18/12/21 Train Riding

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I don't know if you've noticed, but Roger and I like riding the trains: while we were in Adelaide we rode the entire suburban network.  Now that we're in Sydney we looked at the extensive suburban network and realised we needed to be a little more selective, just riding the train lines that looked interesting. Thus is was that, after a very pleasant family morning tea, we hopped on the southern train line which passes through the Royal National Park, skirts around industrial Woollongong and Port Kembla, and dawdles beside the sea all the way to Kiama.

Off we go then!

The train was almost empty: good for people who are wary of catching the plague.

It took a shade over two hours to get to Kiama, with the excitement of some tunnels along the way:  one of these ensured that we didn't get to see the Sea Cliff Bridge which remains on my to-walk-along list. 

Once at Kiama we went for a walk.

Past the ocean swimming pool,

and up to the rocks where lots of people were busy ignoring the 'stay off the rocks' signs, and crawling all over the rocks taking selfies.  We looked at the Kiama Blowhole which was not blowing due to the unfavourable combination of tide,wind,and waves.

And we visited the lighthouse, which was not lighting due to it being daytime.

We found trees under which to pose,

and rocks on which to walk.

There was even a steam train to entertain us, but it was cheating a little bit.  There was a diesel engine pushing it along. 

Of course the problem with spending two hours on the train going south to Kiama was that we had to spend two hours on the train to get home again but things could have been worse: the train was air conditioned, the views of the coast were beautiful...

 

Views from the train.

...and when we walked in the door George came out to say hello, which we took as an official endorsement of our cat-whispering skills.

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