Visiting Aussie soon.

[Bill69]

Hi All,

As the title says I will be visiting soon. Present itinery, Fly to Sydney Fri May 21, stay 5 nights Sydney. Wed 26 May drive to Melbourne over two days stopping to explore on the way. Not sure yet whether to go via Canberra or up the coast road. Fri. 28 May arrive Melbourne, stay 8 nights Melbourne. Fly Melbourne to Wellington Sat. 5 June.

If anyone in the area I will be visiting would like to meet an old codger from the Wellington Area who enjoys Trainz let me know.

Cheers,
Bill69

 

[Ryan_McC]

Good to see you coming to the Mainland I'm in Brissie so I won't get the chance to see who made the Kiwirail DX! Enjoy your stay though.

Ryan

 

[Bill69]

Hi Ryan,

Yeh, pity. I think it's about four years since I was in Brissie. last. Had a good time there and spent some time at Surfers.

Cheers,
Bill

 

[Red_Rattler]

Hi All,

As the title says I will be visiting soon.

ARRGGGH the New Zealanders are "invading" um I mean "visiting". Quick everyone REEETREAT :hehe:

Not sure yet whether to go via Canberra or up the coast road.

Well you could see a zoo - I meant the one on top of Capital Hill, not the more intelligent other primates that didn't make it the human stage :hehe:

Hmm silence from others, no one is laughing!

To be serious, if you're going to be taking pictures, &/or videos of transport, then these may come in handy: http://blogs.smh.com.au/photographers/archives/2007/02/photography_is_not_a_crime.html,

For NSW, this may come in handy, but it has changed URL several times, so it may not work: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20031112022


The following seems to have changed URL's - again, but what it says in reply to the above link is:

On 12 November 2003 the Hon. John Tingle asked the Minister for Transport Services a question without notice regarding photography on trains. The Minister has provided the following response:

I am advised:
It is not an offence to take a photograph on a train or at a station.

http://www.anzacatt.org.au/prod/par...abed47078d127f5aca256e5000231ab6!OpenDocument

But lately RailCrop (that not a spell error of RailCorp either!) has included this: http://www.railcorp.info/commercial/filming

And RailFlop, do YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT SO HARD TO FIND THE LINK?

 

[Bill69]

Hi Red_Rattler,

Just been reading some of these articles about photography in a public place, I guess I'll have to watch what I am doing over there. I don't think there is much of that in New Zealand, we are all pretty easy going over here. In Wellington I can quite easily walk down the street with my camera out of the bag and take shots of buildings, buses, cars and trucks and even people in the street with no one batting an eyelid. It's a sad state of affairs when people get paranoid about photgraphs.

Cheers,
Bill69

P.S. Not very interested in the zoo on Capital Hill, would not even bother feeding them.

 

[Johnk]

Hi Bill,

I'm in Melbourne at present but will be back in Cairns by then. The highway between Sydney and Melbourne is pretty boring (did Rutherglen/Melbourne today) so maybe you would enjoy the XPT daylight instead and hire a car in Melbourne? Depends on if you're alone or not. A rail pass might be the way to go.

I also did Melbourne/ Ballarat and Melbourne Moe on the V/Line V'locity. Most enjoyable trips.

Regards,

John

 

[gremlin1812]

G'Day Bill69, You could visit Canberra and then go the rest of the way via the coast road as the southern section of the coast road is quite picturesque.
I live in western Sydney PM or e mail if you would like to pop in for a cuppa and a chat.
Regards
Barrie

 

[S301]

If your going up to Puffing Billy whilst in Melbourne, I might be able to walk up and say hi

I highly recommend the Moe/Traralgon and Bendigo lines by V/Locity. I've recently been organising some country trip with friends (non railfan friends) to various places, with last weekend taking us to Bendigo. Very much an interesting trip, including two of the three country tunnels still on our rail network. We found Ballarat a little boring, seeing as the main landmarks for the area aren't really driving distance from the station, Bendigo on the other hand has a tram to take you to those places

I would also recommend Geelong if you were so inclined. Again, the interesting parts of the city are within walking distance

I'm always up for meeting Trainzers who are in Melbourne, depending on times, etc

Zec

 

[tdstead]

Good on you

Whan you come to Victoria, make time for a ride of Puffing Billy, you won't be sorry ....

Tom

 

[Bill69]

Hi Bill,

I'm in Melbourne at present but will be back in Cairns by then. The highway between Sydney and Melbourne is pretty boring (did Rutherglen/Melbourne today) so maybe you would enjoy the XPT daylight instead and hire a car in Melbourne? Depends on if you're alone or not. A rail pass might be the way to go.

I also did Melbourne/ Ballarat and Melbourne Moe on the V/Line V'locity. Most enjoyable trips.

Regards,

John

Hi John,

I did think of doing the trip by train (xpt daylight) but decided we want to take two or three days to do that trip, stopping at one or two places in between. However I will be trying to get some pics of the xpt.

"G'Day Bill69, You could visit Canberra and then go the rest of the way via the coast road as the southern section of the coast road is quite picturesque.
I live in western Sydney PM or e mail if you would like to pop in for a cuppa and a chat.
Regards
Barrie"

Hi Barrie,
We are thinking of missing Canberra now, driving up the coast Rd. instead, but thanks for the offer.

"If your going up to Puffing Billy whilst in Melbourne, I might be able to walk up and say hi "

Hi Zec,
Will definately be going up the Puffing Billy, would like to see Bendigo and Geelong, don't know much about Moe/Traralgon but will be looking it up on the net before we leave. I have sort of made arrangments to meet billegulla while in Melbourne, no particular times arranged yet, so might be able to meet you too.

Cheers,
Bill

 

[Johnk]

G'day Bill,

Moe and Traralgon aren't particularly exciting places, but the train runs on an hourly basis. Moe was the terminus of the the now defunct Moe/Walhalla Railway, a 2'6" line where some of Puffing Billy's locomotives and rolling stock came from. The last 6 or 7 miles miles of the 30 mile trip were spectacular.

The 2.5 mile section between the Thompson River Bridge and Walhalla has reopened, but none of the original loco's run there any more. Trains are mostly hauled by diesels from the nearby coal mines or a lovely little German steam loco. Most of the line straddles a creek on low wooden trestles. Walhalla is a beautiful place with easy walks from the railway to the village and mine which is open for inspection.

A friend and I built the park just showing on the bottom left of the attached photo. We cleared the land, planted the grass and trees and built all the original benches and seats. The park has seen major changes since we transformed it from an old saw mill site 30 years ago.

I also designed and published the facsimile Walhalla Chronicle Newspaper which is still being sold after thirty years. We also wrote two books on the town, one of which often sells on Amazon for up to US $150. Both are now out of print.

Walhalla is best reached by car, but there may be tours or a bus from Moe. With a population of less than 30, a regular commuter bus service isn't warranted. I suggest you forgo the train to Moe and go by car instead. There's so much to see in the area and it's a wonderful day trip.

Photo (Don't forget to read the Wikipedia article also)

 

[Bill69]

G'day Bill,

Moe and Traralgon aren't particularly exciting places, but the train runs on an hourly basis. Moe was the terminus of the the now defunct Moe/Walhalla Railway, a 2'6" line where some of Puffing Billy's locomotives and rolling stock came from. The last 6 or 7 miles miles of the 30 mile trip were spectacular.

The 2.5 mile section between the Thompson River Bridge and Walhalla has reopened, but none of the original loco's run there any more. Trains are mostly hauled by diesels from the nearby coal mines or a lovely little German steam loco. Most of the line straddles a creek on low wooden trestles. Walhalla is a beautiful place with easy walks from the railway to the village and mine which is open for inspection.

A friend and I built the park just showing on the bottom left of the attached photo. We cleared the land, planted the grass and trees and built all the original benches and seats. The park has seen major changes since we transformed it from an old saw mill site 30 years ago.

I also designed and published the facsimile Walhalla Chronicle Newspaper which is still being sold after thirty years. We also wrote two books on the town, one of which often sells on Amazon for up to US $150. Both are now out of print.

Walhalla is best reached by car, but there may be tours or a bus from Moe. With a population of less than 30, a regular commuter bus service isn't warranted. I suggest you forgo the train to Moe and go by car instead. There's so much to see in the area and it's a wonderful day trip.

Photo (Don't forget to read the Wikipedia article also)

Thanks for the info. John. Will probably follow your advice and take a day trip by car to Walhalla. Last time I was in Melbourne was quite a few years ago, we drove from Melbourne up the coast road to Adelaide and after staying in Adelaide for a couple of weeks drove back via the Murray river road. That was quite an interesting trip. Included some boating on the Murray, A trip in a balloon and an underground visit to a Goldmine.

Cheers,
Bill

 

[Johnk]

If you head off to Walhalla, it will pay to do a little research first. The small town set so many records during the gold era, and quite a few artefacts still remain intact.

There are also several new buildings constructed to the exact specifications of the originals. The Star Hotel is a fine example, as is the Mechanics Institute, a building my friend and I encouraged the town to reconstruct with a $30,000 plus donation. Despite our huge contribution, we were never invited to the opening ceremony. I have no idea why, maybe I'd moved to Cairns. I eventually saw the building for the first time 20 years after it was completed.

Photo and interesting article

I printed and published the top seven items on this web page.

An interesting place to start

John

 

[Boobless_ed]

Please do not taint your trip with a visit to Canberra! It's... It's a city where the suits live and work, and aside from nearby rail museums, it's a dump. Sorry if this offends anybody from Canberra. I suppose I'm meaning this with a slight element of dark humour and cynicism...

As for Melbourne, try exploring the inner and outer suburbs. Some amazing live music pubs, such as the Rainbow Hotel in Fitzroy, or the various bars in Northcote. If it interests you, anyway.

Another extremely important tip is to drink Coopers Ale. One of the best Aussie beers, and perhaps one of the best in the world. I've probably tried well over a thousand different beers from all over the globe. It has a distinct and unique taste, and you will never forget it! Forget the Tooheys and VB rubbish!

If you're going to be spending time around Sydney, then you must spend a day or two in the Blue Mountains. One of the most beautiful places in the world. And at the far end of the Blue Mountains is the Zig Zag Railway, something which you should never miss.

It's easy to catch the train from Sydney and even get off at Zig Zag station, although you'll have to mention to the Guard that you want to stop there, as it's a request stop only.

You may find the steel and glass of Sydney tiring. The Blue Mountains will be a place you'll always remember!

Best wishes for your trip, and I hope you get the msot out of it!

 

[Bill69]

Hi Boobless_ed,

Thanks for the tips, looking forward to Coopers Ale, sounds interesting.
I sure will be going out to the Zig Zag railway for a day too.

Cheers,
Bill69

 

[Boobless_ed]

If you ask really nicely at the Zig Zag, they might even give you a cab ride. They're usually fairly happy with that for one or two runs, provided they aren't already full of folk that have already asked for cab rides!

Really friendly fellows, and they'd probably be very happy to give someone from overseas a cab ride.

Steam trains run on weekends and I think still Wednesdays... So, those would be the best time to go.

But oh dear... Coopers! I live in Edinburgh now, and managed to find a place where I can get cases delivered to your door!

It's beer with actual taste. There's the Coopers Sparkling (has a red label), which is I think nearly 6% and has a stronger taste, and Coopers Pale Ale (has a green label), which is just a really nice clean beer without being watery, but less alcohol content than the Sparkling.

There are a few other types, but harder to find.

It's a little more expensive though, and you'll probably find it more common the further South you go. For some reason, I seem to prefer the bottles rather than on tap, but each to their own...

If you do go to the Zig Zag, it'd also be well worthwhile spending another day exploring the Blue Mountains. As the Zig Zag is about two and a bit hours away by train from Sydney, it might be hard to get there as well as the Blue Mountains...

Although from what I've seen the scenery is stunning in New Zealand, but the Blue Mountains is equally beautiful, and very different to anything you'll ever see in New Zealand! Think endless views from three-hundred metre high lookouts, amazing mountains and almost almost completely covered in amazing vegetation and wildlife.

A great break from Sydney... As I said, it's mostly steel and glass, and most of the renowned beaches seem to be covered in people and rubbish... Not like they used to be.

There's also a coastal drive from Sydney to Melbourne. It's a bit longer, and perhaps you might need to spend the night somewhere (although could be done in a day) which is extremely picturesque. Many amazing beaches and rainforests, and some really nice little towns.

If you want to see some great scenery, it's a much better alternative to the Hume Highway (main highway between Melbourne and Sydney), which will probably bore you to sleep at the wheel!

Hope you enjoy the trip, and I think we'd all love to hear about it!

Warmest regards and best wishes,

James MacIntyre

 

[Bill69]

Hi James,

Yes I agree with your sentiments about the Hume highway, Iv'e been bored to tears on the hume before and also on the way from Brissie to Cairns. I will try to get some pics of the Zig Zag and some of the Puffing Billy and post them in the screenshots forum when I get home again after the trip.

Cheers,
Bill