|
| 7:22am |
Wakey-wakey! With the shuttle arriving
at 8am, there's no time to lose. Well, okay, there's a solid 27 minutes
to lose, since it doesn't take me that long to pack. But then again,
I'm now the only one NOT carrying extra stuff. Yet. That'll begin
in Sydney on the 11th or 12th (Day 22 or 23), so I'll only have to
lug stuff for a few days versus 10+. Go me! |
| 7:24am |
(Well, yes, there's the buy-now and ship-it-home notion, which Rachel
has done, but it's not without a hefty price tag. And I'm cheep, er,
cheap.) |
| 7:56am |
Tubby checked out, paid the AU$4.50
for the phone charges after challenging the AU$20.00 for two continental
breakfasts that we didn't charge to the room yesterday after not having
room service deliver the two breakfasts we didn't order. Silliness. |
| 7:58am |
The shuttle was already waiting for us to chug on out to the station,
and we loaded up in short order. |
| 8:07am |
After nearly 10 grueling minutes we
arrived at the Keswick Rail Terminal. Even through those minutes were
anything but grueling, and the notion dawned on me that we are entirely
too early for a 10:10am train. |
| 8:11am |
With check-in completed and baggage checked, I've confirmed we are
entirely too early. Boarding will begin at 9:40am, but at present,
we are the only non-employees in the terminal. It was about this time
I began to question Tubby's logic for taking the train. Certainly,
he is queer for trains, but at AU$59 for the train and something like
11 hours for the trip. (Which, according to other passengers, we could
have flown for a similar price in 45 minutes.) Next time, Nigel, next
time... |
| 8:31am |
The arrival of the choo-choo on Platform
1 has filled the terminal with all sort of folks, see
here. And seen from where I'm sitting (not pictured). |
| 9:12am |
As we were sitting about, Sarah and Claire arrived (whom we met
yesterday during the Barossa
Valley outing). |
| 9:46am |
The call to board from Platform 1
was made, and we headed outside. |
| 10:42am |
We finally got rolling, even though our 10:10am departure time something
of a faint memory. Our train consisted of 13 rail cars (including
engines) and a total weight of 635 tonnes. (A metric ton is about
2,204 pounds, so a U.S. ton is a bit less than a metric ton; either
way, it's a lot of weight.) |
| 10:57am |
From up here, Adelaide
looks so teensy. |
| 11:58am |
We stopped at... somewhere, and picked up a few more people, standard-issue
waving from the staying-there crowd waved as we pulled away. |
| 12:01pm |
We stop in Murray Bridge to pick up
a few more and force another small batch of locals to do some
waving. |
| 12:20pm |
In the infinite wisdom of choo-choo logic, they're showing Big
Daddy. Goodie, another Adam Sandler film, a la
50 First Dates from
the flight to Adelaide two days ago. |
| 1:54pm |
The movie ends, and another chapter
of our lives written. (Some more written than others.) |
| 4:16pm (CST) / 4:46pm (EST) |
The overhead speaker voice let us know that, having crossed into
Victoria from South Australia, we've jumped into the next time zone,
so we should set our watches ahead by 30 minutes. Done. |
| 4:21pm |
Trains make such cool
shadows in the late afternoon, don't you think? |
| 4:54pm |
Our salvation -- another movie. Even if it is Maid
in Manhattan (spoiler link, but you'll thank me later). |
| 5:41pm |
By virtue of a window seat, and having
little interest in most any movie featuring Jennifer Lopez, I watched
the sun
go down instead. |
| 6:30pm |
And the movie is over, and not a moment too soon. Except we still
have 2 1/2 hours to kill. In other updates, the announcement came
over, now for dinner instead of lunch, that persons traveling on the
Gold Kangaroo section are being served their meal. We're in the Red
Kangaroo (economy) section, which earned the announcement a loud,
"pfffft!" from behind us, and several chuckles from others
in our rail car. |
| 7:12pm |
I'm now out of books, and the laptop's
battery is dead. This is indeed going to be a long two hours. |
| 9:04pm |
I was right. Quite a long two hours, indeed. But it's now all over.
We all alight from the train, and stand around the platform. Rachel
gives Sarah and Claire a couple of Frank pens (which is quite the
treat, since I didn't get my photo with them or anything), and they
said their goodbyes. |
| 9:11pm |
Having previously arranged a ride
to the hotel, we found Lindsay waiting for us in a sensible
vehicle. |
| 9:24pm |
We arrived at the Hotel Ibis and checked in, being assigned to a
room on Level 4. And up we went. |
| 9:37pm |
Sufficiently settled as to be dangerous,
we wandered for beverages. It was quickly apparent the only offering
was 375ml cans (basically the 12 ounce deal), but two of those beats
zero. And, they were Diet Pepsi, so that was something. (Ah yes...
there is no meal service like on planes, but there is a buffet for
anything you want to buy. And of course, those two fine films.) |
| 9:51pm |
The shower was sort of neat, a glassed-in like deal, not unlike
the overall concept of the Hotel Ibis we stayed at in Perth. But this
one is green, instead of mustard-colored. |
| 10:32pm |
Sufficiently refreshed, I'm waddling
off to bed, to get ready to tackle our day on the town here in Melbourne
(pronounced Mel-bun, it seems). |
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