After spending a few days in Sydney, it was time to move on. I had booked a train ticket to Melbourne. I am really getting into this senior travel caper. The 50% discount on NSW Trains is not to be sneezed at.
The train left Central Station on time at 7.29 a.m. That is an interesting time. Why not 7.30 a.m. Whoever sets the time table must have sense of humour.
The XPT
The XPT train is quite good. The acronym stands for Express Passenger Train. The ‘Express’ bit is a misnomer. The locomotive is the same as the diesel electric ‘125’s built for British Rail between 1975 and 1982. They have a maximum speed of 238 klms per hour. However, as the name suggests, they were designed to operate at 125 miles (200 klms) per hour. This is possible on most of the tracks in the UK.
In NSW, most of the rail tracks have the same alignment they had been they were first built back in the 1880’s. There are a lot of curves. This means that the XPT can rarely travel at over 100 klms per hour, let alone 125 miles per hour.
As the train headed off of received a Facebook comment from a Senior Executive of NSW Rail. He said he “enjoy the 11 to 12 hour trip”. It made me remember that in Switzerland you can set your watch on the departure and the arrival of the trains. In NSW you can confirm the day in your calendar.
Albeit that train is getting a bit long on the tooth, the carriages are quite comfortable. There is also a reasonable buffet, with simple but OK food. One failing is that there are no power points.
At various points the track passes through the countryside, a long way from the Hume Highway and any other roads. This is actually quite interesting and much better than being in a car or a bus on the freeway.
Once past Wagga Wagga the track is fairly straight and the train picks up speed.
Most of the passenger in 1st class are my vintage or older.
I won’t comment on the passengers in 2nd class.
As it turned out, the Senior Executive’s rather vague estimate of the time for the journey was prescient, we ended up over 45 minutes late. This was “due to the heat”, which upset the track. I am not sure where the train could have gone faster.
I Like Melbourne
I really like Melbourne. My mother was from Melbourne. She met my father in Melbourne and they were married in the city. I often visited city when I was growing up. I also visited that place frequently when I worked for Caltex, TNT and GE. Latterly I have been visiting the place for pleasure.
The Open
The main reason for this visit was to catch some the Australian Open Tennis. The Open is a great tournament. The Melbourne Park facilities are first rate. They were built in the late 1980’s to ensure that the Australian Open retained its status as Grand Slam tournament. It has three main show courts with retractable roofs that can be closed if rains, or it gets too hot. There lots of outdoor courts with various seating capacities.
The complex is located next to the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It can easily be accessed on foot from the CBD and is well served by trams and trains.
One the best features of the facility is the large open spaces between the Centre Court (Rod Laver Arena) and the 3rd Show Court (named after a sponsor) . When the Open is being played, this is set up with bars and food outlets and hundreds of deck chairs. There are also large TV screens showing the matches being played on the Centre Court and the other show courts.
In the afternoon, bands play in this area. In the past these bands have included Cold Chisel and Paul Kelly. This year the big star is James Reyne.
Hewitt’s Last Match
I bought a ground pass with the intention seeing if I could score a ‘returned’ ticket to Centre Court. There was a bit of wait in the line, but I was lucky – I was able to get a returned ‘Corporate’ ticket for the night session. The main match was Leyton Hewitt against Spain’s David Ferrer.
As I walked away from the ticket booth, a bloke who was also in the line approached me. He said that he overheard that I had bought a ticket for “tonight’s session”. He said “how does that work?”. “They told me it was full”. I told him that “I was just lucky”. As we were chatting, three Emirates Air Hostesses walked up. One of them asked if they could take a photo of me with the other two. I obliged and asked her to take a photo with my camera.
About a month ago an ex APEC Taskforce colleague put a photo of a group of Emirate Air Hostesses on his Facebook page. He asked the viewers, “what is the collective noun for a group of Air Hostesses?” I suggested – “An Opportunity”. I know that that is a bit lame, but he thought it was funny.
The above is the explanation to my comment on the profile picture I put on Facebook, if anyone is interested.
The match was OK. Hewitt tried hard, but was well beaten in straight sets.
I won’t comment on the Bruce MacAvaney interview with Hewitt after the match. Check out the video.
Actually I will comment. Now is probably a good time for Bruce to also retire.
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