We woke after a comfortable night to a cloudy day, but the sun came out intermittently. We read in today's Courier Mail that today is Queensland Day, but it is not a public holiday and the letters are full of people licking wounds from Wednesday night. Paul Gallen is Enemy Number 1. A fellow traveller tells us Queensland Day is actually June 6 and is the day Queensland separated from New South Wales. We can be regarded as temporary Queenslanders because of our train tickets.
We travelled through continuous fields of sugar from Proserpine.
These are the new plantings with the mature cane behind.
After stopping at Home Hill we crossed the mighty Burdekin River on a bridge that is longer than the Sydney Coathanger. This is the view looking east:
And this is the view looking west:
This is a great way to travel. Much better than being cramped up in a plane or sitting in a car with eyes glued to the road. The lounge is lovely.
We ordered a seafood platter, expecting battered fish pieces, crumbed prawns, callemari and chips.
This is what we got:
It took us an hour to eat all that. Fresh oysters, a Balmain bug, crab, lobster, king prawns and callemari.
We did pay $700 each for this trip, but they gave us food we would never be game to order in a restaurant and the art deco ambience made it extra special.
Yes, we are having fun. The banana trees are looking quite mature now after being flattened and causing the great Australian banana famine of a few years back. At 5pm we were invited to the lounge for a "light supper" of quiche, sandwiches, and profiteroles. Very civilised.
Out train arrived in Cairns early and we walked to our Il Centro Apartment Block. The reception closed at 6pm so we had a little trouble checking in by remote, but by 7:30 we were in our lovely large quarters and looking forward to living here for four days. We have a large lounge/dining room with a kitchenette, a separate bedroom and a large bathroom with a full laundry setup.
Bevan has sent us details of six people he coaches so we can cheer them along on Sunday. Anyone taking on this race deserves a cheer squad.
We travelled through continuous fields of sugar from Proserpine.
These are the new plantings with the mature cane behind.
After stopping at Home Hill we crossed the mighty Burdekin River on a bridge that is longer than the Sydney Coathanger. This is the view looking east:
And this is the view looking west:
This is a great way to travel. Much better than being cramped up in a plane or sitting in a car with eyes glued to the road. The lounge is lovely.
We ordered a seafood platter, expecting battered fish pieces, crumbed prawns, callemari and chips.
This is what we got:
We did pay $700 each for this trip, but they gave us food we would never be game to order in a restaurant and the art deco ambience made it extra special.
Yes, we are having fun. The banana trees are looking quite mature now after being flattened and causing the great Australian banana famine of a few years back. At 5pm we were invited to the lounge for a "light supper" of quiche, sandwiches, and profiteroles. Very civilised.
Out train arrived in Cairns early and we walked to our Il Centro Apartment Block. The reception closed at 6pm so we had a little trouble checking in by remote, but by 7:30 we were in our lovely large quarters and looking forward to living here for four days. We have a large lounge/dining room with a kitchenette, a separate bedroom and a large bathroom with a full laundry setup.
Bevan has sent us details of six people he coaches so we can cheer them along on Sunday. Anyone taking on this race deserves a cheer squad.
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