Wed 22nd Nov – XPT
7am – 4pm. The Long Way Up.
The XPT from Sydney to Coffs will be my chariot into the afterlife. It is an endless, baffling trip from Sydney to the Mid North Coast. In your head, you think that it is going to take you via the coast. Wrong. From Newcastle, you then end up in Maitland, and from there, you visit every small town until you hit Nambucca and find yourself again somewhat near the coast. You try and follow a map while you travel, but that is a pointless exercise because for 75% of the trip there is no internet connection. At one point towards the end I saw some banana trees and was thankful for the trees to tell me I was on track.
Music: Due to near zero internet connection, you better enjoy the album you were listening to on Spotify when you had reception. It will be the only choice you get for hours. For me thankfully this was Death Cab For Cutie’s Narrow Stairs.
Old people: The XPT is a must do and you are old, with a persistent cough and/or like clearing your throat loudly and constantly. Five stars for body noises.
Today the blogger took me on a visual and olfactory journey. I could feel the bumps and noises of the train along with the musty stale smell of the other prisoners caught on this slow moving steel prison.
I’m sure the only things that keep her sane was the perfect choice of music and the anticipation of jovial company upon alighting this medieval form of transport.
Less weather talk certainly improved my enjoyment of today’s post.