For days on a fabulous train

We've recently spent four days on a fabulous train through outback Queensland. The train is the 'Savannahlander' from Cairns to Forsyth via Mareeba, Mutchilba, Almaden, Chillagoe and Mount Surprise.

Here's my video of the trip:



I can highly recommnd it.

Home on the Sunlander

We have another two days train trip ahead of us. Today, we board the Sunlander from Cairns back to Brisbane.

The Sunlander in Cairns

 The Sunlander runs three times weekly between Brisbane and Cairns, a distance of 1691 kilometres and takes 31 hours to complete.

Then we'll be home again.

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All Good Things Come To An End

Today, after breakfast, we transfer to Horn Island by ferry, then board a flight over the vast Cape York Peninsula, to arrive back in Cairns where our Cape York Tour ends.

We fly back to Cairns from Horne Island

But we have another exciting trip ahead tomorrow.

Thursday Island

Today, we cruise up to Thursday Island. In the 60s, while living in Papua new Guinea, a group of friends organised a weekend on Thursday Island and we paid for it. Then on Friday, I was called to an urgent job in Rabaul and had to cancel this experience, so now I finally make it.

Thursday Island

Thursday Island, also known as TI or Waiben, is the administrative and commercial centre of the Torres Strait Islands. Lying 39 kilometres (24 mi) north of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia in the Torres Strait, Thursday Island has an area of about 3.5 square kilometres (1.4 sq mi). The highest point on Thursday Island, standing at 104 metres (341 ft) above sea level, is Milman Hill, a World War II defence facility. At the 2006 census, Thursday Island had a population of 2,546.^[1]

To the Top, to the Top!

Today, we travel to the tip of Cape York Peninsula and disembark near Frangipani Beach. Then a walk to the tip of Australia.

Frangipani Beach on Cape York

The Top of Australia

That's if the sign is there. Apparently tourists frequently take it home as a souvenir.

On to Bamaga Resort

Skirting the Jardine River National Park, we continue through the traditional lands of the Injinoo Aboriginal people. Our journey today becomes quite adventurous when we travel on some of the original sections of the old Telegraph Track. This route was carved out in the 1880s and some of the telegraph poles can still be seen. We stop at Fruit Bat Falls for a swim in the crystal clear waters on the way to the Bamaga Resort for the night.

Jardine River

We go mining Beauxide Today

Today we join a local guide for a tour of the Weipa Bauxide Mine, the largest of its kind in the world.

Weipa Bauxide Mine

A large mine with very large equipment

Then we'll continue along rugged dirt roads of Cape York to the Moreton Telegraph Station located on the Wenlock River.