Completing the Trifecta - Planes, Trains and Automobiles (CBR-SYD)

[kookaburra75]

Over the years, MrsK and I have done the run between Canberra and Sydney, and back again by various means of transport. I almost can drive the route in my sleep, done the bus a few times, and have flown it many a time. But, never by train. A couple of months ago now, we had to be up in Sydney for our grandson's 4th birthday party and have our annual skin check. We looked at flying, but due to some other events being on, it would have meant abt $400 each way, per person - welcome to the Canberra tax.

MrsK, said, why not the train? I was a bit worried about how long it would take, but checking the timetables, it was only 4 hours, which in the scheme of things isn't too bad. The bus is 3-4 hours, and really, when you take all things into account if we flew, to get from our place to the centre of Sydney you don't get much change from 3 hours. So, the train it was.

Going online, a 1st class return was $230 per person - well below the cost of a flight, plus we had the bistro in our part of the train. Seating was reserved and as we were travelling light, we didn't need to check in our luggage, although there was no extra cost. And of course, we could get up and walk around. There's no wifi on the train, but given there isn't any on the flights between Canberra and Sydney, that wasn't a deal breaker.

The day came. and we headed out to the train station at Kingston in Canberra. The sun was out and it was quiet outside.

Inside, there were a few people there in the NSW Rail version of the "Lounge", but with the shop there you could get what you needed.

Our train arrived on schedule, and we boarded and got to our seats.

The leg room was ok, certainly a lot better than a Dash 8. which is normally what I encounter on my trips.

But. more importantly was we were relatively close to the bistro at the front of the carriage.

 

[kookaburra75]

Our train departed on time, noon on Saturday. The bistro/bar opened up after we left Canberra. MrsK and I have a tradition of starting trips with either a glass of bubbles or a classic dry martini. Alas, the best I could do was a packaged G&T, although it was the Archie Rose G&T - so close enough.

The drop down tables had the cut outs to secure your drinks in, in case of turbulence, something I think the airlines could adopt.

We travelled through some familiar country that we have seen while travelling by road, and also some different views as well. The best thing was that we could relax and just take in the scenery.

 

[kookaburra75]

We arrived at Central Station on time at 4pm, and headed up to our hotel, 57 Hotel that I had booked through Qantas Hotels as it was close to Central, plus I could use my $50 voucher - bonus. 57 Hotel, while not being luxurious, was ok and met our needs. It's been retro-fitted into an old office building and they've done a good job of that. We had a "Dancing Queen" room. The disco ball in one of the lifts was a bonus.

But, a couple of doors down, there is the Keg and Brew pub, where we retired after our long journey for dinner. They had a section which seemed to be set up for us, but then I could think of a few AFF'ers who could also fit the bill (not looking at you (@RooFlyer, @JohnM, @cove etc...)

After settling in, and catching up with the kids and the grandson that evening, we had an early night.

 

[kookaburra75]

Our grandson's birthday was going to be held at the Petersham Bowling Club, mid afternoon. That meant we had some time in the morning to explore and check out the area. From the hotel we wandered up into Surrey Hills and along Crown Street, and found a place for breakfast/brunch - which was difficult as most places were full. The sun was out, and people could get out, so most took advantage of that.

We came across Paddock on Crown, and sat on the front porch of an old terrace house and enjoyed the coffee and a excellent breakfast, and people-watched. We'd go back there. MrsK had poached eggs and asparagus, I went the baked eggs with 'stuff'.



After breakfast, we wandered through the back streets of Surry Hills which has certainly improved over the years. There are lot of very nice done up places in the area.

 

[kookaburra75]

After fuelling up with brunch, we got ourselves ready for the main event of the day - our grandson's 4th birthday. The theme was Super Heroes. I suggested a number of different themes we could try, Superman/Supergirl, Wonderwoman, and so on - but MrsK wasn't comfortable with. Thankfully we came across a shop around the corner of where we were staying that had a selection of outfits, including capes. Problem solved.

The event was held at the Petersham Bowling Club, which is one of those great old inner city Sydney institutions that has survived. It has everything. A couple of the greens have been converted to other uses, such as kids' parties, but they still have proper bowls going. But. more importantly, they have live music through the weeks. Even a brilliant dance floor and mirror ball.

But the main reason we were there was the birthday party. We ran around for a few hours chasing four year olds, which can be very tiring, but a lot of fun.

But at least we were in character - Wonder-Grandma and Bat-Grandpa

 

[kookaburra75]

And then it was time to start thinking about going back to Canberra. On Monday we had our skin check at the specialist at Bondi Junction - an annual precautionary check with no problems found so far.

As we had time on our hands, we caught the bus down to Bondi Beach for a wander, and brunch.


After our visit to the doctors, we made our way back to Central for our evening trip back to Canberra. We departed at 6pm, arriving home at 10pm. We picked up a dinner to go pack from Woolies at Bondi Junction (there's no issue bringing your own food on board), and only had to top it up with some wines from the bistro/bar on the train, which was enough to see us through.


After using the train to complete the trifecta, we would certainly do it again. The Canberra-Sydney route isn't well served by the airlines as they can afford to gouge on prices due to the prices the 'business' of Canberra will pay. The buses do a good job, but the train was a lot more relaxing.

 

[jumpjam]

Great report. I think the train is a great way to to travel. As we live in Bungendore it is a hassle to get bus from Canberra and trip from Bungendore by train is only 3.5 hours. Unfortunately earliest train only gets in to Central at 11:04am so often too late for appointments in Sydney. It would be great if they had an earlier train. I used to live in Bathurst and the "Bathurst bullet" arrived in Sydney before 9am. It would be good if they could do same from Canberra.

 

[RooFlyer]

But at least we were in character - Wonder-Grandma and Bat-Grandpa

Weren't you wearing something similar when we caught up in Sydney?

 

[kookaburra75]

Weren't you wearing something similar when we caught up in Sydney?

Close but a bit different. We didn't have capes then