A Birthday

 

Bago Maze and Winery 27/01/2023

 

Bago Maze and Winery https://www.bago.com.au/

Australia Day 2024

 

Tuncury

A Long Australia Day Weekend 25/01/2024

Thursday 25th of January 2023

My train trip to Wauchope see my Darling, 262.45km (163 Miles) away...

Maitland Flood level markers and indicator board. Time to enjoy some brunch at Café Loco. The temperature is now 40°C and later hit 42°C!

Feels odd being on this platform!

 

The XPT was meant to be the answer to "fast" train travel in Australia. Sadly it is not! The trip averaged 66km/h (41MPH) far short of the 200km/h (124MPH) requirement to be considered a fast train.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_XPT

I travelled Economy Class.

Pros:

• Cheaper than the alternatives.
• Great Staff!
• Food is OK - The buffet cart has a range of snacks, drinks, alcohol and even do full hot meals for about $10-12. The Sausage roll was dry and had more train miles than me! Other food was fine!
• Seating is similar to economy aircraft seating.
• More space than your average economy airfare!
• Luggage is not policed if you carry it onboard
• Nice scenery!
• Reasonable toilet facilities.
• You are not stuck in your seat unlike bus or air travel.

Cons:

• Slow and long! 4.5 hours from Maitland to Wauchope!
• Susceptible to running late due to the other users of the line. We were 30 minutes late into Wauchope.
• Seating is good but your bum will be complaining after the first hour or so...
• Dated. Build date 1981–1994
• No WiFi
• No charging facilities - bring a power bank!
• Was a particularly hot day going north and the air conditioning was only just coping!
• Did I mention is is slow?

Overall I'd give it a 6 out of 10

Entertainment was proved on the trip north courtesy of one gentleman (term used very loosely) who was getting agitated due to nicotine withdrawals, He was caught out smoking in the toilet and as the train was running late and not getting enough on the platform during the major stops. He spent a lot of time pacing the train muttering to himself and his command of the King's English would have embarrassed a sailor!

Window tint makes it hard to take good photos but you get the idea about the scenery. 

All photos are © copyright to Paul Anslow www.anslow.net, with the exception of Wauchope Station by Abesty - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122359654

DX Group Reunion

Samantha's Graduation

1964 - Castel Felice on route to Australia.

Arriving on board at Southampton.

  

A photo of me with some other bewildered kids struggling with the lady's Italian accent.

I'm the one second on the left of the lady reading.







I remember that not long out of Southampton  we experienced a severe storm in the Bay of Biscay. our cabin was located on deck C, forrad and to port, the small porthole spent  most of the time underwater. We were seasick along with most of the passengers and crew. The best thing to for seasickness is to be on deck, so we did, I remember being in a saloon at night watching the storm.

My Mum and Dad sitting closest on the right. there was two sittings, one separate for the children

A lapel badge

Our voyage took us though the Suez Canal, the Ship stopping at Port Said, Aden, Fremantle, Melbourne, finally arriving in Sydney. We disembarked at Station Pier in Melbourne and traveled the last leg to Launceston, Tasmania, by  plane, an Ansett ANA Fokker Friendship

The Castel Felice has quite a history. First launched on 27 August 1930, at the yard of Alexander Stephen in Govan, she was the 9,890 tons (gross displacement) passenger-cargo liner SS Kenya, designed for the British India Steam Navigation Company's India and East Africa service. She then became HMS Hydra, a troop carrier for Royal Navy in World War II, then converted to an armed infantry landing ship, HMS Keren, she saw service in various roles, including the invasion of Sicily and Italy. In 1949, Kenya underwent a complete conversion for the liner services and entered Sitmar service as the Castel Felice in 1952.

POSTCARD : S / S CASTEL FELICE, SITMAR LINE GENOA

At 12,400 tons she carried 596 cabin passengers and 944 emigrants. Castel Felice made her first voyage to Australia in 1952 but made only a few cruises from Sydney. She made a number of liner voyages from Europe to the Americas before being sold for breaking up in Taiwan in 1970.