Today we bring you a guest blog post from St Lawrence String Quartet violinist Scott St John.

A few words and photos from my trip yesterday on the Countrylink service from Sydney to Brisbane– generally an enjoyable trip! I should point out that this trip was viewed with much initial skepticism from the Musica Viva staff… and now everyone wants to hear about it!

7 am at Central Station, Sydney

Traveling in the First Class car was definitely a good choice, as the train got quite crowded after a few stops. The XPT is a comfortable train, and service was courteous. A striking number of announcements were made about not smoking!

The inside of the First Class car

The buffet car was definitely not a modern espresso bar by Sydney standards– here’s my somewhat disappointing coffee bag:

But they had a very good and inexpensive hot lunch option, that you ordered an hour in advance. No processed ingredients! Tastes better than it looks:

Much of the trip was quite beautiful. Once we turned off the main tracks north of Broadmeadow station, we were on a single track most of the way to Casino. Speeds were very moderate, perhaps 70 km per hour, but this was due to the lovely valleys that we were winding through. Time rolled by quickly with a snooze here and there and we arrived in Casino only 15 minutes late, at 6:55 pm.

I wish I could be as enthusiastic about the bus portion of the journey from Casino to Brisbane. I enjoyed a loud conversation between four “mates” behind me, one of whom was very excited about his release from prison and the hours of the bottle shops in Brisbane!

Time to get ready for our SLSQ performance tonight in Brisbane…

Scott