Tour Queensland (Australia) by Bus & Rail - Including Queensland Rail Museum & Mary Valley Rattler

In this video we tour Queensland by rail and bus starting in Brisbane having arrived there on Emirates flights from Gatwick airport in the UK via Dubai. Our plane landed after the last airport train had departed leaving a taxi ride into Brisbane as the only option. I used Google Earth to locate a suitable hotel near Roma Street station. I chose the "Pacific hotel" located a short walk though attractive gardens from the station and a pleasant cafe overlooking both the gardens and Roma Street station. On my first full day I caught up with family for a walk along the banks of the Brisbane River. I'd built in an extra day to recover from the flight so I decided to use the extra time to visit Queensland Museum Rail Workshops located in Ipswich, a short train ride out of Roma Street station. The museum tells the story of Queensland railways with the help of exhibits and visual aids. The museum is set up to appeal a wide audience, especially children with plenty of activities to keep them occupied. The following day I was due to catch the evening Tilt Train as far a Gympie, the staff at the Roma Street booking office allowed me to deposit my luggage leaving me free to spend my time riding the free river ferry between various riverside parks, cafes and museums. As the time of my departure approached I made my way back to the station where the Tilt Train was already in the platform, by the time I reached Gympie it was dark and I was the only passenger on the bus provided by QR to take passengers into town, the driver kindly dropped me off at “Rooms Motel Gympie”, a clean, comfortable, quirky, modern motel on the outskirts of the town that was to be my base for the next four nights, for those who don't like walking there are other hotels closer to the town centre. The reason I'd broken my journey to Cairns at Gympie was to visit the Mary Valley Rattler tourist railway because I wanted to see how QR looked in the 50's through to the 70's. I rode two very different trains over the length of the line, first a steam hauled train that transported passengers back to the 50's in wonderfully restored carriages and the following day I caught a 2000 class DMU where passengers were offered local delicacies during the journey. It is worth turning up early at the Mary Valley Railway's Gympie station to enjoy a cooked breakfast and take a look around the museum. After riding the railway I took a leisurely stroll through the town to reach my hotel stopping off in a cafe/antique centre for a beer and a bite to eat. The following day I caught the bus back to Gympie North station ready to catch the overnight Spirit of Queensland train to Cairns. I booked to travel in a carriage where seats converted into beds for the overnight leg of the journey. We departed Gympie North in the late afternoon, I watched the countryside pass by from my comfortable seat as the setting sun bathed the scene in an orange glow. The train stopped at Bundaberg long enough to allow passengers to stretch their legs before re-boarding ready for the night. With the press of a button under the watchful eye of the train staff my chair became a bed, to my surprise a very comfortable bed on which I got a good nights sleep. I woke the following day at sunrise to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, my bed was once again a spacious seat from which I could watch the changing scenery slip by, we were now entering sugar cane country served by an extensive 2 foot gauge railway system. At Townsville we left our train to board waiting rail replacement buses. It would have been nice to complete the journey by rail, but had I done so, I wouldn't have seen the Tully Sugar Mill in action, fed by narrow gauge railways the mill was in full swing as the waggons rolled one by one into the unloading tippler where they were rotated through 360 degrees, depositing their loads onto the conveyor belt in the pit bellow. Whilst I'd been watching the sugar cane trains the other passengers made the most of the refreshment stop, now it was back to the bus for the last leg to Cairns. At Cairn I stayed at “Southern Cross Atrium Apartments” very convenient for the station and a short walk from the town centre. This video finishes at Cairns, although it was not the end of my trip because I'd booked to travel on a 6 Day Gulflander and Savannahlander” tour arranged by savannahlander.com.au - please click on this link to see the second half of this holiday -    • Savannahlander & Gulflander Holiday - On &...   Why not visit Puffing Billy or the Zig Zag railway on your return to the UK Music - Track - Composer – Source 00:00, 32:38 & 34:58 - World - Pure Paradise - Balmy Breeze - Scorefitter 02:28 - ES_The Red Soil - Saira Ridley - epidemicsound.com 18:30 - ES_The Annual Rain - Saira Ridley - epidemicsound.com 19:19 - ES_Rain or Shine - Damon Greene - epidemicsound.com Background sound effects - SFX Producer – epidemicsound.com Maps – Google Earth/Maps Track gauge – 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) QR – Sugar railways 2 ft (610 mm)