Escape to Cairns - Part 5

On Sunday morning I checked out of the hotel at 8.30am and walked to the Cairns Central Railway Station to catch the tilt train back to Cooroy.  It left on time at 9.15am.  I was seated in car F seat 9 which is a very nice seat.  Car F is set up to accommodate several wheelchairs and is arranged in a 1 plus 1 seat layout rather than 2 plus 1.  I therefore had no immediate neighbour.  In fact there were only about 6 people in the car.

As we travelled south I took some photos of the car layout.

I soon settled back to listen to my MP3 player.  I was now listening to a LibriVox recording of Arnold Bennett's The Card.

The weather in Cairns had been pretty good considering that  rest of Queensland was being deluged but as we travelled south storm clouds began to appear.

I had morning tea and cake from the trolley but decided against ordering a hot lunch but got myself a sandwich and a small bottle of Chardonnay from the galley.  The little bottles of wine are good quality and are rather neat in that the bottle incorporates a glass with its screw off top.

 

 

 

As we travelled south the weather started to deteriorate and about 100 km from Townsville it began to rain heavily.  I videoed the view on my little TV screen from the driver,s cabin which shows how heavily it was raining.

 

 

  We were scheduled to reach Townsville at about 3.25pm but the train started to crawl.  We were told at 3.30pm that the galley had closed because there would be a crew change at Townsville.  At 4.00pm we were told that the train would terminate at Townsville due to water across the track further south.

The first thing I did was to phone B who was going to meet me at 7.15am next morning at Cooroy telling her not bother.  I also phoned the kennels and booked Louis in for another night.

At Townsville station I met another couple who had travelled up with me earlier in the week.  They were picking the train up at Townsville to go back to Cooroy.  Apparently they were told of the trains cancellation at 2.30pm.  We hung around the station for an hour and a half until we were put on buses to Rockhampton.  Those passengers getting off before Brisbane were put on a small bus which had really cramped seating.  I am only 165cm (about 5'5") and could not get comfortable.  After two hours we stopped at a roadhouse for dinner which was paid for by Queensland Rail.  There were over 160 passengers on three buses but we were all served in an hour and on our way again.

We drove on through the night through heavy rain .  There were occasional comfort stops at roadhouses and finally at about 5.00am we reached Rockhampton.  We hoped to catch the tilt train service from Rockhampton  to Brisbane which left about 7.00am but it was fully booked.  We were also told that the road bridge over the River Isis near Bundaberg was under water and it had possibly been damaged which could mean a 48 hour delay!

After a light breakfast and a three hour delay we were put on other buses and continued our journey south.  The new bus was bliss.  There was space to spread out.  Apparently the first bus was normally used as a school bus and has smaller seats with minimal leg room.

About mid morning we stopped at another roadhouse for an early lunch.  Here we were told that thee Isis River Bridge had just opened to traffic so we would be getting home today.  After a couple more stops we finally reach Cooroy Railway Station just after 3.00pm.  Here I checked the bus time table back to my home in Tewantin and there was one at 3.30pm so I was home just after 4.00pm.

I made myself a light meal and went to bed just after 6.00pm and slept through to next morning.  It had been quite an adventure.

On Tuesday I picked up Louis from the kennels where he had had a great time.

Now it's time to get back to a normal life.