On Board the Byron Bay World's First Solar Powered Train?

The world's first solar powered train

What's that digging around
 in the motel garden?

A Byron Bay Bush Turkey?

Last Thursday I checked into my motel to get ready for three days at the Byron Writers Festival and was met by a bush turkey as I made my way up to my motel room.

I couldn't help thinking back to the 2016 writers festival and the post I wrote about the bush turkey in Liam Pieper's book -

The Shadow Side and True Colours of Liam Pieper?

The difference between my encounter with the Byron Bay bush turkey and Liam's encounter with a bush turkey in Nimbin was that in my encounter the bush turkey just gave me a look and left me alone to carry on lugging my bags up to my motel room.

Death Card #13?

Looking back at that August 2016 post in hindsight and seeing the #13 tarot card in that post was quite chilling considering my father would die unexpectedly in his sleep from complications of pneumonia on September 13th, 2016.

One of the two solar power train stations in Byron Bay

Thinking back to the bush turkey in that old post of mine it was the title of Liam's two books I had bought in 2016 that worried me, because in 2017 when I stayed in the same motel all I had to do to go for a walk on the beach was to cross over some old abandoned railway lines, but in 2018 those old rail lines now had a solar powered train going back and forth on them.

The titles of Liam's books were, 'Mistakes Were Made' and 'The Feel-Good Hit of the Year' and I was thinking that if I made a mistake while crossing the track it wouldn't feel too good getting hit by a solar powered train, although it would be more energy efficient than getting hit by a diesel-powered train, so I wouldn't feel as guilty while dying I guess:-)

I asked the young lady behind the desk of my motel whether I could still cross the tracks and head to the beach, and she told me that the key to my room will still unlock the back gate, but the solar powered train company have put up signs saying that it is prohibited to cross the tracks.

She added that she had never heard of anybody being caught and penalized for crossing the tracks, so I guess she was hinting to read between the lines if I chose to cross the lines.

I intended to cross those tracks at some point in my stay over the weekend and have a walk along the beach, but I never got around to it ... and maybe a good thing that was for me too considering the title of Liam's books and that bush turkey that greeted me on my arrival on Thursday.
You Can Never Walk Along the Same River Twice

Maybe walking over the same train track twice means something a little different, but I'll have to find out on my next visit to Byron Bay.

Although I did go for a ride on the solar powered train just so I had bragging rights to being a passenger on the "world's first solar powered train".

They even issue you with old school tickets that the conductor comes around and punches.

Can you tell that I'm single?-)

I had my tickets resting on my jeans leg when the conductor came along, and the conductor probably thought that I had tickets on myself and wanted to punch me one:-)

Blue solar powered skies overhead as the train
 pulls into Elements resort in Byron Bay

Like a bridge over calm waters?

Clickety-clack, clickety-clack ...

It certainly is relaxing listening to the clackety-clack of a train on the track and if I was a writer I might find it more soothing than the clackety-clack of a keyboard.

There certainly is something powerful to soaking up the sun in Byron Bay, whether that is on a solar powered train or at the beach.

And there is beautiful noise everywhere in Byron Bay, too.

Listening to the beautiful music of
 Karuah on Thursday afternoon

Sitting under a big pine tree looking
towards Cape Byron lighthouse

The big pine tree I was under
last Thursday at Byron

I knew that I was in for a top weekend when an ibis decided to put on a show for me as I sat down for a beer to stare out to sea.

The ibis dancing on a table in the Byron pub for me

Thoth is the ibis headed god of writing and was the last bird I saw when I left the 2017 writers festival and apart from the bush turkey at my motel and a few seagulls was one of the first birds to greet me on my arrival in Byron Bay on Thursday.

Thoth, Writing, Books, Magazines and SubSCRIPTions?

So being greeted by Thoth the Egyptian god of writing while sitting under Ra/the Egyptian sun god seemed pretty auspicious omens to me.  

And I even ended up buying another bird print at the writers festival for my living room wall.
The Metaphorical God of Good/Bad?

Lailatrees, cards, prints, original artworks

Plenty more posts to come on my weekend at Byron Bay, so stay tuned.