Terra Incognita Australis VII: Getting to Sydney Pt. II

Having dealt with the macro scale of traveling to Sydney, it's time to address the micro. By fortune, by providence, by happenstance, my lodgings for my brief stint in New South Wales would be with a friend's brother and his girlfriend at their home just to the North of Sydney in the erstwhile borough of Killara. While this was a serious benefit in many ways (accommodation gratis, a knowledgeable guide, not one but TWO black labs), it also meant that getting into Sydney was going to be slightly more difficult than just hopping a tram as I had in Melbourne. This involved a 20-30 minute walk through the suburbs to the train platform and then a train down to Sydney Central Station.
When I say the suburbs, you really would not be far off if you pictured a cross between Florida and McLean or Great Falls, Virginia. In this respect, Sydney is bizarrely like the United States. Walking around constantly reminded me of different aspects of home. It was simultaneously comforting as well as annoying. Having come to appreciate a slightly higher density of living in the UK, anything more spacious feels a tad extravagant. And extravagance is the rule in Killara. Have a look online; most of the homes have at least a tennis court if not a swimming pool as well. In spite of this, there are some really lovely homes with excellent views of the parkland that is interwoven into the fabric of Sydney's northern suburbs.

You did not misread above; I did say that I was taking a train. I found this simply marvellous and I consider it to be one of the most admirable things about urban Australia; it has a Victorian (period, not state) railway network. Had America remained in the Empire, well, there would have been all sorts of untold consequences for history. For all the benefits that Independence has granted us, we did miss out on one of the greatest periods of cultural optimism in the Victorian Age. Australians are direct inheritors of this legacy and still benefit from it to this day. Especially so in the form of a lovely train system. The Killara platform would have been at home on any rail line in the UK. Check out the pictures; it's really bizarre. It's not so much the fact that Australia has a railway network, it's that it is so good. With what little exposure I had to it, I can draw several conclusions (as written in my notebook):

1) Just because a ticket office is advertised to open at 7:30 am need not imply that it actually will. I was left with a moment of panic on the platform at Killara when I realised that the ticket office was not open. The ticket machine did not seem like it would accept my card and I had no bills. By what can only be the grace of God I had exactly $4.20 Australian in change; the fare from Killara to Sydney Central.

2) "Beware Gap when Boarding" lacks the cheeky simplicity of "Mind the Gap"

3) I was disappointed that the train wasn't called the "Emu Express" or "Wacky Wallaby." Come on Australia, it isn't stereotypical, it's a part of your heritage.

4) The Sydney rail system reminded me more of the German S-Bahn than British Rail. Again, it's not so much that Sydney has rail, it's that it is so bizarrely out of place and that much better than the British rail system.

Much like the remarkable flight from Melbourne I described in my last blog post, the North Shore line does not fail to disappoint with scenery as it approaches the city. The closer one gets to Sydney proper, the more rocky, hilly, and grand the landscape becomes. Eventually, it all opens up into a spectacular view overlooking the harbour and the old town down on the rocks. Easily the best 25 minutes I've spent on a train, ever.