ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A local man is expected to become the most talked-about passenger aboard the Indian-Pacific this week, after joining his grandmother on the transcontinental train journey from Sydney to Perth.
Mason Taylor, a 22-year-old farm contractor from a modest cattle property about an hour north of town, boarded the train at Central Station yesterday after completing a long-haul rail journey of his own. He travelled from Betoota to Brisbane on the twice-weekly Country Channeller, which stops at Windorah, Quilpie, Charleville, Roma, and several cattle loading platforms with no formal names.
From Roma Street, Taylor transferred to the XPT and made the 14-hour crawl to Sydney, where he met his 84-year-old grandmother, Mavis, who “didn’t want to go across the country alone in case she died somewhere in the Nullarbor.”
What neither of them realised at the time was that Mason, a tall, sun-blasted ringer with the face of a 20-year-old Angus Taylor and the jawline of a frustrated paramedic, would be stepping into a mobile cruise ship packed almost entirely with wealthy retirees and recent divorcees.
By the time the train reached the Blue Mountains, Mason had already been approached by several women for help lifting small bags, opening champagne bottles, and reading some fine print.
As the train passed out of reception west of Broken Hill this morning, Mason sent a final message to The Advocate via satellite relay:
“Me and a 61-year-old triple divorcee from Glenelg are playing footsies under the table at dinner,” he wrote.
“She doesn’t know what she’s getting herself in for. Also, the conductor smokes as well so I join him late at night in the rear carriage and we can smoke all we want with the back door open. It’s not that bad.”
According to early reports from carriage staff, Mason is now being referred to exclusively as “the young man” by every woman over 55 on board, with two passengers from Adelaide already putting their names down for a seat next to him during tomorrow’s wine tasting.
His grandmother, who is reportedly “thrilled to see him socialising,” is unaware of just how far the socialising has progressed.
More to come.
