We are leaving Syney for the moment. We are taking the train to Bowral for our first wwoofing experience. This is our first train trip and this is time to discover the service of our partner NSW Trainlink.

Pass and tickets

To travel with NSW Trainlink, we have Discovery passes with which we can travel for free on the whole network during 6 months. This pass costs 420$ per person. Knowing that the NSW Trainlink network covers a large teritory from Melbourne to Brisbane, this seems good value ! The pass also exists for 3 month, 1 month or 2 weeks.

Once we have our passes, it is really easy to book tickets. It can be done in any travel center in any station (beware of opening hours), or online at :

Luggage Check-in

This is a practical service and quite unusual for a train trip. It is possible (in big stations at least) to have your luggages ckecked-in, just like in an airport, and since the morning of the day you travel. This is really pratical for backpackers like us ! Our train is at 6pm, but we’ve done the luggage check-in at 11am so we can spend a quiet afternoon in the city. We feel much lighter without our backpacks !

The trip

For this 1st australian train experience, trains seem to be on time ! In the car, it’s a bit noisy (at least in the one we are) but this is quite roomy and confortable. Service is really good, and the food we can buy on board is quite cheap. For instance, we can have a pie for less than 5$. Main meals are between 8 and 10$.

This 1st trip is quite short and lasts only 1h45 but it leaves us with quite a good impression. We will know more about NSW Trainlink on tuesday, after our next train trip (by night), between Moss Vale and Melbourne.