Australia on a budget

[delt1c]

I have the chance to visit family in Australia next year and whilst there I would like to see as much of the railways as possible. I will be staying near Sydney and would like to hear of ideas to see as much of the country as possible by rail , but at budget prices. Initialy I had intended to try and get in the Nothern area and Perth but looking on line it would appear that there is only over priced land cruises to these areas, any advice would be appreciated. As I am neither a student nor an OAP (will be 50) cant see any discounts.
I would love to see as much of the outback as possible by train.

 

[peterinsurrey]

as an australian, who has seen little of his own country (like many of us!) there is a reason, it's a bit remote. Rail Travel isn't as competitive as air or road, there are long distances between cities & little population in between to even justify a rail service in most cases. You're lucky too to get a daily coach to the nearest large city.

New South Wales has Countrylink, very much subsided by the taxpayer, not great value compared to air. Even to the regional centres. Journey times haven't improved since the XPT/HST was introduced, but the roads have. The Indian Pacific has been either once a week, twice a week or thrice weekly. It was government owned then privatised, but before that it was becoming a premium service. Same with the Ghan, and the Overland.

Best bet for the 'outback' is do as many english backpackers do, is buy a cheap car (aka that Top Gear special in the states!) & sell it at the end of the trip. But learn to respect the desert, it doesn't respect human life in the heat of the day. Or the cold of the night.

 

[Aussie_Rail]

as an australian, who has seen little of his own country (like many of us!) there is a reason, it's a bit remote.

I'd second that, its extremely remote and very difficult to get to.

Rail Travel isn't as competitive as air or road, there are long distances between cities & little population in between to even justify a rail service in most cases. You're lucky too to get a daily coach to the nearest large city.

New South Wales has Countrylink, very much subsided by the taxpayer, not great value compared to air. Even to the regional centres. Journey times haven't improved since the XPT/HST was introduced, but the roads have. The Indian Pacific has been either once a week, twice a week or thrice weekly. It was government owned then privatised, but before that it was becoming a premium service. Same with the Ghan, and the Overland.

Best bet for the 'outback' is do as many english backpackers do, is buy a cheap car (aka that Top Gear special in the states!) & sell it at the end of the trip. But learn to respect the desert, it doesn't respect human life in the heat of the day. Or the cold of the night.

Agreed, most places are separated by the hundreds or thousands of km's and mother nature is not very kind in the outback or in the bush and people dieing out there is not uncommon if you have not got the right car or and equipment.

If you choose to get a cheapo car and drive to places, make sure you have the following:

An up to date map, a well maintained car with spare fluids and tools to fix it if something happens, plenty of food and water, you can not have enough water, especially in the summer months when temperatures can be more than 110'F take a first aid kit and other essentials and spare fuel too.

When driving between centers, stick to the main roads, observe all signs and warnings, plan your journeys well in advance, when driving through the country turn your lights on, especially at dawn and dusk and watch out for kangaroos in those times too. They can write off a car and kill you, they are extremely dangerous to motorists.

And if you end up driving through the outback, especially in summer, and the car breaks down, for Gods sake do not leave the car! You will find mobile coverage does not exist in most of the country and I wouldn't rely on that for help either, notify someone of your plans and take a CB radio with you.

Greyhound coaches run coach services to many parts of the country, check out their website and try traveling that way.

The Ghan runs between Adelaide and Darwin and is the best way to see the outback, you don't have to do the whole journey, you can just go as far as Alice Springs in the red centre and go see Ayers Rock or fly to one of the state captials.

Flying is cheaper and quicker in all circumstances and most flights, particularly Melbourne to Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and Sydney fly low enough that you can see the landscape below.

Also if you want to see railway things, check to see where there are railway museums, most cities and states have them and they are great to see.

But yeah, losts of people travel around so if you do things the right way and you do them safely you can see lots of great things out there.

Best of luck to ya!

 

[delt1c]

I appreciate that I could buy a cheap car, or go by coach or fly, but it has always been an ambition to travel by train down under. Can anyone recomend a decent trip from Sydney where I might see some of the country,? I dont mind a 10 or 12 hour trip with a night at the other end or even on the train.

 

[peterinsurrey]

the xpts out of sydney to melbourne or up north to brisbane. the melbourne one i think is being cut back to Albury during the day at the moment due to major work south of there. With Brisbane, the UP & down are overnight/daytime respectively. The Casino service, which used to go to Mulliumbah is the alternative, you get a coach connection into Brisbane or the Gold Coast.

 

[Aussie_Rail]

I'd recommend a trip to Broken Hill, a nice long train trip but you'll still be in N.S.W and you can go by XPT or take the Indian Pacific.

Broken Hill is a strong mining town, there's heaps to see and you'll pass through some of the best countryside N.S.W has to offer.

 

[cityrail-m-train]

As a Sydneysider I too would recomend a trip on the XPT services. I also would recomend a trip up on the Grafton and Dubbo XPT.

Since you'll be near Sydney, You could always ride on the Hunter Line, requires a trip from Sydney up to Newcastle or Hamilton and change for it. The railcar is very comfortable and beats your class 158 anyday You also get a great view.

Even though these areas are not outback I would also reccomend trips down the coast to Kiama, a trip down the Southern Highlands to Moss Vale and Goulburn and a trip up the mountains to Lithgow.

 

[paul1609]

I've done the XPT service between Sydney and Melbourne and found it a bit tedious to be honest-high speed train it is not. I thought that Oz was a great country but i found New Zealand far more interesting from a rail enthusiasts point of view.

 

[Aussie_Rail]

I've done the XPT service between Sydney and Melbourne and found it a bit tedious to be honest-high speed train it is not. I thought that Oz was a great country but i found New Zealand far more interesting from a rail enthusiasts point of view.

The XPT train from Melbourne to Sydney blows! I've ridden on only as far as Albury from Melbourne and it did suck, it left on time (rare) and it was really really slow leaving the city and it did not travel that fast. So not one of the best train journeys that's for sure.

 

[paul1609]

Indeed its scheduled for just under 12 hours for a journey thats about 60 miles further than the highland chieftan in the uk. On my southbound journey it was over 2 hours late on schedule. i ended up wishing I'd taken an internal flight.

The railway to travel on in australia is the puffing billy railway on the outskirts of melbourne, mention you are a volunteer in the uk and you will be treated like royalty, same applies in nz in my experience!

 

[Aussie_Rail]

Indeed its scheduled for just under 12 hours for a journey thats about 60 miles further than the highland chieftan in the uk. On my southbound journey it was over 2 hours late on schedule. i ended up wishing I'd taken an internal flight.

The railway to travel on in australia is the puffing billy railway on the outskirts of melbourne, mention you are a volunteer in the uk and you will be treated like royalty, same applies in nz in my experience!

That's why few travel on it other than enthusiasts, people who live along the way, those who hate flying, the old and those who are not in any great hurry.

Puffing Bill is an awesome tourist railway to ride on, the wagon type carriages have no windows so the fresh air blows in and you can smell the smoke from the steam train and little ones love sitting there with their feet out of the windows.

Easy as pie to get to, just take a Belgrave line train to Belgrave and walk under the bridge and down the ramp. Plenty of heritage and history to see as well as a great environment surroundings.

http://www.puffingbilly.com.au/

AR

 

[delt1c]

Well the plans are starting to take shape.
I have calculated
Adelaide to darwin on the Ghan arriving Darwin Friday.
Fly Darwin to Perth Saturday
Indian Pacific departing Perth Sunday to Sydney.
Just leaves how to get from Sydney to Adelaide for the 1st part, is there a direct service or can I go via Melbourne?
Looking at using the Red Daynighter seats it should be in my price range.
Another question does anyone know what the catering is like and what the prices are like.
The Ghan Northbound seems like it has a few stops en route each of several hours so i take it you can get food at the towns where it stops without having to rely to much on the onboard catering , but the Indian Pacific seems to have longer between stops.
As it has always been my lifetime dream to travel these services I have fullfill that dream on the trip, regardless of how slow the trains are or deselet the suroundings

Puffing Billy sounds great so that will be another excursion

 

[Aussie_Rail]

Well the plans are starting to take shape.
I have calculated
Adelaide to darwin on the Ghan arriving Darwin Friday.
Fly Darwin to Perth Saturday
Indian Pacific departing Perth Sunday to Sydney.
Just leaves how to get from Sydney to Adelaide for the 1st part, is there a direct service or can I go via Melbourne?
Looking at using the Red Daynighter seats it should be in my price range.
Another question does anyone know what the catering is like and what the prices are like.
The Ghan Northbound seems like it has a few stops en route each of several hours so i take it you can get food at the towns where it stops without having to rely to much on the onboard catering , but the Indian Pacific seems to have longer between stops.
As it has always been my lifetime dream to travel these services I have fullfill that dream on the trip, regardless of how slow the trains are or deselet the suroundings

Puffing Billy sounds great so that will be another excursion

Sounds like a good plan. I'm not sure ow long the trains stop at each station, but I would check first in case you make plans to do something in the towns.

Catering wise I would imagine it to be a little better than airline food, which is normally the same type of food you get on those catered type trains. But I have found the catering on V/line and Country Link to be alright, so it shouldn't be a problem, but it might not hurt to take some snacks along.

They are truly some of the best train journeys in the world and views that and experiences you will see and do cannot be matched anywhere else.

It's also a dream of mine to travel on the Ghan, I saw it when I went to Darwin last year, to me it was one of the high lights of the trip!

As for getting to Adelaide, you could opt to fly there directly? Not every international flight that comes to Australia goes to Sydney, and Sydney isn't that crash hot anyway.

So depending on who you fly with, you could change for a flight to Adelaide from somewhere like Singapore, but you'll have to have a look though, or if you choose to fly to Sydney, you could get a coach across via some of the little towns along the way, or you could get the XPT to Melbourne, see Puffing Billy and then get the Overland train (run by G.S.R (Great Southern Railways), they run The Ghan and the I.P) to Adelaide? That way you would have done all the G.S.R routes as well as other railway lines.

There are heaps of possibilities to choose from though.