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Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997To: studio@toysatellite.org From: Don Pattenden <dpattenden@pegasus.com.au> Subject: Christmas in North Queensland Well, here I am at last, in North Queensland. To be precise I'm typing this in a video shop in Atherton, the main town on the Atherton Tablelands, just outside Cairns. The video shop has Internet access at $6 per hour and what's more they are letting me use my own floppy disks which makes things much simpler. Lets see -- the past few weeks have been so eventful, and there has been so much travelling involved, that it all seems a blur, looking back. I departed from Sydney, for Brisbane a couple of weekends ago (by train of course) then had just a week to pack everything up (this time including my bike & camping gear etc) to make the journey to Cairns, then Herberton. My bike went separately by Q Link, i.e. by road freight -- all quite painless this time, no dismantling involved at all -- a "door to door" service, from Chapel Hill (in Brisbane) to the Hardware shop in Herberton (from where we could collect it) all for $40. But the train trip, with all of the rest of my junk, from Brisbane to Cairns was not so painless. It is a long, long trip!!! I departed from Brisbane at 10:30 AM on Sunday (December 14) and arrived at Cairns Airport on the Monday (December 15) at 6:30 PM. Whew!!!!!! The train was at least airconitioned (in fact it was quite cool -- would have appreciated a rug during the night) but the heat on emerging at Cairns was unbelievable. I've never experienced anything like it. Melbourne can be hot of course, but it's a different kind of heat -- very dry. But this was just like a sauna. So intensely hot it quite takes your breath away! Fortunately I was booked into a hostel that is close to the station (just across the road) but even that was an enormous effort, given the amount of stuff I had, plus the heat. My first idea was to put it all in a locker on the station -- but naturally all the lockers were kaput, jammed!! And the railway staff wouldn't let me use their trolleys (meanies!) but lo!! I found a supermarket trolley nearby, abandoned. Aren't they a godsend when you need them. I piled all of my stuff (and it still only just fitted) into the trolley and wheeled it over to the hostel. It was the usual scene, bunk beds, not much room in the dormitory, and a hot, hot kitchen full of people. So I promptly zoomed over to the supermarket and got myself a jumbo container of self-serve salad -- lots of yummy stuff -- and consumed it at a table near the swimming pool in the hostel. The dorms were not air conditioned -- they had large ceiling fans. Didn't think I'd sleep at all, but I did -- out like a light -- must have been because I'd hardly slept on the train. [Reminds me, although the train trip was a gruelling one, mainly because it was such a long, long way, it could have been a lot worse -- for economy class it was reasonable comfortable, actually having showers and separate wash rooms, one up on the NSW and Victorian trains which have only toilets, and very cramped at that!] It was one of those hostels where the lock up the kitchen at night and don't open it until 6 AM in the morning. Yet another one that fails to cater for early risers like me! Bane of my life!!! Worked out OK though; over the months I've been travelling I have at least learnt to be flexible and modify my routine according to the circumstances -- the facilities available. I woke up around 4:30, just before dawn, when it was reasonably cool (though not for long -- remember that Kipling line about the sun coming up like thunder?) had a shower, sorted out my breakfast gear (coffee, rolled oats etc etc etc) and was sitting at a table conveniently near the kitchen, poised, waiting for it to open. That meant I had first go with the saucepans etc. Great!!! Wasn't long before it was once again full of people of all nationalites and ethnic background cooking every conceivable type of cuisine imaginable!! A girl using the hot plate next to mine was expertly frying a very succulent piece of chicken -- to a turn. Not my choice of breakfast, but it looked delicious all the same. She served it up with a plate of mixed fruit -- mango, melon, bananas etc. Very healthy. The shopping trolley rigmarole once again. The same trip in reverse, from the hostel back to the station. This time I was catching the scenic train to Kuranda. No time now to elaborate on this trip save to say that it was a fascinating journey, with a fascinating history. There was a commentary over the PA system all the way pointing out the various landmarks and giving details of the original Cairns-Kuranda railway, built in the 1880s. The clock is ticking away. I'm going to have to be more cryptic now. Dani (my eldest daughter, who has been living at Herberton for a couple of years now) made the journey to Kuranda especially to meet me. And we were together booked on the bus back to Herberton (town) in the afternoon. We filled in the middle part of the day very pleasantly with a leisurely lunch by the river and also a visit to Bird World (cockatoos and parrots - exotic birds in natural surroundings) and to the nocturnal animal display (with blue light so that they could be observed in their habitual nocturnal environment. At Herberton we were met by Daryl, Dani's partner and soon to be husband and his truck, which transported us to his property, over a partly sealed, partly unsealed (very rough, very bumpy, road). Next time I'll tell you about All of the animals (chooks, wallero, emu etc etc) and made friends with at Dani's and Daryl's place -- all of them great characters -- and by then I'll be able to tell you about my "bush Christmas". Just briefly my plan is to return to Brisbane late January and to resume my bicycle journey in early February, once again pedalling north. Thanks for all of your warm and friendly messages.
And a Merry Christmas to all. |