Tag Archives: Trains

Trains

Australia, World

Cairns and Port Douglas

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Cairns 02
Sculpture in public pool

Our time on the East coast was spent in Cairns and at the small holiday/marina town of Port Douglas about 75 minutes north. We arrived in Cairns and transferred to the Bay View hotel, our home for 4 nights, the hotel had a tropical feel with lush gardens and two courtyards filled with palm trees and tropical shrubs. It also had an award-winning Balinese restaurant voted best speciality restaurant in Australia in 2015, we made a mental note to investigate during our stay. Continue reading Cairns and Port Douglas →

New Zealand, World

Franz Josef

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Fran 5

Arthur Pass top height

We left Christchurch on the Trans Alpine Express, a daily rail service that links Christchurch on the east coast with Greymouth on the west coast. The route took us across the Canterbury Plains and then up over the Southern Alps via Arthurs Pass. The journey through the mountains was spectacular, we followed the course of two rivers (one of them called the Arnold River after a former head of Rugby School) crossing tall viaducts and passing through tunnels, one tunnel was over 8km long. In places we could see the track used by settlers and gold miners to cross the range in horse drawn carriages. As we started to descend from the pass we noticed that the river was flowing the other way, we had crossed the divide. Continue reading Franz Josef →

Canada, World

The Cascades Train Seattle to Vancouver

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The rail trip up to Vancouver was fantastic, it followed the coast, hugging the shoreline most of the way up and we saw eagles and very large herons a plenty. The journey took four hours but did not feel like it, there was so much to see in perfect weather conditions. On arrival the Canadians let us through immigration and we got a taxi to the Times Square Apartments near Stanley Park. We have got a self-catering studio apartment, it is just what we need after 4 weeks of hotel rooms and restaurants it is a place where we can relax, do our own thing, do our laundry!!

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I wonder what Vancouver has to offer….

USA, World

Seattle

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Seattle at Night
Seattle at Night from our room

Once we had checked in to the Warwick Hotel and had a shower we set out to find some cash and a meal. We left the hotel and headed towards the Space Needle which took us through a residential area, no banks, no restaurants! Eventually we found a bank and changed direction to head downhill towards the waterside. We decided to eat at the Belltown Inn which was great. Continue reading Seattle →

USA, World

Train To Seattle

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Rail Poster
Rail Poster

Here we go again on to the next stop, after four great days in Glacier National Park. The weather seems to have changed here with some heavy rain, thunder and lightning recently. When we arrived at the station we had a very spectacular sky as you can see from the photos. The train was only 45min late which for a 1500-mile journey is great going. The journey from Glacier to Seattle is 650 miles and was scheduled to take 17.5 hours with another time zone change. Continue reading Train To Seattle →