Ash Travels on the Trains in Melbourne. Day 2.
Ash Travels on the Trains in Melbourne.
Day 2 - The Sandringham, Frankston, Cranbourne, Pakenham, Glen Waverley, Alamein, Belgrave and Lilydale lines!
6.40 Seddon. It’s dark and I’m tiered. Wonder if I’m more insane than I thought. Was going to take a photo of my squished morning face, only to be met with some infernal beeping and the message “Batteries depleted. Camera shutting down” when trying to turn the camera on. Briefly consider admitting defeat and going home to bed, but luckily I’m apparently made by sterner stuff than that, and decide to just buy new batteries at Flinders Street.
7.00 Arrive at Flinders Street. Run to convenience store for batteries ($4.95) and to Coffee HQ for breakfast (we were out of coffee this morning and I really need some). Get a chicken bagel and a large Long Black (all in all $10.30 – today is already more expensive than all of yesterday).
7.12 Leave Flinders Street on the Sandringham train! The Sun goes up! Looks like we have a beautiful day ahead! The coffee is wonderful! Mood already much better!
7.37 Arr. Sandringham (matey). Very nice! Line: Town centres and houses, good amounts of trees and greenery. Every stop on the line (including the end station) looks like a charming place to live! Also, the sea can be seen (not merely glimpsed) Brighton Beach – Hampton.
7.35 Leave Sandingham!
7.50 Coffee runs out, so I put on the mp3-player. First song of the day is Modern days by The Ark. And the second is Hard Rock Hallelujah! I play it twice.
8.10 Arr. South Yarra. Delayed! Have I missed the Frankston train?
8.15 No! It was likewise delayed! Sometimes those things do work out in your favour… Surprisingly crowded train – I can see that the trains towards the city are full, but why are all these people going out to Frankston at 8 am a weekday morning?
9.10 Frankston! Line: Nice and long! None of that WTF Are we there already?-feeling that was all too common yesterday. Quite ordinary suburbia while in the inner suburbs, but gets better as it goes and the houses move away from the tracks and the shops and restaurants align themselves along the tracks (instead of on angle against it, as usually). Quite nice, especially as one can see the sea between the houses Aspendale – Carrum.
10.02 Arrive Caulfield, late! Fall over three teenage boys in my hurry to get of the train, apologise, pick myself up, run for the 10.03 Cranbourne train (on the other side of the station) and make it! All to the tune of I am the black wizards by Emperor.
10.25 Pass Sandown Park – supposed to work there on Saturday. It’s further away than I thought. Means an other early morning…
10.50 Arr Cranbourne! Line: Caulfield-Dandenong is shared with the Pakenham line; flat land, suburbia with lots of parks, lawns and wide streets, some open field. Cranbourne line proper (past Dandenong) has some industries but they soon give way to open fields and country (farms, animals). Sheep and horsies, awesome!
11.08 Leave Cranbourne to the tune of La Mer / Sarah Brightman.
11.20 Arr. in Dandenong. See the Pakenham train pull in on the other platform, run!
11.25 Pakenham train actually leaves.
11.49 Arr. Pakenham! The line ‘proper’ has the same make-up of (industries, suburbs, country) but grows increasingly country, more farms and animals! Also gets a little hillier, nice!
11.55 Indeed, lots of supermarkets, cafés and a pub, almost making me wish I’d scheduled a longer break here. Decide for Goody’s Café and Take Away (the place with the cocal-cola sign on the photo), get a warm Chicken Caesar wrap, a bottle of juice and a potato cake ($10.20). Spending lots of money today, but worth it!
12.05 Back on train! Attack food.
12.10 Leaving Pakenham.
1.20 Arr. Richmond. Have missed the 1.17 Glen Waverley, to no surprise as I figured out that was bound to happen several stations ago. Next one is 1.31, putting me 15 behind schedule, can only hope that won’t prove too disastrous.
Buy chocolate from the vending machine.
1.33 Leave Richmond.
1.35 Passing Burnley… Ah, Burnley, the site of my first job in Australia! Now there is no tent in Burnley park, only some bare earth where it used to stand. Sniff.
2.04 Glen Waverley! Line: Pleasant looking suburbia, quite hilly though and so providing a fairly nice view.
2.11 Leaving Glen Waverley, still 15 min behind schedule. Coming home / Iron Saviour.
2.38 Arr Burnley. Off course, the train that just pulled in on the other platform turned out to be the Alamein one, the one that I wanted! Crap! Could have caught up on schedule there! 20 min behind now if I catch the next, still could be worse I guess.
3.03 Leaving Burnley on 10 min delayed Alamein train… In hindsight, I guess my schedule was too tight and bound to fall apart, but it was the only way to squeeze it all in between sunrise and sundown! I can only hope there is still some light to see by when I reach Lilydale.
For whom the bell tolls / W.A.S.P
3.25 Arr. Alamein. Line: Not very exciting, just as one could guess from such a troublesome line. Much like Glen Waverley, but a bit more rugged with more trees, also less hilly so less of a view.
3.41 Arr Camberwell. There’s a 3.48 Belgrave so that’s improvement to only 20 min behind! Yay! Well, it’s somewhat delayed off course, but you can’t have everything…
3.54 Leaving Camberwell, and it’s a limited express train, too! Limited express, how I adore thee!
4.00 Passing Box Hill, which is an underground station, how exciting!
4.39 Belgrave! Line is quite uneventful until Ringwood (Lilydale split), then gets better as you can see the mountains in the background as the train travels in the wide dales. The last stretch (past Ferntree Gully) is absolutely stunning! As the train then enters between the mountains themselves.
But does this beautiful end station have a toilet? No, and that’s becoming quite a problem…
4.45 Leaving Belgrave, towards the setting sun…
5.08 Ringwood! Bathroom! Ohmygodfinally!
5.18 Leaving Ringwood in gathering darkness. Luckily, Lilydale isn’t too far…
And there we are! Feeling immensely satisfied! Get of the train, stretch my legs, until…
5.48 Leaving Lilydale! Angelheads by The Ark in the headphones! Now all that is left to hope for is that the battery holds on until I get home…
6.47 Arr. Flinders street, incidentally, almost exactly 12 hours after I was here this morning…
7.05 Leave Flinders street…
7.23 …and am home in Seddon! VICTORY!!!
SUMMARY:
Zone 2 Metcard: $18.40
Food Day 1: $4.40
Food Day 2: $22.70
Batteries: $4.95
TOTAL: $50.45
Stations visited: 29 (14 day one, 15 day two)
Times Metcard validated: 8 (4 day one, 4 day two)
Times Metcard controlled: 0
Times public bathroom visited: 3 (1 day one, 2 day two)
Times when bathroom was needed but there wasn’t one/there wasn’t time: Uncountable
Favourite line: I’d still say Hurstbridge, but I probably need to go on it again to be able to compare it fairly to Belgrave.
Most boring line: Upfield, followed closely by Epping.
Tomorrow: Sleeping in.
…Am I really stupid for getting this absurdly proud feeling in my chest when looking at the Melbourne Railways Map? I feel like it’s a continent I’ve conquered.
2 comments:
I'm absurdly proud. *grin*
You should have seen her when she got home, she was the most excited thing ever.
Aw... *grin*
But do they not have toilets on Australian trains?!
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