Spirit of Queensland

Well, what a great time we had in Cairns, and we were sorry to leave this lovely city. However our adventure continues, and this morning we headed to Cairns Central Railway Station to catch the 0835 Sprit of Queensland train all the way to Brisbane - a journey of 25 hours - and still in the same state!

The train was clean and comfortable with reclining seats and screen entertainment. It was fairly quiet until just before departure when a young, scruffily dressed, tousled-hair boy of about 10 came on ushering his parent on board. Initially I thought the parent, shoeless and wearing a dirty vest and covered in tattoos, was his father, but it emerged it was in fact his mother. From her demeanour she would appear to suffer from addiction and / or mental health issues, and in between devouring sachets of sugar, was constantly telling off and correcting her son. He wanted to watch Aladdin on the movie screen, and asked her what it was all about. ‘Just a riff-raff boy’ she replied ‘but people don’t realise he’s a Prince’. He suggested she watch it with him too, but she kept interrupting: ‘Anyway, I don’t like musicals, even though I used to be queer’ she declared. She continued to rant ‘Flesh, flesh , flesh, desire, desire, desire’ before flicking through her well-thumbed book ‘God’s Word’ and searching on the music channels for ‘Christian Music’. Campbell felt so sorry for the wee boy and, ditching his plan to take home yesterday’s koala, hatched a plan to take the boy home and adopt him, enrol him at Hutchie and give him the chance to become a real Prince.

We had already been thinking of asking if it was possible to get an upgrade to Rail Bed accommodation - and our travelling companions made up our mind. The helpful on board steward made enquires and, for a reasonable fee, we were soon relaxing in our upgraded carriage, with spacious, comfy seats (which later folded down into beds), with all meals with drinks and toiletries included. Smashing!

The train journey was memorable, with scenery changing from the lush rainforest of North Queensland to banana and sugar cane plantations, and prairie landscapes where eagle-eyed Campbell even spotted a few kangaroos hopping about the bush. We passed through Ayr station, but didn’t have time to stop at the Wellington for a fish supper. Surprisingly there was not much evidence of the bush fire damage which has devastated so much of Australia.

The food and service on board was very good, and the Steward’s conversion of our comfy chairs into even comfier beds was amazing to watch - what a clever design. I managed to watch two movies (Yesterday / Red Joan) and enjoyed them both. Campbell’s choice was Galaxy Quest, which he claims is one of the best films ever made!

Our cosy bed cubicles looked similar to the ones found on Business Class flights (not that I’d know), only with more space. Our complimentary toiletries were put to good use in the large shower room at the end of the carriage. The train itself was quiet and ran smoothly, resulting in a fairly good night’s sleep. We awoke to another sunny morning and a nice cooked breakfast served at our seat - one could get used to this!Read more