Today (actually, it was yesterday since I am writing this on the 29th), we got up at 0500 and went to the train station. We arrived a bit before 0600 so we could check our baggage before the bag check office closed at 0600. The train was supposed to leave for Sydney at 0630 but, instead was delayed due to a power line failure. It was being held up in South Brisbane, just a couple of miles of away. It sat there, loaded with passengers from Sydney, for over 2.5 hours. By the time it arrived at our station and then headed back to Sydney (with us onboard) it was 0915.

All during the passage the rail attendants kept telling us that we would be making some of this time up since we would not be stopping at a number of stations where no one was getting on or off. However, as the long day transpired, we kept slipping further and further behind schedule and ended up arriving in Sydney past midnight, about 3 hours late.

This made the train ride about 18 hours long instead of the 15 hours we were expecting. The passengers took all of this in stride and we had a chance to meet, talk and get to know some of them. Mary Margaret was the “social butterfly” this time as she enjoyed the new friends she made. The rail crew was very apologetic and ended up providing all of us with a free hot dinner and cold drink.

Once we arrived at Sydney’s Central Station it was but a short taxi ride to our hotel. As it turns out, the hotel I booked us into is located in the heart of the “red light” district of Sydney. Now I know why it was one of the few hotels that had rooms left when I booked during the peak of the tourist season!

However, as we drove around looking for our hotel, we actually liked what we saw of the area. It looks a little bit like Times Square in New York City with a big videotron, lots of lights, lots of stores, restaurants and bars still going strong, lots of people and lots of life.

Tomorrow, we are going to spend the day resting from our long trip and then on Thursday, start our exploration of Sydney.

Below, I finish with my brief overview of the history of Australia.

Recent History & Australia Today.

Australia has a two-tier parliamentary system of government base. There are three levels of government: federal, state and local. Federal parliament consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party holding the greatest number of seats in the House of Representatives forms the government. For more information the website at www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-government
In the last half-century the less-acknowledged layers of Australian culture and history have begun to achieve wider recognition, in particular through art, literature and cinema; as a result, the iconic Aussie 'battler' has become less relevant. Migrants have brought their own stories, cultures and myths to combine with those of the colonial Australians. There's also a long-overdue acknowledgement that Australian Aborigines are fundamental to a true definition of the country's culture today.
The 'Great Australian Dream' of owning a house, which began in the prosperous 1950s, is ongoing and has resulted in massive suburbanization in Australian towns and cities, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne.

The economy's current good health is evidenced by a relatively high Australian dollar, increased trade with China and some record-breaking profits for local businesses. This has been accompanied by low inflation and unemployment figures. On the downside, though, the country's trade deficit has increased to $20 billion, average household debt is soaring and the price of real estate in many urban centers is significantly increasing.