A Long train Ride to Brisbane

Our time in beautiful tropical Cairns had come to an end, and we travelled down to Brisbane on the Spirit of Queensland train.  A long trip indeed, taking 24 hours, but so relaxing sitting in the comfy seats and watching the scenery go by.  

And what a train ride it was – a 24 hour trip travelling down the Eastern coastline.  The spacious, comfy, leather seats which magically change into RailBeds in the evening.

Seating by day and all ready for bedtime

We passed tropical crops - the cane fields are never far away in this part of the country, and it’s cane harvesting time.  We passed these wagons filled with freshly cut cane waiting to be taken to the factory, as soon as possible.

Cut sugar cane waiting to be processed

Bananas are also grown in this part of the country and plastic bags are placed over the bunches of bananas to ensure they all ripen at the same time, and protect the fruit from pests.

Bananas growing

WE crossed rivers and streams, and I looked in wonder as a crocodile dozing on a river bank slipped into the water as we trundled by.  All too fast for me to snap a photo.  We certainly don’t have them at home.  Wonder if there are any crocs in this pretty stretch of water?

 

Lots of water birds

We were certainly well looked after in our carriage, and extremely well fed too.  Morning tea, lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning, all delivered to our seats.

But it wasn’t quite all smooth going.  I was wide awake after my latest venture down the carriage at 5.00am the following morning when everything went berserk.  “Whoop, whoop”, went the sirens, the lights all came on and everyone raised their heads to see what was going on.  My first thought was “smoke” and I hurriedly put my shoes on, didn’t want to evacuate in bare feet, and told Robin to wake up now and put his shoes on quickly!  It was in fact smoke which had set the alarm off.  Luckily the train was not on fire – we were passing through a smoky burn off beside the track and the smoke had got sucked through the air intake into the cabins.  A false alarm – but it’s good to know that the alarms and procedures all work.  So that was certainly an early wake up call for everyone.

The RailBeds were changed back to our comfy seats, and after an early coffee from the Café Car, we settled down to wait for breakfast.  And getting slowly closer to Brisbane as we chugged along.  It was a great trip, very relaxing, (except for the fire alarm going off), and we would certainly recommend it as an alternative to flying.

We are now in Brisbane, and staying here, right in the middle of the CBD.   And look – I’ve got my very own laundry – aren’t I the lucky one!