Tuesday...26 July 2011

Up early to catch our train ride. Had to be at the station by 8.30am. Then it was all aboard for a rattly ride down the line 16 miles.  They say it is the only railway line in Australia that still measures the track in miles. Because it is not connected to the rest of Queensland Rail, it was not converted when Australia went metric!

So there we are rattling down the track looking at all manner of interesting stuff. The engine driver pointed out coolibah trees and some other trees that are an Australian native rubber tree. First time I have heard of it. We saw some lovely cows and wallabies, the local variety is called the Agile Wallaby but like the driver said some of them are not so agile when they cross the road!

And apparently there is a bird that is a crane but looks like a brolga,  the difference being that the crane has more red on its head and neck and its legs are pink. So there you go, check out the legs on the birds.........

Along the way we crossed the mighty Normanton river before turning around and coming back to the station. The entire trip there and back was 32 mile or 48 kilometres and took two hours. Good way to use a morning.

This is a picture of a marker beside the track showing the heights of the water during the floods at various times up here. Guess this means the railway line is out of commission occasionally.