about the sugar industry and farming/milling process. It was very professionally run and quite well rehearsed & organised. All the staff were very friendly and helpful. The food at the cafe was simple but very nice, and it was nice to be able to taste test the products as part of the tour so you knew what you wanted to buy in the store.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dmmg1007
Dec 5, 2024
Informative experience! - Very informative with a great guide, Des. Interesting fact is the Sugar Shed is owned and run by the local council. At the end of the tour you can taste the products that are made there from local fresh produce. There is also a cafe for morning tea or a light lunch as well as tasting platters.
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Daisybucket
Nov 26, 2024
Great Informative Tour - Loved this place. Staff very welcoming and enjoyed the very informative tour about the old method and machinery used when harvesting sugar cane. Tasting at the end was a great end to the tour. We then did the rum distillery tour again very informative and enjoyed the rum tasting. Overall a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours well presented by friendly staff and of course we had to buy some goodies to take back to the UK.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $20
up to 10 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).