THE SUNLANDER

The Sunlander is the name of the train that runs the 1000km between Brisbane and Cairns in Queensland.  A few months ago we flew to Cairns and then went by road to the tip if the state. Then we flew back to Cairns and caught the Sunlander home to Brisbane. It took two days. Our trip made us realise how big this state is and how isolated it is in Far North Queensland.

Aussie trains are not the most modern trains we've travelled on but it was a fun experience, especially as we were with fun loving friends, Ann and George. However, the trip from Cairns to Brisbane is ranked as one of the best 25 rail journeys in the world.

 The diesel engine pulling the train is quite ugly in comparison to the romantic steam engines but they are much cleaner. It was a wet morning and we were happy to be going home after such an adventure. 

 The long shiny train pulled in and our luggage loaded. We could only take a small carry on bag into our sleeper cabin. They were too small for suit cases.

We were taken to our cabins by the hostess and given information on procedures and then we explored the train. At the end of the corridor there were the toilet and shower. There was a wash basin in our cabin. We continued through the cars until we came to .............

the lounge car. Where we spent most of our time watching the scenery roll past and meeting other travellers. This couple were from Ireland. At one end of the lounge car there was a bar and at the other end a place for.........

 writing up your journal or playing games. I'm doing both!!

 After the lounge car was the dining car and what a feast we had there. Our first meal was a seafood platter, fresh from the coast that we were travelling along.

All the meals were delicious.

The train stopped at a few stations on the way picking up and dropping off passengers. We had made phone contact with Birthday Bear friends, Chris and Bob, who are travelling around Australia. They met us at Tully, one of the stops and we had excited hugs and chats for the short time the train was in the station.

They had their van with them as they were on the way to their next stop.

 Then it was back on the train riding through acres of sugar cane, eating another scrumptious meal and playing games before bed. When you return to your cabin the beds have been made up. The seat converts to a bed and a bunk folds out of the wall. TOH had fun trying to climb up the narrow ladder and over the safety chain to stop him falling out. He even had more difficulty getting out in the morning. He was swearing and I was giggling.

 The scene out of the window in the morning was misty and romantic.

 After breakfast we found ourselves passing Gladstone and its huge aluminium smelting works. It is where the bauxite comes that we saw being mined in Weipa way up north.

 After a morning of lounging around, reading and chatting it was lunch, yes more yummy food. Later we returned to our cabin,  packed up and looked forward to the welcome sites of Brisbane.

At last we had arrived. Ann's daughter picked us up. The weather wasn't the best but our own bed was a welcome. So ended another great adventure before dementia.

BACK TO CIVILISATION

 Our wonderful tour of Cape York was over. We flew back from Horn Island to Cairns, where we had two nights before catching the train home to Brisbane 1700k/1000m away. Cairns is the biggest city in Far North Queensland. It has a cosmopolitan population of 150,000. It is a very popular tourist town as it is near the Great Barrier Reef, heritage tropical rainforest and the Atherton Tablelands. They have the best seafood restaurants too. There are heaps of attractions, activities and site seeing for tourists. The best time to go to Cairns is in the cooler dry season between May and November, the other months are too wet and hot.

 On our free day in Cairns we set off for a walk along the esplanade to the man made lagoon for safe swimming. However, the weather was showery and windy so we turned back.

 We passed the council chambers and headed towards the Casino Dome.

The Casino was opposite our hotel. You can see the dome. Inside the dome is a zoo, rope courses and a zipline over the animals. As it was raining we thought this would be a good place to visit. My camera was getting worse at getting the exposure right so I used my phone.

 The main attraction was Goliath a huge 4 metre salt water crocodile. Part of the dome had to lifted off to get Goliath inside. He had to be lifted into the Dome by two cranes it took 1.5 hours. He has his own pool.

 There are many different birds all free flying around the 300 tropical plants.

Sorry that I can't remember the names of the birds. Bird bloggers Carol or Eileen might help out here.

There were many other Australian reptiles, birds and mammals there too.

Photo from wildlife dome website

  If you are crazy adventurous you can chose to balance, swing, crawl and climb over a ropes course way up near the roof of the dome

photo from wildlife dome website

For the very crazy  brave you can fly over Goliath on a zipline. ( I wished that I was 20 years younger, I would have been crazy enough to do it.)

We returned to our hotel for a rest and to say goodbye to Far North Queensland and we were looking forward to our 2 day train trip home..

We watched the boats returning to the harbour loaded with excited tourists who had spent the day snorkelling, diving and sightseeing on the reef.

OFFLOADED

Our tour of Cape York had come to an end or so we thought.........

 Our bags were transported from the hotel on Thursday Island to the small ferry which would take us to Horn Island and the airport. We walked from the hotel as it wasn't far. I was interested to see the children arriving for High School by ferry and all sized boats.

 It didn't take long to get to Horn Island which is bigger than Thursday Is and that is why the airport is there.

 The Torres Strait Island People spend a lot of time on boats either fishing or travelling.

 Children on their way to school by boat. They are waiting for Dad to take them.

 We were met at the wharf by Vanessa the tour rep who drove us to the airport and went to check us in. Some minutes passed when Vanessa returned from the counter and told us that we have all been offloaded as the size of the plane had been changed and it was too small for everyone. The next plane was due at 3:30pm it was 9:00 am when we were told the news.

 Luckily the tour rep was a lady with many hats. She was part owner of the Gateway Resort, she was the founder and curator of the war museum, an author and a local tour guide. She organised for the airline to pay her for  catering for us all day, she had obviously done this before. She took us to her resort and gave us lunch. Then she took us on a historical tour of the island.

Gun emplacements being swallowed by the bush.

 It turns out that Vanessa has written books and been in documentaries about the research she has done into the war years on Horn Island. Not many people are aware of the plight of the Island during the war, including us. After Darwin, Horn Is was the most bombed part of Australia. The Japanese had control of New Guinea and Horn Island airstrip was in a good position for a base from where they could attack the east coast of Australia.

zig zag trenches

The few men that were there did not have anti aircraft firepower they only had zig zag slit trenches to take shelter against bombing and strafing.
Luckily for them an American unit on their way to Darwin were able to chase off the 12 zeros and 8 bombers. However, The Japanese returned on six more bombing raids but by this time ground troops including Torres Strait Islanders, Australians and Americans had increased to 5000.

They flew on bombing raids to New Guinea.

 Many planes crashed on their return. The airstrip was too short for the big bombers. The wreckage of planes is still lying where they fell.

The men not only had to fight the enemy but tropical illnesses as well. These men were never recognised for the effort and successes that they had. Vanessa and her husband and his family have made it their mission to rectify this state of affairs. Vanessa has made submissions to the Govt. She also organised a reunion of the American unit that was based here. The veterans were flown from USA back to Horn Island.

After the tour we returned to Vanessa's place, explored her museum and watched the documentary on the reunion she organised for the service men who were stationed here. Then we waited for her to take us back to the airport. So we had an extra day's tour than we expected. 

We were happy to be winging our way back to Cairns.

That night we had a delicious meal at the Hotel in Cairns. Lovely tender steak cooked by yourself on a volcanic hot rock.

BEYOND THE CAPE

At last I found a map of our trip to Cape York. 

 After our hike to the tip of Australia we returned to Bamaga for another night. The next morning Chris, our driver took us to the wharf where we said goodbye to him. Chris had to drive the bus back to Cairns to pick up the next tour group.

We were to catch a ferry across to Thursday Island, where we would meet another guide.

Thursday Island is one of many islands in the Torres Strait. TI as it is known has the best harbour and biggest population of all the islands. In 1606 The Spanish explorer, Luis Vaez de Torres, was the first European to navigate the strait between New Guinea and Australia. He was looking for Australia but he thought the tip of Cape York was just another island and so missed claiming Australia for Spain. However, the strait was named after him. It is only 150k/90m from Cape York to New Guinea.

The ferry took us to Thursday Island.

Torres Strait Islanders on board the ferry. Cute kids.

Not sure if this Tradie had a big night or if he's been working hard but he was catching up on some sleep on the ferry. People up here in the tropics are very laid back. No one is in a hurry, nothing is urgent.

 We sailed between islands and the water was a magic colour.

 As soon as we arrived we were ushered onto a tour bus with a local girl as driver and guide. She took us to the top of "Green Hill", which is actually brown in the dry season. At the top we had a view over the settlement.

There was a fort built on the top of the hill in the 1890's when the government was expecting an invasion by Russia. The guns have only been fired once when a friendly ship came into the harbour but didn't identify itself. Underneath the ground there is a museum which used to be where the ammunition was stored.

The view, heat and colours reminded me of the time I lived in New Guinea, very tropical. 

We visited the historic cemetery where hundreds of japanese pearl divers are buried from the times in the 1800's when the pearling industry was thriving here before plastics took over.

Then it was time to book into the Jardine Motel. We had fish and chips for lunch, settled into our room and then we went for a walk to explore the little township. The beach was at the end of the main street.

 The Anglican All Saints and Bartholomew Church is actually the smallest cathedral in the world. The right Reverend Bishop Saibo Marbo is a special bishop for the Torres Strait Island people. The church is also called the Quetto Memorial Church. In 1890 the ship, Quetta, hit rocks on its way from Brisbane to London. It sank within 3 minutes at night. 133 lives were lost out of 293 passengers. The dead were buried here. The flag is at half mast as an important Island elder died.

 There was Quetta memorabilia in the church and a portrait of an islander leader in traditional dress.

 I had to snap the "Royal Hotel"  for my blogging friend Joan who is collecting pics of all the Royals in Oz. 

Dinner at the motel was delicious Reef and Beef. The next day we had to go to Horn Island to catch a plane back to Cairns.