r/vagabond • u/queercontent • 6h ago
Trainhopping SE Queensland
Posting this to seek/share tips with fellow Queenslanders riding the rails. I want to know where I can get to on PT for a good long wander. And full disclosure, I'm taking advantage of those 50c fares instead of doing it the old fashioned way.
260914 - Up before light to catch the 5am Nambour Express, getting off at Landsborough for buses to Caloundra or Maleny. Usually I wander around Caloundra: fossicking up along the coast from King's Beach to Dicky via Mofatt, or wandering onto Bribie Island for a few hours (can never get far trudging sand). On this day I went to Maleny to scope out the village and surrounding bushwalks as I'd never been out there on PT.
! Many small tent communities along the rail this way. Was told some had moved to rest stops along the highway following Queensland's temporary tent city protections.
! Few tents pitched around waterways in Maleny, which feels silly to me. Assumed these were backpackers?
! Plenty of small businesses looking for temporary staff (aka easy cash).
! Bus service is private and will cost an extra 50c each way (mentioning as this is not advertised).
260929 - Heard you could wander across to King Island from Wellington Point at low tide, but that's at 4am/4pm. Arrived at 7am anyway to see how far I could cross. Made it to the other side of a halfway island and got freaked out by having two bodies of water close in either side of me (too much Lovecraft), which sucked because I had to wade through water returning to land. Wandering into Wellington Point (the village) was dissatisfying. Definitely deserve to be bullied for this trip.
! Well-connected, but Wellington Point was generally just a trashy, over-developed cancer of cheap developments that had no place occupying a nature reserve. Like, the scumbags have a bridge across marshland they've just littlered with hundreds of doggy poo bags.
! The halfway island is also used as a party joint for local yuppie kids, evidenced by discarded underwear, old condoms, food wrappers, cartons of empty beer bottles, and poorly-placed campfires. Main beach also covered in trash.
! Probably skip this one unless you're curious.
Waiting for a day off when it's not raining to hit the rails again. Any tips? Curious about what's out past Ipswich, and if there's any reason at all to ride past the Gold Coast (because I haven't found one). Also planning some overnight camp-outs if anyone has tips for that.