Staring but not seeing
Jun. 26th, 2007 12:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pseydtonne[The following is part one of stuff I wrote while on the train today. It's already one o'clock Tuesday morning here.]
I have all the time in the world while I'm in this train carriage. It's elevensies as I write this line but it will be shy of ten at night by the time I reach Sydney.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hakamadare requested that I flesh out sections six through eight from the previous post. Thus I shall start tale number six tomorrow. For now I shall write about what happens in this box and see how it all flows. I shall likely nod out during the trip and wake back up. Please understand the waves.
I paid the extra aud25 for a first class ticket for the half-day's train ride from Casino to Sydney. I assumed this meant I'd just get a slightly spacier chair for sleeping. Instead it means I have an entire double-berth room to myself, complete with electrical outlet, removable tray tables that insert into plush, retractable arm rests, my own door to close, huge picture windows and all the quiet I could want. They must have a hard time filling these trains if they're selling this for $91 instead of $66. Perhaps it's discounted because I had to take a two-hour bus from Byron Bay which was twenty minutes late but was almost caught up by the time it dropped us.
The train is slightly slower than Amtrak but a lot more genteel. Having a day sleeper to myself leads to only one major disadvantage: there is no ventilation. I took off my sweater and socks, even changed into shorts and left the door open but no air flows.
The cows are fatter the further south I go. The landscape switches from subtropical rain forest to Welsh countryside (thus the desire to call it New South Wales) after we cross the Manning River. Each region is beautiful in a completely different way. I can tell the rain is reaching the land after two weeks of pouring horror, not washing everything into the South Pacific.
Peter pointed out that the Australian continent broke off the southern Pangea before any of the other continents or major islands. This is why there are massive fern forests as you move inland from the Gold Coast, in the Blue Mountains two hours outside Sydney... all over the place. Ferns are prototypes for trees but do not have the complex vascular structure. Thus it's amazing to see how they evolved when not overcrowded by the deciduous woods.
I took some pictures, but most are not coming out well. The window is dirty and has steam trapped between panes. The best I can say is that I'm captivated by the scenery, very pleased I took the day run instead of the overnight, and miserably annoyed with the Oits. I can focus on the most amazingly scenery I've ever found but I wish I could show you all of it. Take the train from Sydney to Brisbane if you ever get the chance and be sure to get a seat facing the coastline -- or just get a first class ticket. Valley upon different valley, fog bank upon horse farm, fern forest upon wild rock outcropping await you.
Just don't take the bus. That sucks. They don't understand expressways here.
I will warn you that Australia is into forest clearing the way Brazil is. It's not even hidden: I saw one hill in the subtropic right by the train line that was now stacks of Lincoln logs. The cutters were hard at work turning ancient forest into building material. I did also see replanting, but the rows along the ground scream Future Erosion Nation.
-I'll explain about the Oits in the next post, Ps/d
I have all the time in the world while I'm in this train carriage. It's elevensies as I write this line but it will be shy of ten at night by the time I reach Sydney.
hakamadare requested that I flesh out sections six through eight from the previous post. Thus I shall start tale number six tomorrow. For now I shall write about what happens in this box and see how it all flows. I shall likely nod out during the trip and wake back up. Please understand the waves. I paid the extra aud25 for a first class ticket for the half-day's train ride from Casino to Sydney. I assumed this meant I'd just get a slightly spacier chair for sleeping. Instead it means I have an entire double-berth room to myself, complete with electrical outlet, removable tray tables that insert into plush, retractable arm rests, my own door to close, huge picture windows and all the quiet I could want. They must have a hard time filling these trains if they're selling this for $91 instead of $66. Perhaps it's discounted because I had to take a two-hour bus from Byron Bay which was twenty minutes late but was almost caught up by the time it dropped us.
The train is slightly slower than Amtrak but a lot more genteel. Having a day sleeper to myself leads to only one major disadvantage: there is no ventilation. I took off my sweater and socks, even changed into shorts and left the door open but no air flows.
The cows are fatter the further south I go. The landscape switches from subtropical rain forest to Welsh countryside (thus the desire to call it New South Wales) after we cross the Manning River. Each region is beautiful in a completely different way. I can tell the rain is reaching the land after two weeks of pouring horror, not washing everything into the South Pacific.
Peter pointed out that the Australian continent broke off the southern Pangea before any of the other continents or major islands. This is why there are massive fern forests as you move inland from the Gold Coast, in the Blue Mountains two hours outside Sydney... all over the place. Ferns are prototypes for trees but do not have the complex vascular structure. Thus it's amazing to see how they evolved when not overcrowded by the deciduous woods.
I took some pictures, but most are not coming out well. The window is dirty and has steam trapped between panes. The best I can say is that I'm captivated by the scenery, very pleased I took the day run instead of the overnight, and miserably annoyed with the Oits. I can focus on the most amazingly scenery I've ever found but I wish I could show you all of it. Take the train from Sydney to Brisbane if you ever get the chance and be sure to get a seat facing the coastline -- or just get a first class ticket. Valley upon different valley, fog bank upon horse farm, fern forest upon wild rock outcropping await you.
Just don't take the bus. That sucks. They don't understand expressways here.
I will warn you that Australia is into forest clearing the way Brazil is. It's not even hidden: I saw one hill in the subtropic right by the train line that was now stacks of Lincoln logs. The cutters were hard at work turning ancient forest into building material. I did also see replanting, but the rows along the ground scream Future Erosion Nation.
-I'll explain about the Oits in the next post, Ps/d
