Day 7 - A journey on the Sunlander

Thursday, October 10th, 2013

Our wake-up call at 5 AM came way too early for retirees like us!  We hopped into a taxi at 5:45 and, during a conversation with our East Indian taxi driver, when asked how long he'd been in Cairns, his response was, "I've been holidaying in Cairns for 7 years now and wouldn't live anywhere else." Hmmm.. a familiar response.  He has family in Canada who have been trying to persuade him to move to Canada - and he thinks they're crazy!

The red line on the map is the route we've begun today.  Our train, the Queensland Sunlander left the station promptly at 7:15 AM and we have found our 2 berth cabin dated, but quite comfortable. Apparently this train is on its final run and will be completely renovated or replaced by modern cars at the end of this month. Our journey to Brisbane will take 31 hours and we'll be covering 1733 kilometers. We've met many interesting characters on board and have thoroughly enjoyed the company, food and the Queensland countryside as we pass by. This is sugar cane country and what I found most interesting is that the cane seems to be at all stages of growth. We've seen mature cane being harvested as well as fields being burned just prior to harvest. We've also seen seedlings just emerging from the red soil and cane fields at all stages of development.  It is early spring and dry so it's pretty brown scrub where we see cattle grazing. We've seen plenty of trees and bushes unrecognisable to us but have also identified mango trees loaded with fruit, ghost gums and jacaranda in full violet blossom.

Tina has always been a big fan of train travel so she is in her element today. At one point, when I wasn't where she thought I'd be, she had visions of being in the middle of an Agatha Christie mystery because, "mysterious happenings occur on trains!" Hah!!  She has also had the pleasure of being introduced to the delights of those famous Australian cakes - lamingtons. Kitimatians (particularly Tina's book club members) can look forward to her attempts to replicate this delicacy.

Our porter prepared our beds around 9 pm, soon after we left Mackay. By the time we fell asleep we were almost half-way to Brisbane. Our day has been very comfortable, educational (thanks to John, who we seem to spend a lot of time visiting in the club and dining cars) and entertaining.