Help please!!!

[Monica]

Last week my 9 year old won a dream trip to Australia for 10 days! We are so excited. Needless to say we are cancelling our wdw trip planned for Oct. We normally vacation 1 week at disney and 1 week at the beach so this is totally out of my comfort zone of planning. We are planning on travelling the last week of Sept to avoid the stinger season.
I received our tentative itinerary and we helicopter to Heron Island for 5 days then take the Sunlander to Port Doulas (Cairnes actually then limo to Port Douglas) for another 5 day stay. They planned wonderful excursions for us daily including dive trips, sailboats to the outer reef, hot air balloon rides, daintree rainforest and more.
Everything sounds perfect for us (we are adventurous and love the outdoors) except the train trip. We live in upstate NY so we are looking at 8 hours to LAX then another 15 to Brisbane. Adding a 33 hour train trip to the middle seems like torture although we are in queenslander first class. Am I over thinking this or shuld I ask to sponsor to switch us to a shorter flight to Cairnes? I just keep thinking with only 10 days do we really want to be on a train for one of them?
Any advise you can give me would be appreciated. Looking online, most of the train reviews are from older adults, not people travelling with young kids. My girls are 6 and 9. I'm thinking an exta day in Port Douglas with an excursion to the alligator farm may be more appropriate.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Last week my 9 year old won a dream trip to Australia for 10 days! We are so excited. Needless to say we are cancelling our wdw trip planned for Oct. We normally vacation 1 week at disney and 1 week at the beach so this is totally out of my comfort zone of planning. We are planning on travelling the last week of Sept to avoid the stinger season.
I received our tentative itinerary and we helicopter to Heron Island for 5 days then take the Sunlander to Port Doulas (cairnes actually then limo to Prt Douglas) for another 5 day stay. They planned wonderful excursions for us daily including dive trips, sailboats to the outer reef, hot air balloon rides, daintree rainforest and more.
Everything sounds perfect for us (we are adventurous and love the outdoors) except the train trip. We live in upstate NY so we are looking at 8 hours to LAX then another 15 to Brisbane. Adding a 33 hour train trip to the middle seems like torture although we are in queenslander first class. Am I over thinking this or shuld I ask to sponser to switch us to a shorter flight to Cairnes? I just keep thinking with only 10 days do we really want to be on a train for one of them?
Any advise you can give me would be appreciated. Looking online, most of the train reviews are from older adults, not people travelling with young kids.

Congratulations to you and your son for winning this trip!

I can't comment about the train trip and I haven't been on that train before. I'm sure one of the other Aussies will be along to provide advise.

However, it if were me, I would fly from Brisbane to Cairns if I could. For 10 days, I would want to maximise time to do stuff.

Have a great trip!

 

[WAMUMOF4]

Last week my 9 year old won a dream trip to Australia for 10 days! We are so excited. Needless to say we are cancelling our wdw trip planned for Oct. We normally vacation 1 week at disney and 1 week at the beach so this is totally out of my comfort zone of planning. We are planning on travelling the last week of Sept to avoid the stinger season.
I received our tentative itinerary and we helicopter to Heron Island for 5 days then take the Sunlander to Port Doulas (Cairnes actually then limo to Port Douglas) for another 5 day stay. They planned wonderful excursions for us daily including dive trips, sailboats to the outer reef, hot air balloon rides, daintree rainforest and more.
Everything sounds perfect for us (we are adventurous and love the outdoors) except the train trip. We live in upstate NY so we are looking at 8 hours to LAX then another 15 to Brisbane. Adding a 33 hour train trip to the middle seems like torture although we are in queenslander first class. Am I over thinking this or shuld I ask to sponsor to switch us to a shorter flight to Cairnes? I just keep thinking with only 10 days do we really want to be on a train for one of them?
Any advise you can give me would be appreciated. Looking online, most of the train reviews are from older adults, not people travelling with young kids. My girls are 6 and 9. I'm thinking an exta day in Port Douglas with an excursion to the alligator farm may be more appropriate.

Congrats on winning the trip, I haven't travelled on this train in particular but I looked it up it looks like they have booked you in a sleeper carriage I would check that and if that is the case I would be quite happy taking that train ride you will get to see some of the country you would otherwise not see and it is very different to your side of the world since they have so much booked for you maybe look at it as some downtime to recharge your batteries.
I have travelled a trip the equivalent time to that with kids and they enjoyed the train trip they liked bing able to move around and look out the windows.

 

[Marlea98]

Last week my 9 year old won a dream trip to Australia for 10 days! We are so excited. Needless to say we are cancelling our wdw trip planned for Oct. We normally vacation 1 week at disney and 1 week at the beach so this is totally out of my comfort zone of planning. We are planning on travelling the last week of Sept to avoid the stinger season.
I received our tentative itinerary and we helicopter to Heron Island for 5 days then take the Sunlander to Port Doulas (Cairnes actually then limo to Port Douglas) for another 5 day stay. They planned wonderful excursions for us daily including dive trips, sailboats to the outer reef, hot air balloon rides, daintree rainforest and more.
Everything sounds perfect for us (we are adventurous and love the outdoors) except the train trip. We live in upstate NY so we are looking at 8 hours to LAX then another 15 to Brisbane.

Welcome to our world. The land Down Under where it's massively expensive and long to travel anywhere

Adding a 33 hour train trip to the middle seems like torture although we are in queenslander first class. Am I over thinking this or shuld I ask to sponsor to switch us to a shorter flight to Cairnes? I just keep thinking with only 10 days do we really want to be on a train for one of them?

I did the Sunlander years ago from Brisbane to North Qld. You will most likely travelling overnight and arriving in Cairns in the afternoon if the timetable is still the same. Heron Island is near Gladstone which is located roughly in the centre of Queensland. The scenery from the train is beautiful but it can be rather boring after a while.

There is only one or two sleeper carriages with their own bathroom and toilet so you will have to be prepared to share facilities with others. It's not a drama though. There is a dining car (the food isn't that great, or wasn't when I travelled), or you can stay in your sleeper room. There are bunk beds that fold up. The bottom bunk doubles as the couch so you might want to leave the beds folded down for the kids to sleep/rest on during the day.

The reason why there are many older folk on the Sunlander, as opposed to the Tilt train (which doesn't have sleeper cabins) is that old age pensioners get a set number of free rail travel passes as year so they will travel on that. Most younger families will travel on the Tilt train because it's cheaper for them. I would rather eat worms than travel long distance on the Tilt train just quietly


Any advise you can give me would be appreciated. Looking online, most of the train reviews are from older adults, not people travelling with young kids. My girls are 6 and 9. I'm thinking an exta day in Port Douglas with an excursion to the alligator farm may be more appropriate.

We don't have alligators here instead we have fresh water and salt water crocodiles. I think you might be referring to Hartley's Creek crocodile farm?

http://www.crocodileadventures.com/

It is brilliant. I loved it when I visited a long time ago. There's a massive life-size replica of a captured/killed crocodile out the front. You can sit in its jaws for a brilliant photo opportunity. There are a lot of Australian animals on display. Please do not be afraid to hold and pet a snake. The ones they bring out for photos and petting are all rather harmless pythons and just lovely. They bring them out when they're cold and sleepy so they're not very active for tourists to be afraid of.

Congratulations to you and your son for winning this trip!

I can't comment about the train trip and I haven't been on that train before. I'm sure one of the other Aussies will be along to provide advise.

However, it if were me, I would fly from Brisbane to Cairns if I could. For 10 days, I would want to maximise time to do stuff.

Have a great trip!

There is so much to do in and around Cairns so I echo what PIO says - if you can fly do it. Otherwise sit back and enjoy the experience of rail travel.

 

[Sugarglider]

WOW! what fabulous fortune! And that is a wonderful prize to see Queensland and the Barrier Reef.
Personally, I would try to get on a plane. The flight is only a few hours and then you'll be on the ground doing things again. It's not like you are going to be able to get off the train and do stuff.
I'm really impressed - and wish you the best for a highlight trip!

 

[Monica]

Thank you so much for all the kind words. I'm going to see if we can fly rather than the train. We have to pay taxes on the trip and the train tickets are very expensive and add about $700 to our tax bill. We are so excited to come and visit- it is really a dream vacation for us!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Congratulations! What fabulous fortune winning such a great trip.

I can't offer much advice other than to say that late September/early October is usually school holidays in this part of the world. If you are paying taxes on things like accommodation, you might find that early September is slightly cheaper and less busy.

http://education.qld.gov.au/public_media/calendar/holidays.html

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Gladstone and Heron are half way yup the coast so would be breaking the train travel. Ometimes with these prizes companies supply the product o there is little room to chnge. If you we're changing flights you would need to fly Brisbane to Gladstone and then Gladstone to Cairns.

I have done the trip halfway but that part was overnight. Great to wake up somewhere new.

 

[zanzibar138]

Congrats! What an awesome holiday to win!

DH and I are actually doing the Sunlander in July. We're only going up to Townsville though, which is a good 8 hours south of Cairns. Although we're really looking forward to it, I would probably advise someone in your situation to fly if you can. The train from Brisbane all the way up to Cairns 'wastes' two full days (ie leaves Brisbane early in the morning and doesn't arrive in Cairns until late the following afternoon). Yes, it's nice scenery, but your kids would probably get bored, and with only 10 days in Aus, you'd probably be better off focusing on activities and immersing yourselves in the destinations. The kids would love the crocodile farm, I think it's a great idea!

 

[Snickals]

Congrats on the win!!!

I went on that train last year, 21hours north and 2 weeks later 21hours back with my then 6month old. We were only in a single sleeper and it was tight but doable. I'm assuming you'd be in a larger double/group sleeper though so would have more room. It wasn't that bad but I doubt I'd be doing it again anytime soon, think we'll fly next time lol

Enjoy your trip

 

[cola]

Is it only going from Gladstone to Cairns or Brisbane to Cairns? From Gladstone it is only 22hr rather than 33. The train saves you a night on accommodation so whatever the taxes are. you will have to add more for that. Direct plane flights from Gladstone to Cairns are EXPENSIVE, the taxes on that will also be pretty high. If you start changing planes, it could be fly back to Brisbane and then to Cairns - a lot of the day will be lost anyway. Is hanging around airports and being on multiple planes better than being on one train overnight and most of the day? I suspect neither option is great with kids. Australia only has a few airlines and regional airports have very limited timetables.

Herron Island has very limited departure times, (used to be only once per day by boat, twice per day by helicopter, not sure if it is more frequent now) Co-ordinating with the ongoing journey may make the timing not much difference. If you can only get a plane out in the morning, I think I'd get on the train - Gladstone isn't exactly known for being orientated towards tourists, it may be pretty boring hanging around overnight.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I'm in a quandary on this one-I find Australian trains pretty awful compared to those I have travelled on overseas. Ours seem very rough and bumpy and noisy and slow but others here have commented they find them OK so maybe its just us being fussy. I would therefore favour flying BUT I agree, getting to and from Heron is limited, Gladstone is pretty ho hum and few airlines fly out of Gladstone (our cheaper airlines Tiger and Jetstar don't appear to). Virgin and Qantas seem to-but both leave around lunchtime, go back to Brisbane with a wait in the airport before heading back up to Cairns arriving in the evening and current best deal $230/adult 1 way + fee for baggage (or dearer bur bags included with Qantas).

So under the circumstances I think you may be better off boarding the train for an overnighter from Gladstone to Cairns given it will have been coordinated for you. Port Douglas is lovely by the way and you will love all that is included. We also really enjoyed Hartley's Creek a long long time ago. Also really liked Port Douglas Wildlife Habitat, Mossman Gorge and the Daintree. Heron Island is also special. And what a fantastic trip to win!! Congratulations.

SkierPete did a TR (on Disneyland trip reports board) from a trip he and his family took earlier this year for some perspectives on Cairns region (he didn't get up to Port Douglas though). Have fun planning.

 

[cola]

As long as it is the 'Queenslander Class' that is included, it's meant to be quite plush, and it has a special fine dining section, it's made it into the top 25 railway journeys of the world, http://blog.irtsociety.com/2011/11/18/2012-lapping-up-luxury-as-worlds-top-25-trains-unveiled/ It comes with iPads loaded with movies and games, hopefully there would be some suitable entertainment there.
My concern would be that the Queenslander Class seems to only have double berths.....