Australia to Singapore

We just had one quick overnight in Sydney. The flight we had to go to Singapore was at 3.45pm, so just one morning really. We walked to the Opera House – one of the icons that never fails to catch my attention. I can walk around this building time and time again. I wanted to get a guided walking tour around the Rocks area – something I didn’t manage to fit in last time in I was here – but the timing just didn’t work out. Instead, we bought a little guide book that gave us a self guided walk and we did about three quarters of it. It is a very historical part of Sydney, and I am sorry that we couldn’t get guide to elaborate on the areas with stories and facts that would have brought it more to life. But it was good in the short time we had anyway. As usual, we bought our presents at the airport – and Paul bought a new hat!




We flew to Singapore with Lenny Henry, sort of. If I had been Annette I would have had him telling me his life story, but being just me I just smiled when I went past. I am sure he gets loads of random people annoying him. But he did annoy Paul. He say behind him, and kept kicking his seat – even in first class you can feel people kicking your seat. He had a friend in business class that came and chatted for a couple of hours, and Paul could hear them over his ear phones. He is rather tall though – he didn’t have to go on tip toes to get his hand luggage out of the overhead locker. He had apparently been on a sell out tour of Australia – I googled it! This flight didn’t quite come up to the standard we had got used to – none of the entertainment systems worked in the whole aircraft, so they had to put a few films on a loop. No movies on demand! This was the only long flight we had that wasn’t a night flight – typical!



We had a transfer arranged with the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, so had a little man waiting for us to take us the twenty odd minutes from the airport to the hotel. It was 11pm when we got there, 1pm on our body clocks. We had a delightful lady waiting for us at the Valley Wing entrance, who immediately took us to our room and completed the check in there. Perfect! We were given a beautiful orchid that will hopefully make it all the way back to the UK. The room is stunning – there is even a TV in the bath room! The curtains are opened and closed with the push of a button – Paul was not in a good mood but there wasn’t a button to close him down! The flight had been a bit bumpy as well as getting his seat kicked, and the transfer man played the radio too loud – and it wasn’t his type of music!



The morning came, and so did the clouds. We had a beautiful, serene, fantastic breakfast in the Summit Room – the staff here really do go the extra mile. It started to drizzle, and then rain, and then pour. By the time we got back to our room it was monsoon weather. Bearing in mind that I hadn’t got any waterproofs, it was a bit difficult to decide what to do. There is a complimentary shuttle bus that takes you to the MRT station on Orchard Road once an hour, and from there we could find the hop on hop off bus that we thought would be a good idea. It was still coming down in buckets as we left. The bus dropped us off virtually in the middle of Orchard Road. I know this place is known for its shopping, but I really didn’t expect what we found. All the shopping was in malls, and all was under cover. Which was the order of the day for that moment. Paul went to take a picture of the torrents of water coming off the roofs but his camera card said it was full, so we decided to do some shopping and get a new one,



We went into the first mall that we came to, and passed shop upon shop of designer clothes. At the end was a department store that sold electronics. We had to go in through handbags – I had never seen as many handbags in one place. He went up to the fifth floor to get a camera card, and I just wandered round the handbag department. My purse broke a few months ago, and I spent ages looking for a new one, as the selection at home was pretty poor. There were racks upon racks of purses here. I could have spent the whole day here – Paul came back and said that the electronics department is as good as the handbag department.



It was still raining really hard. He had found out that the Lucky Plaza Mall was good for cameras – each of the malls seem to have a theme, although I think you can probably get a little of something in all of them. This was just across the road from where we were – pedestrians crossed via an underpass so we didn’t even have to get wet crossing the road. I had been looking for a new lens for my camera before we came out, but the zoom that I wanted was too heavy to carry so stuck with what I already had. We came across a small booth type shop that stocked Nikon lenses, so went in. This is where we met Joe – the salesman – who knew everything there is to know about Nikon lenses (I hope!). He showed us a small 55-300 lens – at the moment my lens goes up to 200 – that was only as big as the one I had on the camera now. But, I really wanted more zoom than an extra 100, so he pulled out a lens that triples the zoom – ie 900. Paul had not heard of it – and they both pontificated about things that were going over my head. We took some photos, put them on his computer to see the quality, but as it was raining it was hard to tell.



We hummed and harred for probably over an hour, taking photos, looking at them on the computer, googling reviews on the lens etc etc. I was not sure, so left it up to Paul, who wasn’t sure either. He could probably see the sale walking out the door, so did us a really good price – including filters, a new bag and a converter so it can fit on Harriet’s camera as well. Done! The rain was then beginning to stop – Joe said that it wouldn’t rain anymore today. “In Singapore it only rains once a day, and for an hour. Today was a bit longer, but that is unusual”. I wondered if he was right. I decided that if he was right about that, he would be right about the camera lens. Time will tell. He pointed us in the right direction for the hop on hop off bus, so off we went with our purchases.



We bought tickets for the bus – 48 hours for $39 Singapore each (around £20) that includes three different routes and a river cruise. Not bad. The bus came shortly afterwards, and we went upstairs and sat on wet seats. I was sure we would dry off, because “it wasn’t going to rain again today”! The first route we took was the City route, that took us down Orchard Road, around the Singapore Flyer (similar to the London Eye) around the Marina, through the skyscraper business and commercial districts and then up to the Botanical Gardens. We got off here, and walked around the gardens. There was a huge Orchid Garden that we walked around – I have never seen as many different orchids in as many different colours and shapes and sizes. It was absolutely beautiful. We walked back through the gardens to the bus stop, and got on for one stop which dropped us a ten minute walk back to the hotel. Time to shower and change, and just about right for the complimentary cocktails and canapés. There was so much choice, that we decided to use that as our evening meal (skinflints)! We have eaten quite royally on this trip, so it is time to start being sensible again.



We then decided to go for a Singapore Sling in Raffles – it just had to be done. The hop on hop off bus could take us there – but it didn’t because we just watched the last one pull away before we got there. It had nothing to do with Paul turning the wrong way out of the hotel first of all, of course! We waited for half an hour or so, realised there wasn’t another one so got a taxi. Around £5 – don’t know why we waited so long for the bus!



We got to the Raffles Hotel, but couldn’t go in through the main entrance – that is for hotel residents only. Can’t blame them I suppose – they would have a myriad of tourists traipsing through the lobby all day long if it was open to all and sundry. We were directed around the side, through the Raffles Courtyard of shops to the Long Bar, which is up on the second floor. We were directed to a table, where I promptly slipped and ended up on the floor. There were empty peanut shells everywhere on the floor – it is supposedly in keeping with how it was in the old days. After being hauled up – that made everyone in the bar stop talking and look – I ordered my Singapore Sling at $26 + 10% service charge. At £15ish, I had just the one. Paul pushed the boat out and had a beer – plus added to the growing pile of peanut shells on the floor. Singapore Slings were definitely the order of the day – the barman stacked up the glasses time and time again on the bar. It was an experience not to be missed though. We treated ourselves to another taxi to get home.



The next day when we were having breakfast it started to rain again. “Oh good” I said, hoping that Joe was correct in his analogy that it rained once a day only for an hour. Let’s get it over with so by the time we would be ready to go out, it would have stopped. And it did! We walked down to the bus stop and got on the City route again until the hub at Suntec City Shopping Mall. This one comprises five huge skyscraper towers – does anyone ever manage to get to every shop in town? We then changed to the Heritage Route, which took us through Little India, Chinatown, as well as a couple of areas we had already been to. We got off at the Marina, and went to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel – the iconic new hotel with three large towers and the ship shape resting on the top of all three. We bought a ticket to get to the 56th floor, and up in the lift we went fairly quickly. The views from the top were amazing over the whole of Singapore and even over to Malaysia. The weather was dry, but there were still huge dark clouds hovering overhead, which made all the pictures quite grey unfortunately. But it was worth the trip up to look at the vastness of the city. The middle of the “ship” was the swimming pool for the residents of the hotel. Wonder if it is the highest swimming pool in the world?



We then walked over to the Marina Bay Shopping Mall (another one!) and through to the Singapore River and the stop for the River Cruise. The sun then came out, and it was really hot. The river trip took just under an hour, and like the hop on hop off bus, you could hop on and hop off this as well. We didn’t, as we were running out of time, but the cruise itself was very sedate and we could see the other sides of buildings that we had seen on the bus.



We got on the bus again, and the last stop we made was to Fort Canning Park, and The Battle Box. This is an underground cave that was made into the forces headquarters for World War II. It has been made into a commentary of the last couple of days before the Japanese occupied Singapore in 1942. There was a video of the news reels for the few months leading up to the Japanese invasion to give you the background. Each of the underground rooms had the equipment in for sending the morse code messages, and how the information was relayed from the different areas and to and from each General and his troops. This information was then assimilated on a large map of the area which plotted the Japanese aircraft and ground troops. Would have been a lot easier with mobile phones!



We then went back to the hotel for cocktails and canapés before heading out to the airport for our final flight home. We just got a taxi this time - $30. Bargain. Last time in the First Class Lounge, last time to be given priority to board the aircraft and for them to greet you by name. I could easily get used to this. The plane was a new plane – excellent I thought. Wrong. The seats were not made for short people like me. The seats on this plane did not have any foot rests – they were tucked in the far corner and converted to a seat if you had anyone wanted to come and chat with you. But I couldn’t reach. The light on the chair instead of being a spotlight was on the chair upright, and had a lamp shade on it which completely blocked my view out of the

window. I did have another window, but that was full of condensation for the whole trip. Amazing how picky you can get – and how I will wish for a condensed window next time I am flying in economy.



Back to the UK – the end of an amazing trip. The IRIS scanner didn’t work and the baggage was delayed because of problems getting it off the plane.

Welcome home!

Australia - Heron Island

We flew from Brisbane to Gladstone for our week on Heron Island with my daughter, her partner, the twelve year old daughter of her ex husband and her six year old daughter. Complicated! This was just over an hours flight, on a fairly small de Havilland plane. When we arrived at Gladstone, a tiny little airport on the Queensland coast, we had a transfer bus to the port, and then a launch over to Heron. The Heron Islander is a catamaran, that holds probably just over one hundred people. Today, it was less than half full. This is the only way to get over to the island, apart from a helicopter transfer. Heron Island time is an hour ahead of Queensland time, so watches had to be put forward one hour.



Unfortunately, the good weather we had been experiencing up to now had not followed us. The clouds got heavier and greyer, and by the time we boarded the boat at 11.30am it was looking and feeling very rough. The wind had got up to 30 knots per hour. To start with, the rocking of the launch was a bit of fun. Slowly but surely nearly all of the passengers succumbed to having to aim carefully into the little white sick bags that were scattered liberally around the place. I think there was probably three or four people that weren’t ill, and by the time we reached the island just under two hours later, there were a few white and green faces. Didn’t affect me at all much to Paul’s disgust! The staff on the ship were very good, mainly going round to all the tables collecting full bags and disposing of them. If I can say one good thing, there were loads of sick bags, so at least if you were ill it was quickly taken from you so that you didn’t have to look and smell what you had that morning for breakfast! The weather was absolutely appalling. When we left the launch, the rain was lashing down and the wind was howling. This was not what I had ordered for our week of relaxation!



We were shown into the Wistari Room – which was used in wet weather for the showing of films as they had a large screen. We had a lovely cold drink – could have done with a hot chocolate at this point though – before going to the Shearwater Restaurant for a late lunch. We all tucked into the buffet lunch – most had recovered from the boat trauma quite quickly – except Paul. He really did suffer on the way over. At the first sign of the rough weather he took himself out on deck, and stayed there for the whole two hours. When we arrived, we did wonder if he was still going to be there, as the boat had lurched from side to side it was hard to see how anyone could still be standing. But he was, albeit dripping from head to foot, and with a look that said “you know I don’t travel well”. Not my fault! He took himself immediately to the room to have a hot shower and change out of his soaking clothes and to generally feel sorry for himself. He soon got over it!



The week at Heron was certainly a week of two halves. From the Sunday to the Thursday lunchtime it was awful weather. Cold, wet and windy. It was so windy that the dive boat didn’t go out, and when it did, the visibility was so poor and the sea so rough it wasn’t enjoyable. I didn’t partake until Wednesday morning when the wind had dropped a little. There are regular information walks each day – Bird Walk, Reef Walk, Research Station Walk, Island Walk and Star Gazing – the latter not happening due to the lack of stars! Each lasts around an hour, and has a guide telling all about the subject. We did the Bird Walk on the first day – during a spell of drier weather. The bird life on the island may not be extensively varied, but is certainly extensive. The amount of Shearwaters and Egrets alone are huge. There was always three or four outside of our house every morning, or walking around the bar or other areas. And very tame as well. They do like pinching your food or drink if you don’t have your wits about you.



There is also a very extensive Research Station on the island. It was the very first to be set up in this area many years ago, but burned down a few years ago and was rebuilt with state of the art equipment. It houses around ten full time staff, with up to one hundred students or other research bodies at a time on various projects. Their work on turtles and global warming of the seas is extremely valuable. With the Research Station walk, we were only walked around the outside of the buildings, but it was really interesting to hear about what they do there. They are on Queensland time, so half of this tiny little island is out of kilter with the other half by an hour!



The Island Walk consisted of walking half way around the island by way of the beach, and then cutting back though the forest. It was explained that the island was fairly unique in that it was never part of the mainland, but was a totally coral cay. Over the years, the way that the teardrop shaped reef has formed the island is by the wind and tides putting all of the corals into the small bit of the teardrop. Over thousands of years, the island has been building up very slowly, until it is as it is now. A limited amount of vegetation can grow on islands such as these – but looking at this island now it is very well established. Only the hardiest of plants and trees can withstand the low levels of nutrients in the soil, and these are the ones that have taken root. Very interesting. We also learned that the island had its own desalination plant that turned sea water into drinking water, as it uses over 100,000 litres of water a day to run the resort.



Georgina, my six year old granddaughter, joined the Junior Rangers programme. This was held between 11am and 12am each day, as well as 3.30pm to 5pm. Each session was on a different subject, learning all about the island, its fish, birds, plant life as well as other general topics. Each subject was in a workbook, which, when finished, meant that she got her badge. If she completed all of the subjects, which she did, she got her Junior Rangers badge. She did really well, and is now officially a Heron Island Junior Ranger. What a good idea – it is educational and fun. All of the guides on this and all of the walks are marine biologists with an extensive knowledge of the island and its workings.



The reef, as I explained before, goes all around the island, but is closer in some points than others. The tide is about 2 metres in height between low and high tide, and on the low tide the water is only a maximum of knee high for about half a mile in parts of the island. This is when you can do the Reef Walk. The guide will point out all of the creatures that can be seen that live on the reef, as well as the fish that swim around here. It is not a game of chance – the reef is so full of living creatures it is like looking in a fish tank. There are star fish and sea cucumbers everywhere you look. Take a step, and there is one type of fish or another. It is absolutely amazing. At high tide, this is when snorkelling takes over. And the fish then are in their thousands. All different types, from the tiniest to large rays and reef sharks. It isn’t an odd occasion that you will see the larger fish either – just walking along the beach at high tide you can see the shapes of the rays swimming just metres from the shore, or a sharks fin patrolling the area with thousands of small fish jumping out of the water so they don’t become dinner!



By Wednesday I had taken the decision to start diving – Paul had decided to see if I came back alive before he made that bold move though! I made my first dive on a cloudy, but not too windy morning. The visibility could have been better, but it wasn’t too bad. The underwater world that came into view though was worth it. The coral was fantastic and the fish were so plentiful and varied. I saw the biggest turtle that I have ever seen – it was huge. Around two metres in length I would say – but who knows, my judgement on size might be a bit out. I really must swat up on my fish species, because I know what I see but have no idea what they are called. I know the Nemo clown fish, but not a lot else. Take my word for it – this is one of the best places in the world that I have dived in.



With that knowledge, Paul decided that he would have a go too. So on Thursday we both dived. We saw a fairly large shark, and then saw a school of four rays majestically swimming past. I can’t put into words how magical that actually feels. He was glad that he “took the plunge” – excuse the pun – as he agreed that it was fantastic diving. He had dived in Cairns on a previous trip, and said that this was so much better in comparison.



Thursday was the start of the second half of the week – in more ways than one. The first thing that happened was that the desalination plant broke down. When we got back from the mornings dive at 12.45pm, we were told that there was no water on the island, and we were free to leave should we choose to. The launch was leaving at 2.00pm, so not a lot of chance of that. Also, where would we stay? With the breakdown of the plant also came the arrival of the sun. Everything looked so much more idyllic with the sun shining on it. Even if we had just dived and got a lovely salt water layer on our skin and no way of getting rid of it. No water to shower, wash, or flush the toilets in the public toilets.



We had a conference about staying or going the next day, and decided that we would stick it out. Unfortunately, the water plant was broken until at least Saturday. Memories of our Nepal trip and no showers came to mind – at least everyone was in the same boat here as well. We were issued with bottled water to clean our teeth with – and I had a few wipes that would suffice for washing. I know a few teenagers that would relish the fact that they didn’t have to wash! On Thursday evening the toilet in our house gave up the ghost – even though the toilets were supposed to be on a different system so that they could keep going with sea water being pumped into them. Paul, as always the boy scout, utilised the waster paper bin and made regular journeys to the sea to fill it up to flush the toilet. OK when the tide was in, but a bit of a trek when it was out – and quite hazardous at night if the tide was out as there were rocks and coral to contend with before getting to the wet stuff.



The island was not taking any new arrivals at this point, as they couldn’t provide a full restaurant service, as they couldn’t do any washing up. Any food that used water in the preparation was either very limited or not on offer. We had plastic knives and forks to eat with, and were “issued” with one plate per person. The food did get very repetitive. To be honest, the food was very average to start with compared to what we had been used to. I think that this is probably a little unfair, as the food we had for the previous three and half weeks was exceptional, but I wonder if I would have thought that anyway. No laundry could be done either, so we got no clean sheets or towels – by Saturday they were nearly standing up on their own! The public toilets closed, as they were disgusting.



The staff seemed to be mainly young people with no real direction. They were all friendly enough, but seemed to lack initiative to give a good service. Many of them had only been on the island for a few weeks, or even days, and there didn’t seem to be a maitre d’ to take charge. That wouldn’t have happened if Gabor had been here. Things would be running like clockwork!



The sun, once it had shown itself, did not go away. The whole of Friday, Saturday and Sunday was absolutely perfect weather. It was probably in the high twenties centigrade, with the wind dropping to a whisper. Paul had been checking the wind speeds every day – he was determined not to go back on the launch if the weather was in any way going to be inclement. The forecast for Sunday was 10 knots, and another beautiful sunny day, so decided to risk it by sea. With the option to change to helicopter should anything not happen as it was supposed to!



The island took on a whole new look with the changed weather. Our loungers from our balcony were moved to the beach – we had a wooden walkway from our balcony to the beach which was under tree canopy. It was an absolutely ideal spot. Each morning I would take my camera and sit on the lounger and take photos of all the wildlife – birds and fish, both were plentiful. It was also so peaceful. I think the island was running at about 37% occupancy, as many had decided to leave and no new arrivals had come since Wednesday. Perfect! Had we been able to shower, had clean linen and good food,



On Saturday after our last dive we took a walk all around the island by beach. If we had walked briskly I think it would have probably taken us about twenty minutes. We wandered, looking at all the rays and sharks – and a creature that had a sharks face and a rays middle and back. Weird. There were heaps of them. Then a sharks fin came up, and chased big fish that were chasing little fish and the whole ocean came alive. What an experience to see all of this just by taking a walk. When we got three quarters of the way around the island, we came across an Australian couple that was sitting and having a beer. It turns out that he was the Maintenance Manager on the island, so Paul had to get the full ins and outs of how the desalination plant works, and how it went wrong. Whilst this was going on, just the other side of the reef there was some blowing of water, and a whole line of humpback whales went past. We must have been watching for about twenty minutes – they just kept coming. There is another reef further out than the Heron Island reef, and the two reefs form a funnel shape between islands. The annual migration of whales takes place every year between June and September, and around 40,000 whales pass the island. Wow! What a sight.



All in all this island has the potential to be the most idyllic spot in the world. No TV’s, no internet access and no phone signal. Nothing to disturb a few days of complete getting away from it all. The resort leaves a little to be desired – it has changed hands in the last year or so, so maybe they haven’t quite got their act together yet. But I would have no hesitation in coming back. The island itself is a perfect piece of paradise.

Sunday was the day we were due to leave. The weather was perfect, so Paul decided that he would stick with the launch. The launch arrived at 2.30pm, and we duly left at 3.00pm. The two crossings couldn’t have been more different. As we were leaving the island, we had two lots of whales passing by our side. The two hour crossing was as calm as calm. Hardly a ripple on the sea. We sat on the outside deck for the whole crossing – the downside to that was that it looked like I still had my sunglasses on even after I had taken them off. My face got a teeny weeny bit burned. We then got the shuttle bus from the port back to the airport for our flight to Brisbane and then on to Sydney for our last night in Australia. We said goodbye to Fran and her family in Brisbane, and then waited for our delayed flight to Sydney. Apparently the whole Qantas reservation system had crashed earlier on in the day which caused delays throughout the whole day. It wasn’t too bad – just an hour. But that did mean we didn’t arrived into Sydney until 10.30pm and got to the hotel at 11.30pm. Late night for me!

Australia Day 24 – Friday 22nd June

Well, that was an interesting nights sleep. Or not, for Paul. I didn’t sleep too bad, but the train was not smooth and silent. There was some straps that stopped me from falling out of the top bunk – don’t think they were used. I was quite happy up there – had a reading light and a little shelf to put my things on. I woke up at about 7.00am – breakfast was at 7.30am so good timing. I leaned over the top, and asked Paul if he had slept well.; “No” was the answer. “Too hot, bed was too small, covers came untucked, train was too jerky and too noisy”. Oh dear!




I did contemplate taking a shower when Alistair said that he thought he had a hairdryer. But then he couldn’t find it, so decided against it. Look a bit like the wreck of the Hesperus, so will have to sort that out when we get to Brisbane. It looks really grey and cloudy now – think Paul might have to buy a jumper!



Breakfast was again excellent – Paul had full English, I had poached eggs on toast. Eggs came any way we wanted (should have tried the omelette here!) together with pastries, toast, fruit, cereals etc. Whilst we were at breakfast, the beds were put away and the compartment made into seating again. The first main stop was Bundaberg – four hours drive from Brisbane, but a bit longer than that on the train. About six hours to go I think.



The smaller little towns and villages that we have passed through look very much like a scene out of the Wild West. The further we get to Brisbane, the flatter the land. Some of the houses look as if they are in the middle of nowhere. They probably are. We passed the Glasshouse Mountains – named by Captain Cook as he sailed past because they reminded him of the Glass Houses at home. One of them looks more like King Kong than a glass house.



We seem to have gone rather slowly today – having to stop several times to let a tilt train go past. There is only one track, with several passing places, so if another train is either coming faster from behind or the other way one of the trains has to go onto the siding. One of our travelling companions was the station master at Brisbane Roma Street Station, so we got all the ins and outs of the Queensland Railway System.



Lunch was a two course meal – hot quiche and salad, followed by espresso terrine and tia maria cream. Again, an excellent meal. After then, it should have been a couple of hours until we got to Brisbane, due to arrive at 15.55pm. Unfortunately, because of the stoppages, we were running about thirty minutes late. Because of this, another tilt train had been allocated our platform, so we couldn’t pull into the station until 5.00pm. According to our Station Master, this used to happen all the time.



We slowly chugged into Roma Street Station just over an hour late. Fran, Georgina and Madison were there to meet us on the platform. What a lovely surprise! We got the luggage from the luggage car and hopped in a taxi for the short distance to the Sofitel. $6 so it wasn’t far. We checked in, checked out the room, had a lovely shower and then went into the city for dinner. We walked through the centre and then along the river to the South Bank. There is a Brisbane Wheel, similar to the London Eye, and most bizarrely a man playing the bagpipes. A bit like Covent Garden. We had something to eat around here, and then got a taxi back to the hotel as the children were getting tired. Gave Fran a lovely bag of washing to take back with her – nice to get a bit of payback for the years of washing I had to pick up from her bedroom floor! She wasn’t too impressed with the bag – said it made her look like a homeless person. Let’s hope she makes it through the Sofitel Lobby without getting thrown out then!!

Australia Day 23 – Thursday 21st June

Another early start today, to be checked out and left the hotel by 7.30am for our transfer to Cairns Central Railway Station. Breakfast was a meal that we had on our own – the scrambled eggs that were there at 6.30am no doubt would still be there for the customers arriving at 8! Not many people eat this early on holiday out of choice.




It took around half an hour to get to the station – plenty of time for our 09.15am departure of the Sunlander Train from Cairns to Brisbane. We checked in main bags into the baggage car – having to unpack 3kg out of one of them, as they can “only lift a maximum of 20kg due to health and safety”. We had a bag of wet clothes from yesterday that hadn’t dried out from the white water rafting that didn’t help! They did give us an extra bag though – might come in handy at some point.



We are travelling Queenslander Class – and met out Maitre d’ Alistair on the platform, who directed us to our cabin. We have a two berth cabin, that is seating during the day, and converts to bunk beds at night. Wonder who will be getting the top bunk? It is a very long train, but only two carriages of Queenslander Class, some normal sleeper carriages, and some seated carriages. We have a washbasin concealed in the wall, two very slim wardrobes and room for the bags under the seat. There is a shower and toilet at the end of the carriage – no hairdryer though. Might have to rough it on here! But, we also have complimentary robes to take away with us and a bag of toiletries. Didn’t really need to bring anything with us at all.



We pull out of the station at 9.15am exactly – well we aren’t on British Rail are we! No sooner have we pulled out, then Alistair invites us to the Lounge car for our welcome drink. Looks like there is about fourteen of us altogether. We are served orange juice, and then invited to go to the dining car for morning scones and coffee. Can see I might be waddling off this train! The scones were straight from the oven – and served with jam and cream. Paul reckons the best scones he has ever tasted – I will have to get the recipe.



The Sunlander travels between Cairns and Brisbane and vice versa twice a week. You can get on or off at any of the stops inbetween – Townsville, Airlie Beach, Mackay, Yeppon, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Bundaberg or Maryborough being the main ones, but loads of other little stops as well. The distance travelled is 1600 kilometres over 30 odd hours, so it isn’t a fast train. It is regarded as one of the most scenic rail journeys in the world, being constantly voted in the top 25. It commenced in 1953 – the year of the Queen’s coronation, so quite apt that we should be taking it in 2012 just as she has commemorated her diamond jubilee. The Queenslander Class was added ten years ago, for customers that appreciate those “extra comforts” – like me. One of the hallmarks of this service is the fine dining, with food freshly prepared onboard. There is also commentary when we pass something significant. It is quite an old train, so none of the new fangled gizmos like wifi. They are, apparently, due for a new train in 2014 which will bring it up to date.



As we travel southwards from Cairns, we pass through sugar cane fields, banana tree fields, and seem to be travelling besides the main road –the A1 or Bruce Highway. The cars are overtaking us though! We pass peoples back gardens – it seems banana trees are in back gardens, like apple trees are in our back gardens. The mountains are always in the background, and surprisingly there is no sign of the coast at all.



Lunch is served at 1pm. We had a seafood platter – and wow, what a platter it was. If I had had my camera with me, I would have taken a picture. Eight of the biggest prawns I have ever seen, a whole bug (and for those, like me, that did not know what bugs were, it is a lobster type thing) crab, oysters, fresh fruit and salad. Rather a messy affair – but bowls of water on the table helped. And then apple and rhubard crumble and macadamia ice cream for pudding. I had to leave some!



The afternoon was spent leisurely travelling through the countryside. Paul chatted in the lounge car – I read my kindle now I have some decent books. We are the youngest in this section by some way. One couple have actually brought their car with them. You can drive it on, and then drive it off at the other end!



Dinner was at 7.00pm – and again was lovely. It isn’t the same as the Orient Express, but it still is really good. Whilst we were at dinner, the bunks were made up – and I was right. It was me up the ladder!

Australia Day 22 – Wednesday 20th June

We had breakfast this morning at the Fawlty Towers restaurant again. It really is most bizarre – a complete change of staff, but still the same peculiar service. The waitress said they had scrambled eggs on the buffet, but if we wanted eggs cooked other ways we just had to tell her and the chef would do them. As I do not eat eggs that are not freshly cooked, I asked for an omelette. She said that would cost extra – but I could have eggs cooked any other way and they would be included. I changed it to poached eggs, and went to put my toast in the toaster in preparation. She came back with my eggs eventually, and gave me “hard poached eggs”. Where did that come from? Paul reckons it is my accent. I reckon Basil is out the back.




After the trauma of breakfast, we decided to walk the beach. We walked for two hours, and still didn’t get to the end. This really is a spectacular beach. We probably met less than ten people the whole time we were walking. The sand is lovely, no stones or rocks, and lovely to walk on. Barefoot on the sand – how romantic! Paul was doing all of this without his hat – yippee! There was a life guard station a mile or so up the beach, with a big poster on the side showing all the stinging jellyfish that you will find in the sea. It went from the box jellyfish that will stop you breathing when you are bitten, to about eight others that varied from “seek medical attention immediately” to “soak the sting in vinegar”. There are several vinegar stations along the beach – I wonder how many times they are used?



This afternoon was our white water rafting adventure. This was Paul’s idea – I really did not fancy this one. But, as he reminded me, he has done all the other bits that he didn’t want to do, so I had to do this one. We were collected by a van with “Raging Thunder” on the front – felt like saying I had a raging headache and heading back into the hotel. But I didn’t. We got on the bus, and the driver had rock music on really loud – I could feel this was not going to be my cup of tea. We got to the meeting point at Lake Placid, and met up with the others that were rafting this afternoon – and we certainly were the oldest by several years. Once we had moved everyone up to the starting point, about five kilometres up the Barron River, we were sorted into rafts. I did point out quite loudly that I wanted the “wimp” boat – Paul could go in another one if he wants. Some of the rafts were full of youngsters with dreadlocks and looked as if they wanted to go at several hundred miles an hour. I was hoping not to be put in one of those. We were put with a family of four, and another British guy on a four month trip of Australia – all looked pretty normal, as did the “driver” Mezza. Not sure what to call him, but he was in charge of the raft and knew what he was doing.



We were issued with lifejackets, helmets and paddles (how am I supposed to hold on and paddle I wondered) and walked down to the river. There is a power station a little way up the river, and they let out water periodically that makes the rapids. There was about nine rafts on the water, and there were some crazy people. We were given our instructions – how to hold on when he shouts “hold” and how to get in the boat when he shouts “get down”. Great! We started down, and had to learn all to paddle at the same time, either backwards or forwards. We had to sit on the side, but there was a blown up bit across the raft that you could hook your foot under. Big deal! We started going quite gently – this bit was fine. Then we came across a load of rocks that didn’t look as if there was enough room for a raft to get through. Wrong! We had to “hold” then “get down” then “jump up”. The first two were no problem, jumping up took a bit more time. With both feet now hooked under the blown up bit, and my bottom wedged between that and the bit behind me, jumping up was not an option. Struggling up was more like it. By the time I had got back up, it was time to “get down” again. I could see this was going to be a long afternoon. I was determined not to fall out – I didn’t have any insurance for one thing.



We then got to the first big waterfall. I could see it coming! I “got down” and somehow managed to lose my paddle. Oh dear! Not only was I stuck, wedged in the bottom of the boat, I had lost a major bit of equipment. That will get me out of paddling! At the bottom of the waterfall, Mezza gives me a paddle. “Oh good” I said “You have brought a spare”. “No” he says. “Just picked yours up”. Wonder whether he would pick me up so swiftly? A few in the boat went out at this point for a swim – not me! We picked them up again, and went down a few more rapids. Either I was getting used to it, or it wasn’t very hard. It didn’t seem too bad at all. We got to a big one, and Mezza tried very hard to knock a few people out of the raft. Not me – I was hanging on for grim death. The boat was so full of water, I don’t know how it was still floating.



Then Mezza said that was it. No more rapids, just a gentle paddle to the end. Everyone, including Paul, jumped out of the boat, and got swept down a little rapid. Not me – I was staying firmly in the boat. We picked them up, and then paddled for ten minutes or so until we got to the end. Ha! I had survived. Not too bad either. Until we changed out of our wet clothes, and they had had a photographer taking pictures from the road all the way along. They gave us a slide show, and we could buy all the pictures on a stick for $30. Not bad value. Virtually every picture had me with my eyes closed, looking as if I was in front of a firing squad, and so far down in the boat I was glued to the bottom. Perhaps I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought then!



We were dropped back off at the hotel, and had dinner at Fawlty Towers. The service may be laughable, but the food was really good!

Australia Day 21 – Tuesday 19th June

Today we transferred from Silky Oaks to the Kewarra Beach Resort, about fifteen miles north of Cairns. The drive down the Captain Cook Highway is excellent – perhaps not quite as scenic as the Great Ocean Road, but not far behind.




The fields on either side are full of sugar cane – and yesterday was the day that it was started to be harvested. It should have been about three weeks ago, but unseasonally they had a huge downpour that made the cane too wet to harvest. Even though Silky Oaks is fairly elevated – all the rooms are on stilts – the river runs right next to the resort. There is a couple of tables and chairs by the river, and when it rained last it was so unexpected it caught everyone by surprise. A couple of the staff had to wade into the river to retrieve the furniture from the rising water level. In the wet season, they are partially cut off from the road, and have to use a boat for customers and supplies for the last part of the journey.



There were several eagles, kites and falcons soaring above the sugar cane. As soon as it is started to be harvested, they lurk. There are so many little animals that live in the cane, that all have to run out into the open when it is cut, it is breakfast, lunch and dinner. The most poisonous snake in Australia, the Taipan, also lives in the sugar cane, so I wouldn’t want to get out of the harvester for a smoke or a cup of tea! They have a really neat system of taking it to the factory – all of the fields are connected by train tracks, and little carriages are taken round, filled and transported without any lorries on the road.



The journey south takes around two hours – we used the shuttle bus again, which means we share with other people and have to collect and drop off at various hotels on the way. We had two pick ups, and we were the first to be dropped off, so no problem. The Kewarra Beach Resort is a beach resort, and we are here for two nights before taking the Sunlander Train from Cairns to Brisbane on Thursday. It has a lovely open plan reception, with another lovely restaurant. We are given a cold fruit tea drink on arrival – somehow don’t think that that will take the place of campari in my heart! We are then shown to our lovely little bungalow – I do like these rooms that aren’t just a little box off a long corridor. We can walk out of the balcony doors and straight onto the beach. As we were being shown to the room, we were told that there are two kangaroos that live here, and one has just had a baby. There is also a huge monitor called George. Let’s hope they aren’t so elusive as the nocturnal creatures we didn’t see last night. We walked around the resort to get our bearings, and saw hardly another soul. Either the place is empty, or everyone is out on tours. I saw a sunlounger with my name on it down on the beach. So with kindle in hand – I have had to pay to download a “proper” book, the free ones were getting on my wick they were so awful, perhaps I have just chosen badly – I plonked my bottom down for the afternoon. The first time on this holiday, I think, that we have had an extended period of doing nothing. The only problem was the wind – it wasn’t blowing a gale, but it was blowing. And if you didn’t sit directly in the sun it was cold – yes, cold! I had goosebumps on my arms. Paul decided to sit by the pool until a young family upset his quiet (wonder how many people we have done that to in our past?) then he walked to the end of the beach and back. It is a really long beach – and for the first time I have actually seen people taking their dogs for a walk. I stuck it out though, even though it was really too cold and windy to sit on the beach, and I was the only one left – I am British!



Dinner was an event – the restaurant was a bit like Fawlty Towers. There seemed to be a bit of friction between the few staff that were working – they all seemed to be very busy, but not doing much. We seemed to get ignored as we were sitting by the bar. We ordered menus, and after thirty minutes they still hadn’t arrived. The German lady behind the bar just smiled, and was typically German. The restaurant lady just didn’t want to look at us. It took a little bit of sarcasm to remind them that we paid their wages. That sorted it! Apart from that, dinner was excellent. And German Eva came over and apologised and gave us a complimentary coffee. I thought perhaps she was just having a bad day – on our way out she said her husband was having a heart operation tomorrow, that explained it. Not sure about the others though!

Australia Day 20 – Monday 18th June

A really leisurely start today, as we had nothing planned for definite during the day. We had a late breakfast, thinking that we could then miss lunch. As we have an early dinner booked at 6.00pm as we are going on a two hour guided walk at 8.00pm.




The Lodge has a car that will run you to various places, so we decided to go to Mossman Gorge, as there is a couple of good hikes to do. They dropped us off at 12pm and said they would pick us back up at 2.20pm. We walked down the little lane to get into the Daintree National Park where Mossman Gorge is situated, to be presented with a sign at the bottom saying that the suspension bridge is closed for safety reasons, therefore the bigger loop we were going to do was inaccessible. Bugger! It was, yet again, a lovely day, so we just took our time walking around the smaller loop. There is a vivid blue butterfly called Ulysses that is absolutely stunning – you can see it flying from around a hundred yards away it is such a bright colour. Trying to photograph it is another matter – it hardly ever lands, and so far I have only managed a blue blur. One of these days. The walk around is in rainforest, but on boardwalks so that the plant life is not disturbed. There is also a swimming hole that several people are making use of. We get back to the pick up area around forty five minutes early, so Paul phones the Lodge and they come and pick us up early. Just before they arrived, Paul sees another of the Ulysses butterfly, and whips out his camera to try and video it. Gone before the camera comes out of the case. We drive back to the Lodge, and Paul then realises that he has left his hat where he was sitting trying to get a photo of the butterfly – oh dear, what a shame!



There is a couple of hiking trails to the back of the Lodge, so we decided to do those instead. We had to sign out at reception – if you don’t report back in within a certain time they will send a search party out for you. We get stocked up with water and off we go. The first part is easy – past Melaluca Island, and then we took the Low Trail to get to the Wave Rock Picnic Site. The Lodge will pack up a picnic hamper if you want to make a day of it. That wasn’t so bad. A few rocks and tree roots on the path, so you had to make sure you looked where you were going. At wave rock, you had to jump a couple of boulders into the middle of the river to get a good picture of it. I decided it wasn’t worth getting a wet foot for a picture of a rock, so let Paul do it. He didn’t get wet feet. Just as Paul turned to go back on to the trail, an aboriginal lad appeared from nowhere. He smiled, and jumped onto the rocks in the river. Wonder what he was doing there? Gave Paul a bit of a fright! From there on it got rather more difficult. The path was under a foot wide in places, with tree roots, tree trunks, rocks and you name it all in the way. It was really slow going, and very difficult. “They should make the girls in reception do this, so they warn customers what it is like” says Paul. “You need to be a 78 year Orion passenger at least!”



The sweat was literally pouring off my face. It was so difficult. With everything that crawls and grows on trees, I was a bit reluctant to grab onto anything to help keep my balance, but after a few minutes into this last bit I was grabbing onto anything. At one point a rock fall had completely covered the path, and you actually had to go down the slope and back up the other side to get round it. Whose idea was this? The walk was to Fig Tree Rapids – and soon the rushing water could be heard. Thank god for that! But we weren’t there yet. More tree roots, rocks, and streams were between us and them. It wasn’t so bad going flat, it was all the up and down that caused the problems. But, we made it. There was a group of young people swimming and waving over the other side of the river. “They probably came on the bus” said Paul. He insisted we jumped onto the last possible boulder before the rapids, as we were there. It was lovely to sit down though – the sweat was still poring off my body. There was a big green ant on the rock – probably came out of my shirt sleeve. Goodness knows what hopped onto me whilst I was clinging onto trees and rocks for dear life.



After a five minute rest it was time to start the trek back – and it didn’t actually seem as bad as when we had come. Perhaps I am getting better at it – on second thoughts probably not. We took the Low Trail to get there, and the High Trail to get back. Once we had gone past Wave Rock it was a lot better track – anything would have seemed better than that last bit. I had to peel my clothes off me, they were soaking wet with sweat. Hopefully a few calories burned there then! Paul went for a beer and to check us back in – I wonder how many people they lose on the tracks? He had a chat with one of the managers, who said that an American couple had come back from the trek to Fig Tree Rapids last week and said that the track was impassable. Didn’t make me feel so much of a wimp then! She also told him that the kids we saw swimming across the river were at Mossman Gorge – so it wasn’t so far off that they caught the bus! He then went to the beach billabong for a “refreshing” swim – I think the water was a bit cold. I passed.



On the way to dinner we saw a great big fat toad crossing the path. The cane toad around here is poisonous – no idea what this one was. I had kangaroo risotto for dinner and it was delicious. Medium rare is the only way to have it cooked, apparently, otherwise it tastes like shoe leather. Hand feeding them one day, eating them the next………..such is life.



We went for our night walk with a peculiar old bird called Erin. She liked saying aaaannddd and nothing after it. We did see the Bush Turkeys asleep up a tree on a very slim branch, but not much else of what you can see in the dark. She took us into the rainforest (towards the Fig Tree Rapids Trail, and I thought I can’t do that in the dark) but only a short way. We had to all turn off our torches to see the fireflies – but there weren’t any. We went down to the river to see the turtles – but there weren’t any. We were looking for the insect eating bats flying low over the river – but there weren’t any. Never mind – it was a very pleasant walk!