We found ourselves with new mealtime companions, and as the introductions were made, there was something said that prompted me to suspect the gentleman opposite, who volunteered Townsville as his home base, knew me. The word that I was from Bowen threw him for a bit, but a question about pubs, specifically about where I drank at in Bowen got the bells ringing again.
Well, I answered, I started at the Grand View.
The remark produced an observation that he'd seen Donna and Ted in Thredbo recently, and that was followed a question about where I'd gone once I'd left the GV. The news that we'd shifted to the QB and the explanation that followed produced references to Browny, and left me convinced I should have been able to put a surname to the face.
Introductions on the Indian Pacific are confined mainly to a first name basis.
We were well inside suburban Perth when we rose from the breaky table. Before long, we were pulling into the terminal, and the train part of the journey was over.
There were final details like collecting checked luggage still to be negotiated.
More importantly, we had to find Madam's new friend, who'd generously taken time off work. She had volunteered to pick us up from the station and convey us to the Travelodge, where we were booked on for the next two nights.
Then she'd take Madam to Kings Park for a session photographing wildflowers.