Train to Cairns

It was a very long day of train travel today. Although we didn’t have to get up quite so early as the previous two days it was still an early start. The first four hours were actually quite “boring” so I was quite glad that I had not packed the cross-word book in my case. I managed to complete two puzzles and catch up on a bit of sleep!

 There were a couple of short stops of ten minutes so we were able to stretch our legs but what was a treat was to pull in to Armadan – a “one horse town” – in time to watch the leaders of the “wheelbarrow Race” arrive to great cheers and lots of camera clicking! This Wheelbarrow race is quite a marathon that takes three days to run – the distance can be covered by one runner, a couple of runners or a team of up to ten runners. Teams take it in turns to leap out of the support vehicle and take over the running. The race is 140 klm, from Mareeba to Chillagoe and is in remembrance of the pioneer gold miners who walked that distance taking their tools and basic needs with them in a barrow.

The Great Wheelbarrow Race is becoming greater year by year. This year 700 runners registered! What was a shame was that the radio station that had set up to cheer the runners as they arrived fell silent just as the first barrow racers appeared on the home straight. 

 For some reason technical problems (gremlins) ruined the arrival of the winners and they ran through the winning arch in silence. 

Same for the second couple who arrived only minutes behind the first couple. How disappointing! We were so lucky to see these two pairs of runners arrive though. The tiny town of Armadan (population 70) swelled in numbers quite dramatically with tents and caravans littered all over the main area between the hotel and the rail line! 

The crowd off the Savannahlander (us) helped to increase those numbers even more.

 Oh yes! The train was “held up” by a couple of highway men! 

 These two young “Ned Kelly” characters are raising money for a holiday! How enterprising is that!

The next really exciting thing to happen today was on the final run down from Kuranda, 

We stopped at Barron Falls for a few minutes to take a few photographs of the almost non-existent flow of water over the falls – but we stopped again soon after at the Stony Creek Falls, climbed out onto the tracks and walked across the viaduct to wait for the train to cross so that we could take a photograph.

 I don’t know how often this happens, there must have been about a dozen of us who took this opportunity. We were warned to stay with the train driver and not step onto the tracks at all but stay by the rail and then on the grass at the end of the viaduct.

 This photograph of the train is by Colin as I was taking video of the train coming over the viaduct.

Another highlight! We all felt so privileged to have been given the chance to do this. Spirits were very high as we all climbed back on board.

Names and addresses were exchanged before we pulled in to Cairns station and it looks like many friendships were made on this trip.

Tonight we sleep in Cairns and lie in a bit longer in the morning!

AJ