February 21, 2012

Civilized departure time, 9:15 AM. This time taking the Sunlander, have been told that it is a nicer trip than the Tilt train and indeed this is the case. The trip is for ten and one half hours. The food selection is also better. Tried some thing different for smoko ( mid morning tea ) had pikelets , a small pancake that is served with strawberry jam and cream, very good but not what one would expect as a sweet with tea or coffee. Did not take any photos from the train as their is a constant reflection and this does show up in the photos.
As on the trip up to Cairns the scenery cane fields, banana plantations, and bush. Of interest are the tropical bush areas with trees that are covered by different vines that reach right up to the top of the trees. Although some vines creep up the trees others grow up with the trees as they grow and can be very large.
The trip is very comfortable and again you can watch the scenery pass by and relax not having to drive, can even have a snooze. Was hot and sunny in Cairns when we left and have had a short shower about on hour out but has turned out sunny the rest of the journey.
The north area of Queensland usually has its wet season in the summer but this year to my relief it has been very dry and although some areas have had some flooding it has not been the usual wet.
About a half hour out of Townsville there is a large wetland with numerous black swans, pelicans, Magpie Geese, ducks and other waterfowl. They would have nested in September, October which is spring here.
Sugar Mills can be seen along the rail but most are not running as the cane is usually cut on May or June and then the mill is busy for six months if the do not process the sugar to white sugar. They will only process raw sugar and molasses and send the raw sugar to other mills to process. You also see small rail tracks with cane cars, these take the cane from fields to the mill.
Just mentioned that I had not seen any kangaroos or wallabies since the ones in the field on the way back to Cairns on Sunday from the Daintree and then saw three in the field close to the track.
About 30 minutes north of Ayr passed by a large cattle ranch, several hundred of Brahma cross cattle, some with egrets on their backs.
Large wetland pond with blue flowering water lilies, would have bee nice to stop and get a photo of is.
Not long after leaving Cairns you pass through the towns of Tulley, Innisfail, and Babinda. These three towns vie for the Golden Gumboot award in recognition of the wettest town for the year. This is the wettest part of Queensland.
Sun goes down abruptly at 7:00 PM, no lingering dusk. So now will just sit back and relax until we reach MacKay.

Location:On the train from Cairns to MacKay