The alarm went off at 3.45 as we had a bus to catch to take us to the local railway station for the train to Cairns,a 9 hour journey. As we neared the station the driver informed us that the train (an overnight service from Brisbane).was an hour late,not an unusual occurrence apparently( wrong sort of kangaroo on the line), so he said that after we had checked in our luggage he'd take us to the local bakery for coffee and breakfast. On hearing our voices he asked us where we were from and it turns out he was from Bournemouth so we had a bit of banter about their chances in the Premiership. The bakery was a real gem and we all had a freshly brewed coffee and their pies were some of the best we've ever eaten. Soon it was time to return to the little country station that was dominated by the sugar mill to await our train. The seats were like airline seats with screens so Kate watched Paddington as we sped through the open countryside or bush as they call it here. We still await our first kangaroo sighting though!
Every hour or so the train made a stop and in Townsville,a third of the way,a ten minute stop to change the crew allowed us to stretch our legs on the platform . The countryside remained flat,fairly arid and only broken by the occasional wooded hill in the distance. Thankfully there was a buffet car so a beer and muffin went down a treat.Early in the afternoon we started to hug the coast as the hills edged nearer the sea and we started to see banana plantations,the fruit encased in large white sacks but there were still blocks of sugar cane growing and we kept crossing the narrow gauge tracks used in transporting the cane from the fields to the mills. Interspersed with agriculture were pockets of rain forest as we are now firmly back in the tropics and back to the humidity we had in S E Asia but not as hot.
We finally arrived in Cairns after a 10 hour train journey to be greeted by rain and dusk but we did have a lovely view from our bedroom. In the evening we took a stroll along the esplanade where all the restaurants and the night market are situated. Even though it was dark we were impressed with the beach pool on the esplanade overlooking the sea.