We caught the taxi to our meeting, where I kept a close eye on the weather radar. However, it was not until we were at the airport for our return flight that I decided to cancel my return booking. A rain and storm front was passing through from Canberra to Sydney. Though the clouds over Canberra didn't look very thick I thought about the journey. Aircraft were taking the long way into Sydney Airport, looping around to approach from the north. It might be rough, would probably be rough, without much of a view. I could cope, but would it be the trigger that set me fearing flying again? I'd get home faster, but no, I didn't want to spoil my upcoming holiday again, at least not if I could help it.
I'm just not a thrillseeker. I like quiet and boring. My favourite part of a flight is not the excitement of take-off and landing but the long quiet stretches cruising high over a desert landscape or a carpet of cloud. That's the problem with Canberra flights, they are so short that it can be all pain no gain. In the turboprop we'd probably never get above the clouds, not even five minutes of cruise.
Instead I decided to do something I'd wanted to do for a while - catch the train.
Canberra train station is not grand. Indeed it may be one of the least inspiring stations on the line. None of this ornate brickwork, just a semi-modern building. Few other passengers were there. A young Asian couple, another older couple from the Subcontinent and a man who looked a lot like a homeless bum. The type that usually sits next to me on an Australian train. Great.
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| Canberra Station |
I walked out to the platform, spotted a few kangaroos nearby a yellow flowered wattle tree. Now
that is the capital of Australia for you!
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| Wattle and 'roos |
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| The greys are watching me |
Eventually the train from Sydney pulled up and disgorged its passengers, many who waited for the coach to Eden. The waiting room filled up with more passengers now.
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| Xplorer |
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| Xplorer with Canberra Tower to the right |
Our train was a three car Xplorer diesel set. The same train that had carried me so many times between Sydney and Canberra as a student. The interior at least looked like it had been refurbished, with seat covers a lot like those often seen on Sydney suburban services, only on more comfortable chairs. Well padded, with a metre of seat pitch, decent width and 28 degrees of recline this was more comfortable than flying!
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| The cabin |
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| Rear view |
Just like in the morning, a rainbow glowed in the sky while the land lit up with the passing of the clouds. I put Michael Kamen's soundtrack to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves on my phone, just like when I was a student heading off on the first leg of my long journey to back to Rockhampton. Then off we set.
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| The abandoned line south to Michelago and Cooma. More kangaroos |
What stunning scenery! The golden late afternoon light gave the rolling hills a beautiful glow. This was rural Australia at its best, open stretches of grassland punctuated by isolated tree, mobs of kangaroos, flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and apparently some alpacas as well. Then bushland of gnarled gum trees. Small Southern Highlands towns with historic buildings and English trees starting to yellow with Autumn.
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| Graffitied Hitachi suburban train from Melbourne, at Queanbeyan |
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| The Imelda Marcos of power sneakers |
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| Queanbeyan River |
We worked our way up along Molonglo Gorge, stony river scenery below, past the plains and hills around Lake George, ridges lined with spinning electricity generating windmills. On the other side, signs protesting windfarms, undoubtedly the product of hypochondriacs or more likely by those surreptitiously sponsored by the fossil fuel lobby.
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| Winding around Molonglo Gorge |
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| The Molonglo River is below |
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| Pine plantations by the river |
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| The back of the front |
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| Bugendore |
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| Sheep grazing |
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| Wind farm in the distance |
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| Dam and windfarm |
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| Kangaroos |
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| Cultivated fields |
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| Goulburn River |
The sun was setting as we reached Goulburn, home of so many varieties of diesel locomotives on heritage rollingstock, casting the land in a bright red glow. As darkness fell I relaxed, worked a bit on the computer. I could have read or watched a video on my phone, but I was content just to dream.
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| Goulburn Station |
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| Sunset |
Near Wingello the towns and surrounding bushland were permeated by fog, trees silhouetted against the grey, lending an air of mystery to the landscape.
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| Bundanoon |
I was on the
night train once more, chugging past timeless towns with lights glowing from restaurants serving hot soups and station waiting rooms where passengers warmed themselves against the cool and damp outside.
I got off at Campbelltown, for though the Xplorer passed through my regular station it didn't stop there. Then I caught a suburban train to Padstow and was lucky to spot a passing taxi for a ride home.
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| Campbelltown Station |
So I arrived home much later than on the flight, but unlike last time I didn't feel a sense of failure at not challenging myself in the air. Instead I felt satisfied, fortunate that I had experienced the train ride as I had. With the constant lengthening and quickening of daylight, the ever changing weather, what I saw was unique and beautiful. It may be the slow path to take, but sometimes that's the best way.
