Australia Eguide - Travel Guides

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destination and date of travel, but do not allow the pass to be marked yet, otherwise you
cannot change your mind. You will be issued with a ticket for travel, and immediately
prior to departure you return to the ticket office and ask for the journey to be recorded on
your pass. If there is no ticket office at your point of departure it is usually acceptable to
ask the conductor on the train to mark the pass. You will sometimes find, incidentally,
that this system, unlike that of the long-distance bus companies, allows a day or two of
bonus travel. Bus drivers, in particular, are not keen to spend their time bureaucratically
marking days off passes.
There is also an Austrail Pass (not Flexi), which allows a solid period of travel of etween
fourteen and ninety days. Unless you intend to be travelling very busily, though, the
Flexipass will usually be more appealing.
In addition to the Austrail Passes, the various railway companies offer rail passes for their
own services only.
Well, then, out of this multitude of passes, which should we choose For most travellers,
the fifteen-day Austrail Flexipass will be the best bet. However, your itinerary will be an
important factor. If you do not need to travel far north of Brisbane, the Countrylink
Backtracker Rail Pass will be very good value.
If you just want to travel up or down the east coast, one of the East Coast Discovery
Passes will be ideal.
You will find most of the trains in Australia spacious and comfortable. The Great
Southern Railway trains have plenty of leg room, a lounge available, a restaurant and
snack bar (but serving pre-packaged food from the Qantas caterers). There are also
showers at the end of each carriage, and towels are provided on overnight services. For
those with a weakness, a cramped smoking cubicle is provided, with an atmosphere
through which one can barely make out the other side of the room. Unfortunately,
though, sleeping berths now involve an impossibly high supplement. The trains are
usually reasonably punctual, since the timetables allow margins for delays.
Queensland Railways trains are also comfortable, with ample leg room. Showers are
provided, but no towels for sitting passengers. If you invest in this luxury, hoose the
upper berth, and then you will get the window also. There are three passengers to a
compartment. At present, Queensland Railways has not degenerated to the level of prepackaged
food. Meals are still cooked to order by the chef on the train, and prices are not
unreasonable. Punctuality is usually quite good.
Countrylink has a modern fleet of trains with aircraft-type seats. There are no showers for
sitting passengers on overnight trains and berths are prohibitively expensive. The food is
pre-packaged, but reasonable in price. Punctuality is variable.
V-Line offers only medium-distance trains. The seats are padded bench-type with five
across the carriage, half of them facing backwards. There are no overnight trains.
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