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Sydney to Melbourne
Sep. 24th, 2010 04:11 pmMy travel plans were to take the train from Sydney to Melbourne on Tuesday 31st August. On some whim, the morning of the day I was due to leave the UK, I checked the Man in Seat Sixty-one website and spotted something about engineering works on the line meant some services were being replaced by buses.
That evening, waiting at Heathrow, I noticed the person sitting behind me in the departure lounge stand up and looked round. It was Cheryl Morgan, off to New Zealand. I said that I was flying to Sydney and then taking the train to Melbourne, and she told me also about the engineering works.
Countrylink, the company running the trains, also e-mailed me about this, but only after I left the UK, so I didn't see the message until I got home. The nature of the engineering meant that Countrylink were unable to run any trains in Victoria, so there was a bus from Albury on the New South Wales border.
The train was due to leave Sydney Central Station at 7:42 a.m., so I checked out my hotel early so I could get to the station by seven o'clock and check my suitcase in. But then the train was late departing - some problem with the buffet car, apparentl - and it was nearly eight o'clock when we left.
Turned out that the route down to Albury doesn't go through any spectacular landscape. In fact, most of the countryside looks like the south of England.
I got some breakfast from the buffet car, and was given a blue canvas bag to carry my purchases back to my seat. A bit later, someone came through the carriage collecting rubbish, and collected this bag. Turned out, when it was time for lunch, I was supposed to bring the bag back to carry lunch back to my seat, and the buffet car attendant was most annoyed that I hadn't done so.
The train got to Albury about four in the afternoon, where I had to pick up my bag and get on a bus. It had been pleasantly sunny for the whole trip across New South Wales, but it was overcast at Albury. After about an hour on the bus, it started to rain.
The bus arrived at Southern Cross station at about 7:30. My hotel was in the same street, but the bus part of the station was right at the north end, and the Hotel Pensione was south of the station. It was still raining.
Having checked into my hotel, I thought I'd go off in search of a meal. There was no restaurant in the hotel, so I walked into the centre to see what I could find. I hadn't been travelling five minutes when someone asked me directions. I hadn't been in Melbourne for 11 years, so they'd not chosen the best person to ask.
I ended up in a place called Taco Bill's. Australia is not known for its Mexican restaurants, but the food was OK. They'd put me in a corner and I hadn't noticed but there was a rack of wine glasses suspended from the ceiling overhead. I was half way through my meal when one of the glasses spontaneously dropped off the rack and shattered on my table. The staff were very apologetic. They reckoned that I'd better not finish my meal or my beer, as there might be broken glass in them, and brought me replacements. As I'd nearly finished both, I got nearly two meals for the price of one. Still, a strange way to be welcomed to the city.
The next morning, I bumped into Charlie Stross and Feorag in the street (which we seem to have got into the habit of doing at Worldcons). They'd booked a sleeper down from Sydney the night before, and were most annoyed to be turfed out of the sleeper at half past three in the morning to have to get on a bus. Also, Charlie reckoned the track had been so bad for the rest of the journey, it had been impossible to sleep, anyway.
That evening, waiting at Heathrow, I noticed the person sitting behind me in the departure lounge stand up and looked round. It was Cheryl Morgan, off to New Zealand. I said that I was flying to Sydney and then taking the train to Melbourne, and she told me also about the engineering works.
Countrylink, the company running the trains, also e-mailed me about this, but only after I left the UK, so I didn't see the message until I got home. The nature of the engineering meant that Countrylink were unable to run any trains in Victoria, so there was a bus from Albury on the New South Wales border.
The train was due to leave Sydney Central Station at 7:42 a.m., so I checked out my hotel early so I could get to the station by seven o'clock and check my suitcase in. But then the train was late departing - some problem with the buffet car, apparentl - and it was nearly eight o'clock when we left.
Turned out that the route down to Albury doesn't go through any spectacular landscape. In fact, most of the countryside looks like the south of England.
I got some breakfast from the buffet car, and was given a blue canvas bag to carry my purchases back to my seat. A bit later, someone came through the carriage collecting rubbish, and collected this bag. Turned out, when it was time for lunch, I was supposed to bring the bag back to carry lunch back to my seat, and the buffet car attendant was most annoyed that I hadn't done so.
The train got to Albury about four in the afternoon, where I had to pick up my bag and get on a bus. It had been pleasantly sunny for the whole trip across New South Wales, but it was overcast at Albury. After about an hour on the bus, it started to rain.
The bus arrived at Southern Cross station at about 7:30. My hotel was in the same street, but the bus part of the station was right at the north end, and the Hotel Pensione was south of the station. It was still raining.
Having checked into my hotel, I thought I'd go off in search of a meal. There was no restaurant in the hotel, so I walked into the centre to see what I could find. I hadn't been travelling five minutes when someone asked me directions. I hadn't been in Melbourne for 11 years, so they'd not chosen the best person to ask.
I ended up in a place called Taco Bill's. Australia is not known for its Mexican restaurants, but the food was OK. They'd put me in a corner and I hadn't noticed but there was a rack of wine glasses suspended from the ceiling overhead. I was half way through my meal when one of the glasses spontaneously dropped off the rack and shattered on my table. The staff were very apologetic. They reckoned that I'd better not finish my meal or my beer, as there might be broken glass in them, and brought me replacements. As I'd nearly finished both, I got nearly two meals for the price of one. Still, a strange way to be welcomed to the city.
The next morning, I bumped into Charlie Stross and Feorag in the street (which we seem to have got into the habit of doing at Worldcons). They'd booked a sleeper down from Sydney the night before, and were most annoyed to be turfed out of the sleeper at half past three in the morning to have to get on a bus. Also, Charlie reckoned the track had been so bad for the rest of the journey, it had been impossible to sleep, anyway.
