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- Mar 23, 2024, 9:06pm
- ☁️ 75 °F
- Altitude: 151 ft
- AustraliaQueenslandGladstoneYarwun23°50’54” S 151°9’28” E
Spirit of Queensland to Cairns
March 23 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F
After Cyclone Megan came ashore in the Northern Territory early last week, it left a lot of rain in its wake. Rain that caused flooding in some places across the Top End.
Suddenly, our plans to head from Brisbane to Cairns came into question. We had a few days of worry when the Queensland Rail website posted service updates mentioning things like delays and recommending that those heading north of Townsville — which we would be — reconsider their plans.
The good news? All was back on schedule by the 22nd and we did not have to jiggle our plans to go to Cairns … which would have impacted onward travels as well.
This afternoon, our bags in tow, we crossed Roma Street from the Meriton to the train station for the overnight train from Brisbane to Cairns … a journey of nearly 1,050 miles over a period of 25 hours 🤞🏻.
Our checked bags loaded into the luggage car, we found our seats in Car C … one of the two with RailBed service on this train. What is a RailBed? Think lie-flat seats … like in premium cabins on airplanes. With one difference. These beds fold out from the back of the seat instead of just reclining into the lie-flat position.
The train departed Roma Street Station on time at 1:45p. As we watched the cityscape change to lush green ruralscape, we were served welcome aboard drinks. The car attendants took our dinner and breakfast orders as well.
Somehow the time flew by. I didn’t take any photos … the train was moving too fast for any decent images … and when it stopped in stations along the way, there really was nothing interesting on the platforms. Plus there was occasional rain speckling the windows. Instead, I passed the time with a couple of movies from the in-seat entertainment system … and wrote and uploaded some Brisbane catch-up footprints.
At 6:00p, dinner was served … airline-quality is the way I would describe the food. We then had a couple more hours before the attendants came around to convert our seats into beds. Very comfy. Lights out at 9:30p.
Thanks to the gently rolling motion of the train, I am ready to call it a night … but first, a bit of reading.
By the way, the train is apparently 35 minutes behind schedule. But the train manager said they hope to make that up overnight.Read more