birthday #getaway #anyexcuse to drive the Diva

I am late to post but here it is.  my birthday #getaway this year was a train ride after the road trip to Queenstown. #anyexcuse to drive the Diva.

We had to leave very early to make the 9.30am deadline arriving in Queenstown on time, enough to grab a coffee. The road to Queenstown is extremely winding which, needless to say, the Diva handled beautifully and V was quite happy to be driven (notwithstanding he takes calls all the time - running his car hire business on the move).  He did drive a portion of the road to give me a break over the 3.5 hours it takes.

We had fun and some nice food, sparkling orange juice and Tassie chocolates.  The weather was (Tasmania) damp, chilly, not uncomfortable with random sunshine.

The train trip, of 34 kilometres, on The Wilderness West Coast Railway Tasmania is very well setup taking us through 'rugged terrain and breathtaking scenery' whilst telling of its history and that of the area. 

love that little TOOT at the end

We had a stop at Lynchford where they have snacks and toilets and a  museum space with displays and artefacts. You can try your luck in the outdoor gold panning exhibition which is a nice connection to gold mining activities which took place in the early days.

We did Queenstown to Rinadeena where the train is unable to turn around so they switched the engine to the back attaching it to the last carriage which then became the first!  Great to watch all the chuff chuffing of the engine as it moved from front to back. 

We were in the front carriage which on the trip back became the last carriage. And everyone swapped sides to get a different perspective on the way back. 

heading back out of Queenstown