FULLY BOOKED - Tour 2 - Agricultural Heartlands - Northern New South Wales

Date	Monday 26 July to Saturday 31 July 2010
Price	THIS TOUR IS NOW FULLY BOOKED $AUD1770.00 - per person single room $AUD1425.00 - per person twin share
Inclusions	Coach Travel Accommodation - Monday through to Friday inclusive Breakfast - Tuesday through to Saturday inclusive Morning Tea - Tuesday through to Saturday inclusive Lunch - Tuesday through to Saturday inclusive Afternoon Tea - Tuesday through to Friday inclusive Dinner - Monday through to Friday inclusive Tour Manual Tour Guides
Participants	Minimum of 25 delegates

Day 1 - Sydney to Pokolbin

The Agricultural Heartland tour will commence early on Monday morning in Australia's largest urban centre, Sydney.

We will immediately head north to the Hunter Valley, travelling through the dissected sandstone ridges of the northern Sydney Basin. When we arrive in the lower Hunter River valley, we will view two soil types (Acrisol, Kastanozem) used for vineyard production in the Pokolbin district. We will consider the challenges of grape-growing on the varied and clayey soils of this district, and discuss the irrigation infrastructure in place. The Pokolbin district is the closest wine-producing area to Sydney, and so is a very popular weekend getaway for Sydneysiders.

Day 2 - Hunter Valley to Murray-Darling basin

On Tuesday morning we will travel up the Hunter Valley, passing through districts renowned for their horse studs, and cross the Great Dividing Range into the Murray-Darling Basin. We will get our first sight of the Liverpool Plains at Quirindi, and then descend down onto those plains to examine a Solonetz and a Lixisol at Spring Ridge. These soils are used for pasture and dryland cropping respectively, and we will discuss some of the soil improvement strategies used to increase plant production. Elsewhere on the Liverpool Plains there is a fierce debate about the potential acquisition of fertile agricultural land (mainly Vertisols) for coal mining.

Day 3 - Gunnendah to Narrabri

On Wednesday we travel north from Gunnedah to Narrabri via the Pilliga Scrub, a vast area of native forest. During our drive through the Pilliga Scrub we will stop to examine an Arenosol profile derived from fluvially re-worked sediments of the underlying Jurassic sandstone. At Narrabri, which sits on the floodplain of the Namoi River, we will visit the I.A. Watson Wheat Research Centre. There, we will view a Vertisol and discuss the issues of conservation tillage, irrigated crop production and soil carbon measurement and management in this environment. That evening, weather permitting, we will view the spectacular trachyte formation at Sawn Rocks, east of Narrabri.

Day 4 - Over the border to Queensland

Thursday takes us to the Queensland border via the northern New South Wales town of Moree. Near Moree we will see a red Luvisol used for broadacre cropping, and we'll discuss precision agriculture research and management in the area. Just over the border in Queensland we'll view a deep, grey Vertisol profile that is typical of large areas of land used for irrigated cotton production. Here, we will be able to inspect gilgai and other pedofeatures associated with a preponderance of smectite.

Day 5 - On to Toowoomba

On Friday we will travel east from Goondiwindi towards Toowoomba, taking in the distinct vegetation and soils of the "brigalow country". After lunch we will enter into the Darling Downs and will see the magnificent black Vertisols - are these the best cropping soils in Australia? Having paid due homage to the Vertisols, we will continue on to Toowoomba where we will inspect a Ferralsol derived from the local basalt.

Day 6 - Last Day arriving in Brisbane

Finally, on the Saturday morning, we will wind our way down to Brisbane via the Lockyer valley and the upper Brisbane Valley.

En route we will view and discuss the important horticultural industries of the Lockyer and we will view a Cambisol derived from granite.

The trip will terminate in Brisbane city in the early afternoon.