At 8am we said goodbye to the excellent staff at the Goldfields Hotel and queued up with our luggage to join the Savannahlander, which had arrived last evening.
I saw our driver Wil loading the luggage and I knew from our trip in 2013 that he would entertain us well with his humour which can be described as "post-Hoges". Most seats were already occupied in the front carriage but for some reason the best seat at the front was vacant, so we were able to spend the day with excellent views through the front window. Malcolm peeked at the controls in the absence of the driver and some wags urged him to set off now. He told them he does not like driving without a steering wheel; no way out in an oncoming smash.
It only took a minute for Wil to have the whole train laughing loudly as he outlined the rules for using the toilets. He decreed a time limit of five minutes for sitting in the reserved seat in front of us and behind the driver, but most people soon forgot about that and we lost our clear view for a lot of the time.
Wil gave us interesting commentary and plenty of jokes. He was keen on this grevillea decora with its big spider flowers.
They used to have special trucks to transport ballast along the track. This one capsized and they could not be persuaded to rescue it.
We cross many rivers and creeks on this trip and one of the biggest is the Einasleigh. The train stopped for lunch at the big bridge, where in 2013 the P.R. took a publicity photo of the train on the bridge (see volume 1)
After a $15 lunch (chicken salad wrap and tiny piece of cake) at THE PUB
we wandered around Copperfield Gorge until lunch hour was over. The water was a clean green colour.
At 2:15 we came to Mount Surprise and were bussed to Bed Rock Village 500 meters down the road.
They told us to drop our luggage in our comfortable room and get back on the bus for the Undara Lava Tubes. Our guides were Jes and Greg and it took 40 minutes to drive there and another 10 minutes to walk down to the tunnels. Greg hit us with 30 minute of well researched information as we walked into two tunnels.
After a delicious dinner provided by the camp staff, Greg sat at the campfire and recited amusing poetry of his own and known outback poets. We all laughed a lot.
I saw our driver Wil loading the luggage and I knew from our trip in 2013 that he would entertain us well with his humour which can be described as "post-Hoges". Most seats were already occupied in the front carriage but for some reason the best seat at the front was vacant, so we were able to spend the day with excellent views through the front window. Malcolm peeked at the controls in the absence of the driver and some wags urged him to set off now. He told them he does not like driving without a steering wheel; no way out in an oncoming smash.
It only took a minute for Wil to have the whole train laughing loudly as he outlined the rules for using the toilets. He decreed a time limit of five minutes for sitting in the reserved seat in front of us and behind the driver, but most people soon forgot about that and we lost our clear view for a lot of the time.
Wil gave us interesting commentary and plenty of jokes. He was keen on this grevillea decora with its big spider flowers.
They used to have special trucks to transport ballast along the track. This one capsized and they could not be persuaded to rescue it.
We cross many rivers and creeks on this trip and one of the biggest is the Einasleigh. The train stopped for lunch at the big bridge, where in 2013 the P.R. took a publicity photo of the train on the bridge (see volume 1)
we wandered around Copperfield Gorge until lunch hour was over. The water was a clean green colour.
At 2:15 we came to Mount Surprise and were bussed to Bed Rock Village 500 meters down the road.
They told us to drop our luggage in our comfortable room and get back on the bus for the Undara Lava Tubes. Our guides were Jes and Greg and it took 40 minutes to drive there and another 10 minutes to walk down to the tunnels. Greg hit us with 30 minute of well researched information as we walked into two tunnels.
After a delicious dinner provided by the camp staff, Greg sat at the campfire and recited amusing poetry of his own and known outback poets. We all laughed a lot.
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