Nilgiri hill stations -Coonoor & Ooty

Coonoor and Ooty are two of three hill stations that are located above the southern plaines.








In Coonoor, we visited a tea plantation and learned how the tea is grown and harvested.





The tea grows in huge fields with a few trees that help with the water levels in the soil. The crop is picked 34 times a year, by HAND. Here, we saw the ladies in the fields picking the tea leaves.





The tea leaves are then layer out on big tables with industrial fans under them. The tea is left like this for 10 hours to dry out.





Then, the leaves are dropped through a hole in the floor that leads to a huge crushing machine in the basement. When they come out of the crusher they are soft.










Then the leaves go through a series of heating and cooling. When they are heated the color changes from green to brown. Then the brown leaves are roasted over coal.











Once the tea is done, it is sorted by the size of the powder.




then it is bagged for sale!





in order to get from Coonoor to Ooty we had to take a train. this train line is old and was built by the British. The steam engine was fantastic and the train itself was a lot like the train ride from settler to Big Valley.












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