March 6 - Goodbye, Sydney

Worked on the blog until 11 last night and went back to the hotel to pack and get some sleep. The legs were more than a bit achy fro the hike but that shouldn't be a problem since we're on the train all day Tuesday in transit to Melbourne. Set the alarm for 5:30 am so we could get to the train station, get some coffee before our departure at 6:50.
Central train station in Sydney is a classic old station with city, regional and country link trains coming and going. It has the feel of a large gymnasium with massive steel structure and shiny marble floors. There are 28 platforms and our train was on #1 ready to go.

Never been on AmTrac so don't know how the XPT compares. The cars have 14 rows of paired seats with fold down trays, "in flight" magazine, emergency instructions (where is my seat cushion floatation device?) and a plastic, multipurpose (read barf) bag. However, sadly there was no Qantas calibre entertainment center. It was strictly BYO entertainment or look out the large tinted windows which is how I spent most of my time.

The trip to Melbourne takes almost exactly 12 hours. The XPT is a high speed train that travels 80-90 mph when it's not stopping at stations. Turns out that we hit about 14 stations -- one about every 30-40 minutes -- in the first 8 hours of the trip. Then we turned into an "express" train to the outskirts of Melbourne. Please note this is not a complaint, just an observation. It was enjoyable seeing the many quaint stations along the way, many with that gingerbread house look like the Menlo Park station. The names of the towns we passed through are vintage Australian too with a mix of English and Aboriginal names: Strathfield, Campbelltown, Moss Vale, Goulburn, Yass Junction, Harden. Then just as the landscape changed from small towns to small rural towns to more of a wide open spaces kind of place, the names start to change too: Cootamundra, Junee, and my personal fav, Wagga Wagga. But before heading west into the outback, the train course veers southwest toward Melbourne and the English names reappear: Henty, Culcairn. Albury. But one this is clear. The country is sprawling. Farms, sheep, horses, cattle, and what looks like farmable land but because of the draught or arid climate there is very little that is green right now. Water is a problem here.

The enforced downtime whilst (Aussie lexicon) train-bound was a welcome comfort to my knee before we hit the pavement in Melbourne. Also gave me time to study the guidebook and maps. Melbourne is about 3.5 million and looks to be less sprawling than Sydney. Though I came up with several interesting things we can do including a visit to the State Library of Victoria (free), a bike tour of the city (reasonable) and a visit to the largest casino in Australia (priceless), Melbourne is noted as a place to experience rather than having the eye popping, jaw-dropping sights of Sydney. That's OK with me since my eyes and jaw need resting too.

Thanks for all the nice comments from those of you reading the blog. It's fun sharing our experiences.