After and early start - up at five and out dragging our suitcase down the empty streets of Cairns by five thirty, we met up with our fellow travellers at the Cairns rail station and waited for the arrival of our home for the next four days. Actually we shall not be sleeping on the train, lodgings have been arranged in three different outback towns - the last day of travel will end in Cairns
The train is called the Savannahlander since it is used solely for the run from Cairns into the Savannahlands of Queensland. it comprises of only two carriages and had two engineers who take it i turns to drive and give commentary.
The first leg of our trip was up the mountains to the pretty little station at Kuranda the views on this run are quite spectacular and almost everyone had their cameras clicking madly at eery vantage point. Most of the time photos had to be taken from the moving train but at Baron Falls the train did stop and allow us all out for ten minutes.
I have been on the usual tourist train that does this run - it is a very long train with lots of carriages and hundreds of passengers, in this photo you can see the sum total of the travellers on our train - and the majority of them are on a day trip to - they left us at Mareeba to board a coach for the rest of their tour.
And these are the not really so spectacular falls that the train stops to let us see! No one really minds though, it is such a thrill to get out and look across such a tree clad gorge and see the landscape. The water is held back for a hydro electric plant but we can see that at one time those falls would have been quite huge.
Our next stop was the prize winning garden station Kuranda.
By this time it was about eight thirty and although the sun is up and the sky blue, the trees and vegetation make this picture look rather dark! Or maybe it is the light on the front of the Savannahlander that does that!
Once we had dropped the day trippers off at Mareeba the train clattered on through the rainforest for a while and then quite suddenly it was out of it and into the savannah country - short scrubby trees thinly scattered over rough grassland. For most of our trip the countryside will look like this - and among the trees termite castles! I loved the amazing shapes of some of them.
I do apologise for the dreadful quality of the photograph but although I wasn't moving in the train those termite mounds were racing past! But you can see that anyone with an imagination could see strange creatures! (Yep! I have imagination!)
Our day was so busy, I could go one and give you lots of stories but I will miss most of the trip out and show you the inside of one of the caves at Chillagoe. This cave may not be as dramatic or as ornamental as some of the limestone caves I have visited but it was still fascinating - and I enjoyed the challenge of taking photos in a place where the only light was the torch each of us carried. This photo was a slow shutter speed photo with no flash. The guide was pointing out creatures created by the stalactites and stalagmites.
Everyone was so tired by this time they were quite happy to sit still!
The people of the outback need a story about them - they are so different from city folk! But maybe not! More of our travels tomeorrow!
AJ
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