Under a hotter Sun; We arrive in Grafton NSW;

We arrive in Grafton
We were early at the train station in Sydney to wait for our train that would bring us to Grafton. The clerk at the office had described this train as the best in the world. Patiently we waited and waited. Our departure time 8.30 pm drew nearer and nearer and there was just this old, dusty train waiting. People were rushing, said their goodbyes and busily boarded the waiting train.
Peter and I asked each other is this it? There was no other train in sight so we took the baggage and the children and looked for our seats in a reserved, first class, and no smoking compartment. Our reserved seats were already taken. We showed our tickets and said “ours”! The people that occupied our seats shrugged and didn’t move. There was no guard far and wide so we looked for five free places. We had to take whatever seats were free.

In front of me sat a man a pipe in his mouth. He smoked relentlessly like a chimney. The heavy smoke was like a shroud around my seat. I confronted him and said:” in here no smoking.” He ignored me completely so his smoke output doubled it send me into a restless sleep. A coughing attack and a jolt that announced another stop of the train woke me once more up. The seat in front of me was empty I hoped the smoker had left. There were now more seats available so we made a dash to occupy the empty places so we could sit together. There was no dining car to have something to eat or drink a cup of coffee and nobody came through with a drinks or cafe trolley like it is usual on long train journeys. When we passed New Castle we were amazed to see the whole city illuminated like a Christmas tree. We had a very restless night with people drinking beer, singing on top of their voices and also trashing out between them the odd argument. From that was some respite when suddenly the guard came to check the tickets. He complimented the lot of the revellers out of the first class compartment to which they promptly returned as soon as the guard had turned his back
The train made its way slowly to the North Coast of New South Wales. We travelled the whole night and were due to arrive in Grafton at 9am. At dawn a rosy sky announced a new day and happily we gazed out of the window, looked and talked about the strange landscape that opened up before us.
The train passed Coffs Harbour and we enjoyed looking at the hills thickly planted with Bananas that gave us our first clue that we were getting closer to a warmer climate. It was far passed our scheduled arriving time nearer to midday than morning. The train had also stopped in the middle of nowhere for quite a while and we didn’t know what happened.
Then finally, around midday, three hours late, we arrived at Grafton. I said to Peter just as well nobody did meet us.
Dragging and balancing seven suitcases and bags, we stepped into the unknown that is onto the platform of the train station in South Grafton. We were a bit stunned where we had landed and looked at each other baffled. In a silent way, our eyes met and we nearly turned back to board the train again.
At the same moment the train heaved a big sigh, shuddered and was in motion once more.
So for the time being we welcomed ourselves to Grafton”!
Our arrival was not notable the red carpet was at the cleaners. The reception committee was at lunch and the musicians were out of town!
The few people that had left the train with us had dispersed, met by family or friends they were whisked away in cars.
It was only us who were standing there a bit dazed and dishevelled from the long journey, a lost look on our faces, what have we done. The children oblivious to our momentary qualms sat on the suitcases chatted and giggled and wanted to know where we were going from here. We looked around and didn’t see a town or a village. A sturdy boy was standing near and looked at us and probably figuring out what sort of language we were speaking. I went to him and asked him where is the town, where are the houses?. He said:" The town is over the bridge." Satisfied with his certain knowledge that there really was a town we approached the waiting taxi.
While in Sydney we went to the bank of New South Wales. A young Swiss lady who spoke our language from their public relations office helped us with our accommodation in Grafton.
Previously while still in Switzerland we had written to a real estate office in Grafton to a mister Tom Cronin, so we gave her his address to contact, and mister Cronin rented for us a caravan. We hadn’t thought of this option but thought that’s how things were done here. If you needed a place to stay you hired a caravan. So our journey came to a halt for the moment. The Sunset Caravan Park was waiting for us.

We approached the taxi driver who glanced at us through dazzling sunglasses who reflected the sun rays in multi hued sparkles. He heaved himself up from his relaxed pose and I showed him the address of the caravan park. He said something that we didn’t understand then we said we wanted him to take us to the Sunset Caravan Park. He assessed us with our seven suitcases through his sunglasses still flashing purple, green and pink He struggled out of his seat that seemed to hold him back with compulsion. He opened the cavernous boot that took easily all our suitcases. Peter took the front seat and the girls and I piled in at the back. The plastic covered seat was hot to the touch. The taxi driver was now talking non-stop. Peter didn’t understand him at all and answered with mmh… and aah…and ooh… the taxi driver searching his face his sunglasses now on top of his head still hurling multi coloured lights, didn’t seem to expect more of an answer. We drove at a fast speed through avenues planted with tall Jacaranda trees that flowered in wonderful mauve and purplish blue. The sideways were thickly carpeted with the fallen petals.

I didn’t know then that I had my first sighting of the famous and wonderful Jacaranda trees of Grafton. At the end of this avenue the houses became more sparsely the trees gave way to grassland and a tall sign advertised the Sunset Caravan Park and Sanctuary.