Me, with my trusty backpack and Matt, with his huge new case made our way down to the local railway station in Ashfield for the short trip to Sydney Central where we were to catch the train for our first leg of the journey. Being so vast, Australia does not have a massive train network. We arrived at the station in good time and had chance too grab a cup of coffee and a 'Krispy Kreme' donut. One is never enough, but, bing on a diet now, having put around two stones on since I arrived in OZ we decided that we would not be greedy. We had a Hungry Jacks 'Whopper' meal instead.
We boarded the tran and Matt decided he wanted something to read so jumped off the train. i did have visions that it would go without him, it didn't. While he was pissing about with his 'huge' case though, he did lose his credit card. fortunately the steward on the train found it and he was reunited. Lucky !
The journey to Bega went via 'The Nation's Capital', Canberra, that leg of the journey took around four and a half hours. From there we take a coach on for the couple of hours to . Its all integrated, the coach is waiting at the railway station for you so it is basically, off the train, onto the bus and off you go again. The journey was very comfortable. The weather was appalling, it was nice to be watching the fork lightening and torrential rain from inside for a change...
The scenery during the journey was beautiful, despite the inclement weather. after the suburbs of Sydney we made our way into the semi bushland, stopping off along the way. it was a little like the countryside on the last part of the journey to Chesterfield through the Derbyshire Dales. The difference being that these trains seemed to adhere to a timetable. At the prescribed time we arrived in Canberra. I'm not sure what I was expecting but a railway station the size of Chesterfield was not it. Being the 'Nations Capital' i expected something bigger.
Graeme, our friendly Aussie coach driver got us boarded and we were on our way. It would be another two and a half hour to Bega, with a 30 minute stop along the way. The weather was still bad and although it was only 6 o'clock, t was quite dark. not too dark to enjoy the scenery and quite a few Kangaroos hopping around in the bushland. The journey took us over the 'Snowy Mountains'. Its quite a steep climb and by the time we hit Cooma, our stopping point, the temperature had plummeted and it as positively arctic. We had another cup of hot coffee to keep out the chill and a wander around the town. It was a bit out of date. Around the park were flags, included was one for Yugoslavia, long gone. Once back on board we headed further up the passes, such as the height we actually passed snow on the ground. It was hail really but whatever.
At 8.15, spot on time we arrived in Bega. It is a small town of 5,000 people. a little inland from the Sapphire Coast in South New South Wales. It waas actually pissing down when we arrived. I watched the bags while Matt went to try and track down a taxi. By some stroke of luck he found one and we made our way to the hospital he would be working at for the next four weeks. Once again, as part of the contract, they would be providing accommodation. We picked up the key to the shared house and walked the short distance to the house.
My face must have been a picture. It was rather like a cross between a halfway house and a hostel. We were met at the door by what can only be described as an Angry Woman. She pointed out the bedroom, a single bed !!
Pointed out huge Huntsman spider that was half poking out of the aircon unit. Told us that everything on the second shelf of the fridge was hers and not to touch it and then disappeared into her room. It was wine O'clock. It was fortunate that I had brought a bottle of wine with me. We celebrated the warm welcome to Bega.
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Location:Auckland St,Bega,Australia
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