R is for Railway

 Today I finally got to experience the great Australian railway system, or at least part of it. 

14 hrs 35 mins of travelling by train - what could be better?

The catch is that the train leaves at 5:45pm and you are supposed to check luggage at least 30mins before departure. So I waddled out of my apartment at 5am glad I only had a short 5 min walk to the platform. And then I waited... The train finally arrived at ~5:20am. It had to be fully cleaned after it's 15hr journey up from Sydney. We finally departed around 6:15am. 

It is quite hard to take photos from a moving vehicle but I did my best. We cut through lots of fields (mainly cows the whole way) and woods dominated by eucalyptus. 

First class was quite busy because it does not cost that much more. The trains are >40 years old, so the main benefits are extra leg room, and a seat with a better recline. There are sleepers but they do not use them on the day trains. I was originally sat next to a lady across the aisle from her parents. Then the guard asked if I'd like to move, so I got to sit at the front of the carriage with a table and even more space. It turned out that the journey wasn't so quiet after all as the guy opposite me was keeping himself sane by telling anyone who would listen his life story. In general Aussies are a bit more chatty, especially on a long journey. It helped the day go quicker but also made it feel longer with the constant noise. 

About an hour and a half in we cut through the Mountains, the divide between Queensland and New South Wales. At this point we were back in more lush forests closer to the Rainforest,  I saw a waterfall and lots of beautiful valleys. All very quick for photos. 

This is the Clarence River, around Grafton. 

A little snapshot of suburb along the way.

On the very right of this shot you can just about make out bananas as we approached the coast around Coff's Harbour

We were running behind and therefore the other trains had the priority and we had to stop for signals twice. Here we are at Telegraph Point.

The food was very reasonable on the train. I had a butter chicken meal (airline style) with a roll for around £6.40. I was also able to have some fresh fruit and hummus and carrot sticks, which nicely supplemented my food bag. We also got a free hot drink because the train was running late. 

An opportunity to zoom in on some of the flowers in the 'hedgerows'.

Some of the best views were as we hurtled along the valley next to the Manning River

Still mountains in the background. 

This was around Gloucester and taken on my phone captures the late afternoon sun colours. 

I saw a three Kangaroos/Wallabies early in the journey in some shrub but then none all day till sunset, then I saw about a dozen all at once hopping around, and shortly after another six or so. In the low light you could make out the light/dark colour much easier and spot them. I also very briefly saw a couple of Kookaburra sat together. 

Then it was dusk, and we still had a three more hours of travel. 

The staff were excellent. They came through the carriage for the meal times to get any orders for the food that had to be prepared. Morning 'Devonshire Tea and Scones', lunch, Afternoon 'Tea and Scones', dinner. They were also up and down every so often to collect rubbish and check everything was okay. 

We ended up being over an hour and a half late in the end; I arrived in Sydney around 9:45 instead of 8:10pm as planned. But I got here and that is the main thing.