Canberra to Melbourne

 An early start ensured I was at the railway station in good time for the coach section of my journey. My raincoat was required for the walk from my accommodation to the bus stop.

The bus was a little late then the driver informed me that I could have booked the coach to Yass then train. As it is, I'm booked on the coach through to Cootamundra.

Plenty of space to start with

The bonus is that the seat next to me isn't booked.

A message from NSW train link informs me the train is delayed for an uncertain length of time due to flooding near Campbelltown.

We proceed through reasonably heavy rain and I watched the scenery passing by. 

 As we approached Yass, another message came through advising that the train was cancelled. A few passengers considered leaving the coach at Yass to make their way back to Canberra, but I think most changed their mind and continued to Cootamundra. The service was cancelled due to flooding on the tracks near Campbelltown.

My seat, now at the front of the bus, gave an excellent view of the road and scenery ahead and the weather gradually cleared.

The coach diverted off the main road regularly to visit small villages which might or might not have passengers waiting at the bus stop. 

The driver did call ahead to Cootamundra to find if there were any plans to replace the service to Melbourne unfortunately with a negative answer.

A passenger sitting nearby was busy with his laptop looking for various alternatives and I mentioned perhaps higher car and he indicated preparedness to share in such a venture.

As we alighted from the coach at Cootamundra, one staff member advised there was still no replacement service but no doubt something would be organised soon. I subsequently checked with the ticket counter and nothing. The young lady behind the ticket counter, in response to my questions, advised that all options had been investigated including a spare school bus to get passengers cross country to somewhere where we could connect with an alternate service.

At that point I called Christine to suggest it might be advisable to cancel our restaurant booking for the evening as I knew neither how nor when I might get to Melbourne at that stage.

I enquired about car hire in town and was advised there was one such business and between us we found a phone number. Another passenger standing nearby advised that the higher car business in Cootamundra did require return of the vehicle to Cootamundra, which would be rather limiting. 

I reported this back to the man with whom I'd been discussing the hirecar alternative and another passenger indicated she was also interested.  The requirement to return the car to Cootamundra could be accommodated as the man, Marcus, needed to return to Canberra on Sunday. 

So I called the business and we got all the information and I said I'd call him back. In the meantime, we did a few calculations comprising hire car for 3 days at $185 a day, excess mileage rounding out at about 400 km each way at $0.25 per kilometre and estimating fuel for the return journey at around 1200 kilometres all up and the total, even divided by three, was a little ridiculous. 

Marcus decided his project wasn't that important and he would take the only option that had been offered to us of coach back to Canberra that afternoon. Jill had been looking online at other options and identified there was a an overnight Greyhound bus from Canberra to Melbourne and my statement that I could think of very few things worse was one with which she concurred. 

Jill had also investigated flights from Canberra and it turned out there was a 6:50 that evening with Virgin that, while expensive, was perhaps not as expensive as some. 

So I decided that was what I had to do. I went through to the ticket office again and advised I'd like the coach back. Thank you! And asked if they could weigh my bag because I had packed for carry-on luggage with Qantas and we were about to fly Virgin which would be unhappy with the weight of my bag. 

That done and airline ticket booked with checked luggage. I loitered around the train station to fill time until the coach left back to Canberra. Others had gone into town looking for a cafe but given dietary restrictions I thought that was all too hard and settled for the picnic lunch that I had prepared earlier. 

Cootamundra Railway Platform

The way that continued to improve as we travelled from cootamundra back to Canberra. 

We were a little delayed getting back to Canberra and I raced for the bus stop to get the connecting bus to the airport but looking at the schedule it was going to be very tight and I booked an Uber.

Jill arrived just at that point and indicated she was very happy to share the Uber and we got to the airport in very good time to check in my bag for her to check herself in and to sit for a little bit before our flight was called. 

Time to relax at the airport

I'd had little choice about my seat, even though I had a ticket, the price of which allowed choice of seats. There was only one to choose from and it was a middle seat in the back row which turned out to be between two gentlemen, one of whom was very fat. 

I warned the fat gentleman on my right about my uncomfortable shoulder. I was wearing a sling to reinforce that and advised him that knocking my shoulder would probably result in the whole plane hearing my scream and that need to scrape me off the ceiling. He stood warned and while he tried to keep his distance he was just too damned big to do so. It was an uncomfortable flight.

The skybus and trains from Tullamarine to Brighton required only a minimum wait in each case and Christine met me at the station. We repaired to her place and a well earned cup of tea.