In my day and a bit in Brisbane I went wandering using my Brisbane travel card and sorted out some next-leg matters. It was a very cold start encouraging the receptionist at my hotel to allow me to check-in at my 0530h arrival time at no additional charge! This was very handy as I was able to get my bags sorted for the trip to Longreach - I could store a bag of next week’s clothing in the baggage car rather than have it clutter the tiny cabin.
A prime objective was to cross the iconic Story Bridge over the Brisbane River as a pedestrian. A Sunday national politics panel discussion TV program uses city/specific picture backgrounds for its feature interviews with pollies and other noteworthies. The Story Bridge is used for Brisbane-based interviews, others used include the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Melbourne’s Princes Bridge, and one crossing the Torrens in Adelaide.
I’ve walked across the others and wanted to complete the set. I accomplished this by 1030h on day one. I then got myself lost walking the streets in what I thought wa the right direction but I was off a bit before I worked it out and found the hotel again. I had the next day with Brisbane rello to look forward to.
After returning to Roma Street station the following evening about forty minutes before the 1810h scheduled departure, I saw the train was at the platform being provisioned-up
At boarding time I found my cabin A14 was at left rear of the second carriage behind only what looked like staff accommodation. The cabins are arranged either side of a narrow central corridor with the bunk lying along the rail like for the Amtrak roomettes and VIA’s room for one, rather than across the rails as in the XPT cabins
It’s well dark at 1810h in midwinter here, so I knew sightseeing would not be on.
In any case I was allocated the 1900h dinner service and went to the lounge car to meet my fellow travellers. As suspected they were- to be fair, like me - SKI grey nomad types and up for a natter. The main courses; choice of steak, pork, or lasagne, were cooked aboard and included in the fare. They were very serviceable. Also included is a wine or soft drink, so I chose a red to accompany the steak
I stayed up for a bit afterwards getting my bearings with GPS assistance before the zzzzs hit. I awoke before we hit Rockhampton and followed progress for a bit before sleep part two.
It’s now 1028h and we’re heading west along the Tropic of Capricorn with another nine hours of travel before Longreach.
It’s a bit of a shoogly ride, cruising at 85 mph mostly where possible, and low 60s elsewhere through grazing and wheat country it seems, but we haven’t hit the red soils yet. It’s highly-prized black soil agricultural country here.
