Traveling from Melbourne to Sydney, plane or train?

[pinguinjo]

November 11th we will go on the Great Barrier Reef cruise with Royal Caribbean departing from Sydney. Before and after the cruise we will spend some time in Australia. We start in Adelaide for about 5 days, want to visit Kangaroo Island, take the Overlander to Melbourne where we will stay another four days, want to have a daytour to the Great ocean road and will than travel to Sydney. I'm thinking of taking the train from Melbourne to Sydney. Can anybody tell me if it is worth to do this 12,5 hours trip or do you recommend to take the plane (1,5 hour)?

After the cruise we want to spend some days on the sunshine coast in a hotel or resort. Has anyone suggestions for me? Thanks in advance. Joyce

[Globaliser]

I think that the first question is whether you want to do the train journey as an end in itself, or just as transportation. If you are primarily after transportation, I would just fly - it is very cheap, very frequent and very fast.

 

I think that another pertinent question is whether you have been to Australia before, and when else you think you might get back there. If it's a first trip, I would personally recommend spending more time sightseeing than sitting on a train, even though some of the trains are great holidays in themselves - but only if you treat the journey as an end in itself.

[vozzie]

Although I love trains too, I'm with Globaliser. It's a long sit-up trip and it's mainly through scrubby farm land. If you were talking the "Indian Pacific" or the "Ghan" ... that would be different.

 

As for the Sunshine Coast, try this link:

 

http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au/sunshine-coast-holidays/

 

My personal recommendations would be Mooloolaba (beautiful safe ocean beach and lots of coffee shops), or Noosaville (along the river, also with coffee shops) ... although Nossa itself is famous and popular with the "trendies":cool:, I would give it a miss.

[jane02]

Definately fly. The train trip is so boring.

I must be a "trendy" as I love Noosa.

[Aussie Gal]

I too recommend taking the plane. The train trip is long and boring and the train isn't like the Ghan, the Indian Pacific or the Queenslander.

 

It is not worth wasting a day of your holiday, when you can fly to Sydney in just over an hour and a plane leaves nearly every 30 minutes.

 

Do you know that the route between Sydney and Melbourne is the third busiest in the world?

 

Jennie

[cloakndagger]

At the moment they are doing up the train lines between Melbourne and Sydney. My friend caught the train and I bussed it up. We arrived 2 hours earlier than the train did. Both leaving from Spencer Street in Melbourne, and arriving at the same depot in Sydney.

 

It will be ongoing for another few months.

 

Price difference with flights and train isn't that much...we bussed as we had a lot of luggage and it was cheaper than excess on the flight.

 

My first choice would be plane.

[vozzie]

Not that there's anything wrong in being trendy, jane02 ... it's just that us Queenslanders are mere simple folk ...:D

[pinguinjo]

To all of you, thanks for your advice. We definitely will take the plane from Melbourne to Sydney. In Mooloolaba I found some nice resorts with good prices, so I think we will go for one of them.

Can anybody tell me if the train from Adelaide to Melbourne will go through an interesting area or can we better take the plane too?

We don't see the train only as a way of transportion but as an experience to see more of Australia.

Last year we did the Auckland - Sydney cruise and have visited Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney, the last one for a few days, with a daytrip to the lovely Blue Mountains, and now we are looking forward to coming back to this beautiful country. Joyce

[vozzie]

That's a hard one to answer. If you haven't seen any of Australia's interior ... then perhaps you could consider it. The train itself, "The Overlander" would be a good experience. Here are some sites that might help you decide:

 

http://www.gsr.com.au/our-trains/the-overland/the-journey.php

 

http://www.railpage.org.au/railmaps/vicwest.htm

 

http://www.railmaps.com.au/routedetails.php?RouteSelect=32

[cands]

To all of you, thanks for your advice. We definitely will take the plane from Melbourne to Sydney. In Mooloolaba I found some nice resorts with good prices, so I think we will go for one of them.

Can anybody tell me if the train from Adelaide to Melbourne will go through an interesting area or can we better take the plane too?

We don't see the train only as a way of transportion but as an experience to see more of Australia.

Last year we did the Auckland - Sydney cruise and have visited Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney, the last one for a few days, with a daytrip to the lovely Blue Mountains, and now we are looking forward to coming back to this beautiful country. Joyce

 

By all means take the train from Adelaide to Melbourne as part of your Australian experience. Most people have very short attention spans and so train travel is a chore.

 

If you enjoy travelling by train "The Overland" will be fun. The scenery is very diverse.

Leaving Adelaide you climb through the scenic Mt Lofty Ranges (worth the journey in itself).

The scenery opens out to farming and grazing land and certainly will show you the vastness of our country.

Be sure to travel in First Class, enjoy the space and comfort and have a relaxing lunch while watching the scenery go by.

What could be more enjoyable. Certainly not an hour in a tin can!

 

Steve

(Who has travelled by train twice across Canada and once across the USA from coast to coast)

[Aussie Gal]

Our son did the trip from Adelaide on the Overland last week and did enjoy the trip. The only downside is that the train doesn't leave from the centre of Adelaide but a station a little way out, where the Ghan and the Indian Pacific also leave.

 

It is a lovely trip. As Cands mentioned you start off in hilly country and by the time you reach the border between S.A. and Victoria, you are in our wheat country and it becomes quite flat. They have been doing repairs on the track and up until a week ago you had to take a special bus between Geelong and Melbourne, but that is finished now so it is a comfortable trip of about 9 hours or so.

 

Jennie