Catch-up time

Paul's Birthday Cruise September 2025

Completely missed posting about Paul's birthday cruise, so if I want to remember that I'm going to have to trawl through Facebook.

 

Train trip Adelaide to Brisbane - Australia Day Weekend 2026

This is just a general review of the trip.

Flight to Adelaide went well, and my room was ready for check-in when I got to the hotel even though I arrived hours before normal check-in time.   

Next morning (Friday) - check-in time for the train was between 8am and 9am.   I was a bit concerned about how long it might take to get out of the hotel, because one of the lifts is out of action and it had been taking a while for a lift to show up.  And, there was a huge cycling event on in Adelaide, so lots of people bringing their cycles up and down in the limited lift space.  And I had no idea how long it would take for a taxi to arrive.  So, I left my room about 6:25am.  Of course, a lift with space available for me and my suitcase arrived instantly, check-out took about 30 seconds, and then I used the app to call a taxi which took less than two minutes to arrive.  Needless to say I was at the station very early - but quite a few people were already there and they were booking us in, so all good.  They offer free off-train experiences at each stop, and you have to pre-book the one you want and a second preference, but I got all my first preferences.

First stop was later on the same day - at Stawell, with the plan being for us to take tours of the Grampians.  Unfortunately - and this became a bit of a theme - we had been held up and were running a couple of hours late.  And the major impact was on my tour which couldn't go as far into the mountains as planned.  However we did get to see Hall's Gap which was interesting, and they also drove around and showed us the sights of Stawell.

Saturday morning's stop was in Yass, where we were bussed to Canberra.  Everyone was taken first to a nice meal at Old Parliament House aka the Museum of Australian Democracy, before going our separate ways for our tours.  Unfortunately again we were running about 2 hours late and so our tour had to miss the 'Old Parliament House' tour and we only got to see the National Portrait Gallery.  In the end I'd probably have preferred to go through the Old Parliament House and give the Portrait Gallery a miss. Anyway, after the tour was over they took us to Goulburn where the train had moved while we were away, and then we were off again.

Sunday's stop was in Coff's Harbour where we weren't running late.  My tour was just a visit to the Harbourside Markets - interesting, and I purchased a few things.  But it was really hot and humid, and there wasn't really enough to take up 2 hours of sight-seeing.  Anyway, back on the train then for the last leg into Brisbane.  The train arrived at Acacia Ridge on time at around 5:30pm, then they bussed us into the city.  The train can't go into Roma Street or Central because it would have far too much impact on the local train traffic, particularly since neither station is anywhere near long enough for the train.

Overall good things:

Staff are enormously helpful

Coffee was great

Food was good - I've never had a two-course breakfast before! 

All drinks included and they did have cider as well as a good range of other drinks - for example I had a nice gin and tonic at one point.

Off-train experiences were exceptionally well organised given the network delays to the train's schedule.

Not so good things

Some people mightn't care about these but for others they could be deal breakers.  I for example wouldn't take Paul on a trip like this unless we were prepared to pay for Platinum class cabins

Single cabins are tiny.  I knew they'd be small and I had even seen pictures but nothing prepared me for just how tiny they were.  And I think for couples in Gold class, the double Gold class cabins probably didn't provide any more room per person than the single ones. 

No in-room fridge in any cabin class

No choice of cabin number

You don't get to pick your dining time and sometimes it's very late

No readily available snacks 

The single cabins don't have an en-suite - they have a basin with running water, but showers and toilets are at the end of the cabin.  I knew about this and it turned out fine - I never had to wait for a shower or for a toilet.  But other people weren't quite so thrilled.

 

More holiday updates

Before today, the 'upcoming holidays' list talked about us going to Europe in 2026. But we've decided not to; it's so much hard work dragging suitcases around, it's a long tiring flight each way even if you splurge on business class fares and even if you have a break along the way, and to be absolutely honest, I've taken fright just a little as to the political situation.  I was never scared of Putin possibly invading Europe until the USA turned on the rest of us - they're now threatening to invade Canada and Greenland (and of course has already done this to Venezuela) and the chances of some 67-year old Australian stuck in Europe in the middle of such dramas didn't thrill me at all.  So, we're staying closer to home - we're just in the process of booking a "28-Day Japan & Southeast Asia Grand Adventure" cruise in early 2027, starting and finishing in Singapore.