Saturday evening into Sunday morning was on the overnight XPT service from Melbourne Southern Cross to Sydney Central Station where it would get in around 0700h. It's become a busy route, so it wasn't a surprise I was sharing the cabin with a fellow traveller - a nice fellow in his late 20s or early 30s who introduced himself as Andrew and said he worked out of Sydney in finance and was returning after a few days work in Melbourne. He was a Kiwi and came across the Tasman to work here about three years ago. Australia and New Zealand have very close foreign affairs and trade links - it's visa-free travel between us, and we each have the right to work in the other, with access to each other's healthcare services as if we were at home.
It's a grand arrangement, to the benefit of both countries and their citizens IMHO. After settling in, Andrew declined the offer of an evening meal when the car attendant visited, but I chose the "African chicken", I also thought I'd have a go at the train's shiraz when I went to collect it about an hour later after it had met the oven. The chook was good, served with carrots and peas and some roast potato. The shiraz was acceptable, and served in a stemless plastic cup type of thing with a clip-on lid. Repurposed, it made a very handy bedside water glass. The container said its capacity was 187ml, which was a peculiar number for me until I realised it was as near as dammit one-quarter of a standard 750ml bottle. Lighter than my normal pour of around 200ml but larger than a standard restaurant or pub pour of 150ml, or five pours to the bottle.
I expect it was from a NSW supplier, maybe from the Hunter Valley given the train service is NSW-government run, and State governments here like to showcase and promote their own states' product. Victorian and South Australian reds are much better, even in plastic and with a clip-on lid
Andrew was a quiet traveller and we called it a day not long into the journey and didn't stir until well into Sunday. It was pretty-much a full moon, so when I awoke around 0400h it was quite bright out. I expected to waken early as I had recently been getting up around 0430h to see the European Football Championship currently underway in Germany. It seemed there was a bit of fog or mist about as well, gathering in the dips and hollows and making things look a little dreamlike.
There was shortly a knock at the door and the cabin attendant brought along two packaged breakfasts plus two hot drinks. The package comprised cornflakes in a sealed bowl, a sealed 35g bag of toasted fruit and nut museli, a 220ml carton of full cream milk, and a 200ml carton of fruit juice. My hot drink was a disposable cup of boiling water and a coffee bag with another small cup with milk in it. There was a bamboo spoon for the cornflakes/museli, and a bamboo stirrer for the coffee. It's a decent start, but it's not a hot bacon and eggs breakfast
The arrival was on-schedule and I stashed two bags I didn't fancy schlepping around all day (at $12 a bag) at the handily-located storage rooms right next to Platform 1 which we arrived on. I planned on doing another train run and walk around the city for the six or so hours available. I checked with a metro ticket office CSO about whether Sydney has a travelcard type of arrangement, and if so, was there a concession one available to an out-of-state old bloke? They do x 2 and I was quickly issued one and advised putting a fiver on it should be sufficient for several day's concession travel. The card applies to journeys on Sydney's suburban (and some regional) trains, its buses, and - big benefit - its publicly owned ferry system. Do yourself a favour if you get a chance, get one and spend some time on the harbour as the city goes about its daily business. Some cities might charge you big bucks for this, but it's available in Sinny for cents.
I wanted to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge by train, and looked out a destination I thought might provide it. The route to outer northern suburb Hornsby seemed to have two lines, making it a triangle with Sydney Central - one, the hypotenuse, appeared to go over the bridge in a NE direction, and I thought I should go there and find out. It didn't - the run to Hornsby I took went along the other two sides if the triangle, first west, then north. If I'd had knowledge if Sydney's suburban geography, I'd not have been surprised - but I didn't so I was. I didn't care anyway - I was just out for a train ride or two!
One striking aspect of the Sydney suburban train experience: it's a very silent ride. There's no clicketty-clack, it's as if there are no joints in the rails. The rail lengths seem impressive - it looked like there was about a hundred metres between fishplates. It was a bit like someone's model rail system where they've used flex-track rather than standard set-track and hard-abutted the rail ends. The cars were also very clean - seats, windows, floors, doors, and entry ways. Excellent job!
The line to Hornsby climbs quite a bit after it crosses the Parramatta River close to the site of the 2004(?) Sydney Olympics. It's a lovely twisty run through bush, housing, sports-grounds, and suburbia. It was a bit like the Eltham run in Melbourne, but much quicker and quieter!
I pondered my next move on the platform at Hornsby, and saw a return service was approaching. This one appeared to be a super express, stopping only at two or three of the almost twenty intervening stations. I saw the line diverging to comprise the hypotenuse early on the return trip. So it looks like there *are* two paths to take.
Back at Central Station I saw which train I could get to cross the coathanger. I forget where it was going, but it mentioned the station I thought was on the northern end of the bridge. It was indeed the case, we crossed on the track to the far left of the bridge - the opposite side to the Opera House - but with a grand view of the mighty Parramatta river and the multitude if watercraft on it on a Saturday late morning.
I detrained at Milsons Point - the station on the northern side of the bridge and looked for the pedestrian way across to the other side of the bridge so I could look at the action that side too. I was distracted on my walk as soon as I realised I was in Kirribilli - location of the two most famous houses in the nation: Admiralty House, official Sydney residence of Australia's defacto Head of State: the Governor-General, who is the stand-in for the monarch under Australia's constitution. The GG performs a ceremonial, not political or government role, and opens fetes and scout jambourees and that sort of caper.
Our head of government, the Prime Minister, lives next door at Kirribilli House. I figured I should look them up, see if they were available for a cup of tea and a chat, so I went hunting for the addresses. They were easily found, and I took some pix of their front gates under the watchful eye of a marked and obvious Australian Federal Police presence. I'm sure they deal with thousands of pic-takers daily
The AFP have a very limited role, dealing with matters relating to the national government only. It's the various state police forces which hunt you down if you've done the more general sort of bad things. These AFP were security guards.
Getting back to Sydney Central was now the priority as departure time for Brisbane was approaching. I saw there was a nearby ferry point and thought that'd be a picturesque way to return to the other side. A ferry shortly showed and made another two pickups at North Sydney and Vaucluse I think it was before making a return to Kirribilli perhaps just in case the GG or the PM had made a late decision to cross the water.
We saw the on-water perspective of these two key houses before we made it across to Circular Quay, the CBD's major ferry terminal and worth a visit if you are in the area. There's also a railway station there as part of the city's mostly underground CBD train loop. I was quickly back at Central where I reclaimed my bags and awaited the arrival into platform four of my Brisbane-bound sleeper, scheduled to depart at 1441h. I was in good time and took the opportunity to suss-out my fellow travellers.
It departed on time, and I claimed my cabin in car A located directly behind the pulling end of this push/pull set. I waited to find out if I was a solo this time, or had company again. There was a clue in the cabin....
I do have pix, and I promise to attach them when I can get them across to this device. Their transfer is beyond me at present, sorry.
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