The Sunlander

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We were taken by taxi to Cairns Railway Station in order to check in for the Sunlander journey to Brisbane.  Once again our checked-in luggage just got through, but we struggled to carry the hand luggage!  We sat on the platform for a while waiting to get on the train and we were greeted by name by an Indian man who introduced himself as Alistair and said he would be the Maitre D' for our trip.  We were very impressed but it turned out later when we were speaking to him that we were the only people travelling in Queenslander class until later in the day!!  In our compartment were the morning papers, complementary toiletries and dressing gowns and slippers for us to keep.  There was a drop down wash-basin but this time there was no loo or shower.  They were at the end of the corridor, ladies at one end and gents at the other, with the shower near the gents loo.  Then there was a lounge car and a dining car.  As soon as we left Cairns Andrea, our waitress offered us scone, jam and cream with coffee, which John had and I had a small salad.  Despite telling them in advance that I needed a gluten free diet they hadn't been informed, but they managed to cope.  Normally Alistair gives a commentary over the loudspeaker when the train approaches a town, but because there was only us he came and spoke to us in person.  We were also serenaded by a musician who travels on the train- he played before lunch and dinner.  Lunch was a mixed meat platter with fresh fruit and it was huge and we had a complementary glass of champagne.  Unfortunately we had to refuse pudding.

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After a couple of hours resting in our compartment we returned to the lounge for a cup of tea and then a party of 10 boarded - they turned out to be employees of the Queensland Railway Company who were on an induction course for new recruits.  Some of them had had to go into normal sleeping accommodation and go to the buffet car for their meals, the 10 were the lucky ones, we don't know how they were chosen.  We chatted to them a bit, then got changed for dinner.  Then we left them to it and borrowed a DVD player from Alistair and watched Mao's last dancer in our compartment, sitting on the bed which had now been made up for us.  Again John had the top bunk.  Sleep was not as we would have wished, although it was a smoother journey than the last one it was still noisy.  The party of 10 got off about 05.00am, but another couple had boarded about 09.00pm, so there were now 4 of us for breakfast and lunch!  They weren't very talkative though, and spent most of their time in their compartment.  Incidentally the shower was excellent - hot water and lots of room.  We did a lot of reading on this trip and even had a game of scrabble, which John won.

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We arrived in Brisbane on the 17th at about 4.00pm and got a taxi to our hotel.  As it was going to be dark in two hours we just had a ride on the citycat - a ferry which goes up and down the river.  We didn't realise Brisbane was such a big city.  Evidently according to the taxi driver who took us to the airport next morning 2000 people are moving there every week.