Melbourne

 On the train

We were up about 0545 and out the door before 0630. 

The train station (Central) was one metro stop away so it didn’t take long to get there. 

Once in the station we wound our way over and around the myriad of platforms used by the various different transportation systems in this central hub and found our train platform . A short while later we decided to get on board and settle into our seats to wait for our 0740 departure time.

We left Sydney into a sort of forest area but it wasn’t long before we were out of that and into magnificent rolling hills, dotted with trees. The eleven hour train ride was  mostly ranch land with sheep,but some cattle. There was a few areas where fields were planted. Towns were few and far between (and we did whistle stops at most of them)

The landscape and vegetation was varied and is constantly captivating. I am sure the locals on the train with us were just reading or playing games on their iPhones however I really enjoyed it the views. 

We have been lucky with weather on this trip. The original forecast for Sydney was overcast and rainy however everything was great for us. As we travelled today the sky was blue. 

I spent many hours watching for wild life. At different times both Caro and I spotted kangaroos in the distance that morphed into cows as the train went by and angles of vision changed.LOL

Vegetation became much denser and the landscape became much more rolling as we approached Melbourne 

Just as we were arriving at the outlying suburbs of the city I “finally “ saw some kangaroos. There were about six bouncing along. Unfortunately it was such a brief sighting that when Caro looked up  she didn’t see them.  

We checked into our hotel across the street from the train station. The room is okay   

We found a good restaurant a few blocks away and enjoyed chicken snitzel. The portions were so big we brought some back for breakfast. 

This city is known for its concentration of sky scrapers. Here is a view of some of them.