All Aboaarrrrrdddddddd.................

There is something about boarding and riding a country train that is both relaxing and interesting. This afternoon I am catching a country link train down south to Jervis Bay. After catching an express bus into the city I boarded a train from Wynyard to Central, which is where all of the country link trains depart from. I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and tidy the platforms were and the staff were more than helpful whenever I needed assistance. This seems so different from the old days of public transport. It will take two hours to arrive at Bomerderry railway station, which is as far south as one can travel by train on the Illawarra and South Coast lines. It stops along the way at only a few stations. I was amused to read that some stations still can only accommodate 4 carriages due to their size and after all of these years one can only guess that these tiny country stations have never undergone any upgrade.

When I was first dating your Dad his family had a caravan (weekender) up at the Central Coast. I would often catch a train after work on Friday afternoons and J would pick me up from Wyong station which was a small country station back then. One evening in the pitch black of night I went to disembark the train when I realized that there was no platform to step out onto. To my dismay I remained on the train until the next station which also only allowed passengers to disembark if you were seated on the first four carriages. Not understanding what was going on I remained on the train until we eventually arrived at Gosford station and there was your Dad sitting in his car waiting for me. How did he know what had happened? Well he said that he knew I would never miss a train and that was the only logical explanation. How lucky was I lol. So you can imagination how amused I was to read in big capital letters that this train only had 4 carriages, and this is some 30 plus years later. This train journey is a lovely trip as it travels south down past Audley National Park to Wollongong and then straight down the coastline to Kiama where it cuts ever so slightly southwest. It passes through towns whose names remain in our memories from long ago; towns such as Thirroul, Scarborough, Coledale, Austinmer, Corrimal, before travelling back into Dapto around the great Lake Illawarra. That part of the trip is just as beautiful because the train weaves its way south through lovely fields of greenery and often passes lakes and livestock. Once we hit Scarborough the views changed drastically; the sea was suddenly there and the seaside life was taking place. Above the train were magnificent cliff faces and above the cliffs were Para-sailors leaping into the open air. Below us was a very vivid blue ocean with swimmers dotted along the shores.

The train wove its way through another forest and out the other side to more ocean views surrounding Austinmer and Corrimal. All along the way we passed container ships carrying goods north and then onto South East Asia. Back in the early days of the south coast the port facilitated the export of coal to the Sydney market. Later on it grew to send steel and other bulk cargoes. The groups of ships appeared to sail in groups of fifteen, three abreast. There must be a channel or shipping lane that runs parallel with our beautiful coastline and there they were. We left Thirroul to head towards North Wollongong and I was disappointed to see the hillsides drop down to ground level; my views slowly removed. To the west of this area the Great Dividing Range comes down closer to the coastline so the mountain range looks quite close from here, it was green and thick with vegetation and I would bet that it gets very cold in Winter in this area, the sun and daylight over shadowed by the hills. Further along we passed many areas that had been devastated by the floods last month; every now and then one could see the tramples vegetation and the sodden grounds. In some places we could still see water. Very soon I arrived at my destination with J waiting for me. I had spent a total of two hours enjoying the lovely scenery and the relaxation of the train. Go ahead, have an open mind, try it one day and do something a bit different by seeing some of the world from a train window!