All Aboard.... Wilderness train ride

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We rode the West Coast Wilderness Railway train journey along the king River and through the rain forest to Queenstown.
A journey on a restored railroad and trains that began their lives servicing the copper mines at Queenstown.

Andrew the guard does a grand job.
He keeps us amused with his commentary during the journey.

 All aboard...


The first part of the  train journey follows the King River. Tannins make it dark brown. Efforts are being made to remediate the river after decades of mine waste have rendered it lifeless.






During the lunch stop the steam engine was readied to take us to Queenstown.

We went for a walk in the rainforest. The mosses and ferns made us feel as if we were on a walking track on the west coast  of New Zealand.


Alan, the engine driver... and a motorcyclist.
We loved his big wave and extra Toot, toot... when we rode through Queenstown the next morning.

The byproducts of the mining process have reduced the  Queen River  pH to 2.5. No fish live here.
Nowadays the copper ore is exported to India to be refined.

We returned to Strahan by bus and had a lovely evening with my sister Yvonne and Ken who just happened to be in Strahan for the evening.

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