July in Mission Beach via The Ghan

This is my latest visit to Charley’s at Mission Beach. This time via Adelaide, Darwin and then Mission Beach. 

Mission Beach village – finally completed.

It’s looking good; lots of trees and the shops have a spring in their step.

 

Charley’s at harvest time  - looking pristine

The cocoa harvest runs June/July to Dec/Jan, so we have our first pods for 2027. The fermented beans were drying and looking very good at my visit.  Fermentation is complex and requires skill to produce a high-quality product. Chris Jahnke is very good at this.

Tree Nursery                                                                                                       

   

Factory complex

Plantations

The Ghan trip – From Adelaide to Darwin over 3 days

The Adelaide River railway bridge is about 115 km from Darwin with a span of 500m.  The current bridge opened in 1976. During construction the workers faced the rigours of the climate and large hungry crocodiles. This is a view from the train as we went over the bridge.

The Mighty Finck River – 150km south of Alice Springs                                                              

 

 Marla  - 1,000km north of Adelaide

Port Augusta (top of Spencer Gulf and 300km north of Adelaide - wind turbines                                                         

 

  Flinders Ranges in the distance if you look closely

The Ghan – accommodation

   

 

The 34-carriage Ghan July 2026

A visit to Haigh’s at Salisbury South, SA

I was very kindly shown around by Chair and CEO.  It’s a huge space with excellent staff facilities and much room for expansion of chocolate making.  Well done Haigh’s.

   Haigh’s factory entrance

Research with UQ  - Dr Marlene Becker

Charley’s is regularly approached to participate in cocoa research projects.   Dr Marlene Becker of UQ approached us in 2025.  The research paper has recently been published. 

The project was titled ‘Compositional profiling of volatile and non-volatile compounds in Australian cocoa nibs: Insights into origin-dependent variability’  Read it at Science Direct

Highlights

• Australian cacao nibs showed non-volatile and volatile profiles comparable globally.
• TPC, TFC and epicatechin varied between producers under standardised processing.
• Lactic-to-acetic acid ratios reflect site-specific fermentation outcomes.
• HS-SPME-GC–MS revealed variation in aroma-active compounds between producers.

• Multivariate analysis grouped nibs by fermentation site rather than genotype.

 

Ruth Medd

Tired tourist and chair

July 27, 2026