Choo Choo! A Brotherly Train Trip Through Australia!

The title of this blog post says; A brotherly Train Trip Through Australia. But that’s how it ended, not how it began. The initial plan was to buy a car in Melbourne and use that as our primary transport method between Melbourne and Darwin. Well, things did not work out that way. If you have read our latest blog: Exploring Victoria in Style, you quickly realise that we were almost homeless due to poor planning around 20 guys racing cars in Melbourne. 

Although the start of our journey was challenging, we were fortunate enough to receive the support of some dear friends who helped us turn our fortunes around. With revitalised spirits, we embarked on a fabulous Easter road trip that proved a vibrant success. However, our travels were far from over, and we knew we still had a long way to go if we were to reach our ultimate destination, Darwin. We set our sights on the road ahead and began to map out the rest of our journey.

As a blessing in disguise, Avalon’s car sickness brought us to the New South Wales train pass. Avalon assured me she would “chuck up” everywhere on the bus, so we paid slightly more for the premium experience. We booked and left Melbourne that night for Syndey on the overnight train. This pass now unlocked unlimited travel between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and everywhere else public transport could reach in the NSW region. 

Living like a local in Newcastle:

As fate would have it, our change of plans granted us a few extra days to explore beyond our initial itinerary. Instead of getting off the train in Syndey, we expanded our journey to Newcastle. The city was already on Avalon’s radar as her friend Alex studied there. As for me, I was excited to discover a new destination, and Newcastle did not disappoint. 

While staying with Alex and her friends, we visited some of the city’s top attractions in Newcastle. First up was the Memorial Drive, a scenic road that winds up a hill with stunning views of the city and its surrounding coastline. Next, we visited the Newcastle Museum, which tells the story of the city’s history and evolution. The museum features interactive exhibits and artifacts that showcase Newcastle’s past, present and future.

No trip to Newcastle is complete without a visit to Fort Scratchley. Scratchley is a historic military fort that defended the city during World War II. It looks out on Nobby Head which was another must-visit attraction for us. Furthermore, we also paid a visit to the Blackbutt Reserve, a beautiful nature reserve just a short distance from the city centre. To end, we had a day trip to Nelson Bay. 

Change of plans: Exploring Canberra:

Our plans took an unexpected turn in the middle of the night when Kobe called me from Melbourne Airport to notify me that his flight to Sydney had been cancelled. While I was unsure why he couldn’t wait for a more reasonable hour to call, I quickly got on finding a solution. It would have been impolite to ask him to take a train from Melbourne to Sydney after his long flight from Belgium. Instead, I found an inexpensive flight from Melbourne to Canberra to get him halfway to our destination. Thankfully, my unlimited travel pass allowed me to make the trip to Canberra at no additional cost. 

After almost four years, it was great to reunite in Canberra. Despite the plans change, we had a fantastic time in Canberra and saw some incredible sights. We visited some of the city’s most popular attractions after dinner and a good night’s sleep. These included the National Museum of Australia, the Canberra botanical gardens, Capitol Hill, and the Australian War Memorial. We learned about Australia’s history, culture, and people at the National Museum. At Capitol Hill, we saw some of the most important government buildings in the country, including the Parliament House and the High Court of Australia. And at the Australian War Memorial, we paid our respects to the men and women who have served in the Australian military throughout history.

Sibling Travel Chronicles: A Journey to Sydney:

Canberra was a great city for our first catch-up, but Kobe didn’t fly from Belgium to Australia to see Canberra. Kobe and I were ready to hit the road again on our brotherly train trip (with Av in tow), this time to explore the beautiful city of Sydney. After reuniting with Avalon, we explored the iconic Syndey Harbour and its landmarks, including the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. 

However, Kobe isn’t a city person, so we tried to get out of the city as much as possible with all the rain torturing the East Coast of Australia. From the Kurung-Gai National Park to the Blue Mountains, the sunny Australia I promised Kobe wasn’t as bright as I had hoped for myself. Luckily we got treated a little better on our trips to Manly, a suburb of Sydney’s northern beaches, and Bondi Beach, where we also walked along the Bondi to Coogee walk.

Our time in Sydney was jam-packed, and besides all the rain, we had some unforgettable experiences. For Kobe, it was a great first introduction to Australia. Next to some coastal suburbs and the iconic Sydney Harbour, he was introduced to new animals and a new and different culture and lifestyle. 

A Coastal Getaway: Travelling to Coffs Harbour:

Visiting Coffs Harbour wasn’t on our plan. Although, since Kobe broke his collarbone a few weeks before our trip, we had to rearrange some plans. Instead of travelling from Sydney to Cairns, we decided to travel towards Brisbane, with a little stop on K’gari Fraser Island. In short, we basically had to throw out most plans because Kobe decided that riding on someone’s shoulders at a concert as a 6 foot 2 grown-ass man was a good idea, haha. Our trip to Coffs Harbour was good in its own way.

Coffs came to us as more of a halfway stop-over point. All we knew was the Big Banana and some hiking trails. Sadly, the hiking trails were closed due to flooding and landslide risks (which we only found out after walking 10km through the streets to get to the track). However, we did see a tiny dutch village on the way back, so not all was lost. All in all, it could have been a disaster for a destination had it not been for the friends we made in the hostel.

Cat and Will were two Irish travellers we happened to meet at the hostel one night with another backpacker from Argentina, Santiago. While we only stayed two nights in the hostel, we could not have had better nights playing card games with them. They were terrific people to meet, and we were sad when we all parted ways. Although Avalon was vengeful as she didn’t win a single hand of the game, she keeps in contact with Cat still to this day. Before our late train took us to Byron Bay, we explored the region slightly further inland, with Santiago to Scouts Falls. It was a great way to end an uneventful but joyful few days.

Chasing Waves and Sunsets: Exploring Byron Bay:

There is just no way a backpacker can miss exploring Byron Bay on their road trip. Byron was a long train and bus ride from Coffs Harbour, but it was a chance to catch up on lost sleep. On the bus ride from Casino to Byron, we saw first-hand the devastation and damage the 2022 floods had on the area. Lismore was one of the hardest-hit towns on the whole east coast. Even though we travelled at night, it was hard to miss the damaged sites. Once we arrived in Byron, we started our next brotherly (plus Av) adventure. 

With only three days in Byron, we got right to business exploring this great backpacker destination. We did the famous walk to the lighthouse and the most eastern point of mainland Australia, some great bars and lots of swimming.

Overall, our time in Byron Bay was a success. Avalon got to go to her beloved Byron Bay cookie store, and Kobe got a taste of one of the most famous towns in Australia. But it was time for the next adventure – the Gold Coast!

Blues on the Beach: A Journey to the Gold Coast’s Music Scene:

The Gold Coast is another highly anticipated and recommended destination on the east coast. However, our trip would have been underwhelming if not for the Blues on Broadbeach. We allowed two nights here, one for the night we arrived and one to see the nightlife. Our hostel was right in the centre and was pretty nice. We spent the first day just walking around, seeing the city and the beaches, looking for something to do. Then we stumbled into the Blues on Broadbeach blues festival and knew we had our weekend planned.

The Blues on Broadbeach was incredible. A free event that covered four days, and there was music everywhere. The first night was a bar night, about a 30-minute walk from our hostel, but we made it work. The night was so good. We wrote off anything we had planned to return to the festival the next day. While Kobe went to a koala sanctuary, Av and I returned to enjoy music and food. We walked from stage to stage all day and were sad that we had already booked our bus for that night to Brisbane, or we would have happily stayed at the festival all weekend!

Brisbane Bliss: A Getaway to Australia’s Sunshine Capital:

Brisbane was a quick one-hour bus drive from the Gold Coast and was our home base for the following two weeks. We had much planned for our time in Brisbane that it was hard to know where to start! Luckily, our hostel was nicely situated next to the train station, so it was easy to catch public transport to where we needed to go. As usual, the first few days we spent exploring the city itself. Southbank was just across the river from the hostel, so we explored all the art galleries and museums in sight before looking for adventures outside the city. After our days exploring the city, Kobe parted ways with us for his little adventure to Fraser Island, so we spent the next week just Av and I. 

Our first adventure out of the city itself was to Mt Coot-Tha. With views overlooking Brisbane city, we knew it was something not to miss. The botanical gardens were our first stop before the mountain itself. We luckily allowed plenty of time in them as we kept getting lost trying to find the trail to the summit. When we finally reached the summit, it started pouring rain, so we stopped to eat a snack before heading back down. This was where it began to go wrong for Avalon. Having eaten half a muffin before sprinting up the hill to catch the bus back to the hostel, Avalon did not make it through the entire bus journey before running off the bus, feeling very sick. We just returned to the hostel before the poor thing had to excuse herself to welcome the muffin back into the world in the bathroom toilet. 

Back to travelling with two, making future plans:

North Stradbroke Island was our next adventure, and we cannot rave about it enough. A quick day trip it was, but it was enough to see the bones of the island. Had we had more time, spending a few nights on the island would have been great. After that triumph of a trip, we decided that the island above it needed some attention. Little did we know at the time, but this humble Moreton Island would soon become our new home. But that is a story for another time. We spent the day snorkelling the infamous Tangalooma Wrecks and finding out about their Divemaster internship programs. Leaving the island was sad, and we were determined to return one day. Thankfully, after Darwin, we did. 

After our two island days, it was time to catch up with more of Avalon’s friends. At this point, I realised that Av wanted to go places to see some of her friends. So it was no surprise that she took me to meet Charlotte. Charlotte was so lovely that after our dinner, she offered us her car to see the Glass House Mountains, which I had wrongly been referring to as the Blue Glass Mountains, but oh well. We took her up on the offer, and my oh my, are the mountains something to see. Sadly, the weather wasn’t fantastic. Besides, most of the mountains we wanted to climb were shut, but we had a great time nonetheless. We will return to the Glass House Mountains again soon, so watch for the next few posts!

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