Sydney to Melbourne, and Train Travel

We decided to travel by train while we were in Australia since I wasn't sure I wanted to brave the roadways here driving on the opposite side of both the highway and the front seat. Although, the pedals are in the same place so you don't have to change feet, too. Go figure that out! We were too late to purchase our passes online before we came to get the "Outside of Australia" rate so I came over expecting to pay more. We actually paid less because they only passes advertised were for 3 and 6 months. None of the intermediaries advertised that you could by 2 week passes for a lot less. (Which were all we needed.) We saved about half the cost, overall.

Riding the trains are like using any form of public transportation--you can't choose who will be sitting nearby. We've encountered a few characters while on the train, nothing really that would discourage us from using them again, from smells, to noise, and to a train carriage that sounded like the wheels would fall off at any time, to their most modern, the Tilt Train whose TV monitors buzzed all the way from Brisbane to Bundaberg, a 4 1/2 hour trip. It was the smoothest ride we had but the buzzing was absolutely annoying.

Topography between Sydney and Melbourne generally consists of rolling hills, pasture land, and rocky outcroppings interspersed with scattered forests of eucalyptus and pines.  Further south, the trees thin out and the hills flatten to present more of a tableland to the east with mountains rising in the distance to the west. Pools of water dot the low points and intersections between rises.

As the mountains draw closer, the trees and bushes grow thicker once again.

Thousands of sheep dot the meadows and hillsides like fluffy dandelions waiting for the wind to spread their seeds aloft. Beef cattle are nearly as numerous in the pastures as sheep and you may spot an occasional kangaroo or wallaby hopping quickly away from the passing train. Black and white magpies abound here and flocks of the swoop from fences and trees into the tall grasses. Bright yellow fields of Canola are one of the main farm crops of southern New South Wales and northern Victoria. They spread for miles on either side of the tracks, intermixed with dark green pastureland.

Clays of red, orange, and gold are revealed by the streams and rivers coursing through the uneven ground, spilling their colors to the sky.

It's a large country. From Sydney to Melbourne is more than an eleven hour train ride. We arrived after dark on Wednesday, September 26.

Next: Melbourne, Victoria