Malanda, Queensland, Australia is up in the Tablelands inland from Cairns, and much cooler weather wise. It's a beautiful drive up that way.  We came across a Tea plantation called Nerada Tea so we stopped and had a look around, most enjoyable and we bought some tea which I always drank until I decided to have a change.

Interesting - the plantation is not irrigated relying on water from the sky.  These days the plantation is the largest in Australia.

On the Nerada Tea plantation, plants are grown predominantly to make black tea. It takes about 8 years from planting for the Camellia sinensis to reach its full harvest potential. Only the tender new growth (two leaves and a bud) are harvested to make tea. Due to Australia's strict quarantine laws the tea bush has no natural pests in Australia and hence no pesticides are used in cultivation.

The history of Nerada Tea is here, and I believe that these days the tea room is permanently closed. When we visited it wasn't.

One paddock of tea and an old shed below.

The tea leaves

The tea rooms are no more. The map with the read around Malanda the tea plantation is somewhere within that area