Mechanical Cane Harvesting Northern Rivers NSW

The "Preying Mantis" close up .

I have been waiting for over 10 years to get photos of cane harvesting machines similar to these I took yesterday  .  Pure luck or more  pure arse actually as they started right alongside the fences  late in the afternoon with the sun over my back and the ONLY way to  get some of them was by laying on the ground  with the "Preying Mantis " coming straight at my head .   No pain ,  no gain  Holty and thank Christ the fence was there . Remember these machines arent in a static pose ,  they are working flat out to finish the job , keep the cocky / boss  happy and get home for a beer ..( wife , kids  , ??)

 I could not have scripted it better  .
 
Its more than likely a bloke thing but watching the "cutter" in action  is magic  and who ever invented it is a bloody genius ... . The cane ash and dust  that comes with cane cutting  for a few months of the year isn't on my TOP 10  list but a part of life living around  here  and a shit load better than living with bars on windows .  NO not jail  , I mean living in parts of Sydney   :)

I have added 30 more photos of cane harvesting machines on Photobucket  if anyone is interested  , most using a Canon 550D  and a few with the 7D  17 55 2.8 IS  and a 70 200 4L IS ..

Mechanical Cane Harvesting  Photos

Holty.

Northern Rivers Cane Harvesting

Tipping from the "tracked" buggy