this by myself. I haven’t travelled by myself before. I decided to take train there. Cheaper, easier to book and a good chance to see the countryside through the train window. I quickly checked the map and found a city called Waga Waga which is between sydney and melbourne. I also booked accommodation through airbnb for those two cities. Was told by the lovely hostess in waga waga that it is the biggest inner land city in australia with up to 70,000 population. If you are from China, you will laugh. Was excited and frightened at the same time. This will be the first time of my life travel to a place all by myself. Even when I came to Australia, I had someone coming to the airport to pick me up to the place, so even back then it wasn’t as scaring as this one. I decided to take train from Brisbane to Newcastle, stay for two nights. Then travel from Newcastle to Waga Waga (there’s a dramatic story during this journey, you will read from below). Unfortunately, the interstate train only leaves Brisbane at 4am in the morning. So i had to pack everything the night before. It wasn’t a pleasant experience to get up at 3am in the morning and sitting at the train station waiting. When the train starts off, I smelled the fuel burning. It really smelled like a 50 year old car, but the smell disappeared a while later after the train left. After I got on the train, i went to sleep straight forward. I was lucky. The seat next to me was empty. And with a height of 5″2′, i could lay most of my body on the seat and slept like a baby. Of course this is just a metaphor compared with sitting. I woke up a few times on the train. It was freezing cold on the train. If you are thinking taking some interstate rail way journey, make sure you bring a jacket!! No kidding. It’s like freezing cold on the train. As it was 4am in the morning, you could still see the stars on the sky through the window. I was shocked by how big and bright the stars look like while you are in country side. At first i thought it was the light from the lamps next to the rail way. My camera was not good enough to capture the beautiful scene. So i’ll leave it to your imagination. Also in order to save the battery, I put both my Samsung and iphone in battery saving mode. There are meals served on the train as well. During the cold weather on the train, you will naturally want to buy the hot meals they serve. Those hot meals are similar as the meals served on the airplane. It’s quite simple really. But I enjoyed it. Mostly because it warms you up. There are other cold fresh food like raps, cake etc like small cafes. But i wasn’t into those food. It took around 12 hours from Brisane to Newcastle. While i was about to get off the train, i realized my iphone was dying out. Because I forgot to turn the wifi off. I guess while the train was moving, it was trying to connect any new wifi it signalled. Luckily i brought two phones with me.It’s almost 5pm when i got off the train. There are taxis right in front of the train station. I took the taxi to the airbnb house. Newcastle was larger and busier than i expected. It’s a bit like a city full of historical factories. I was very tired after got to the house. I took a shower, then went to sleep very quickly. I woke up around 8pm. The place was dark, but it couldn’t stop me from going outside because i was very hungry. The hotel I booked was actually near the CBD, but I was shocked by how quiet the street was. Very few cars were running, not even mention pedestrians. The road lamps are a bit deem and the air looks dusty. It gave me a feeling of those cities in mid 50s. I walked towards CBD, hoping there will be some place I can eat something. Most of the shops and restaurants were closed that time. My hope became more and more skinny. The streets were quiet as well in CBD. Luckily, i saw an indian restaurant was still open. I nearly ran into the shop in case the waitress hold her hand in front of me and telling me’Sorry Miss, we are closing’ like those woollies staff. Turns out there are quite many customers coming to this restaurant. Most of them are shift workers. A few locals according to my observation. I was perhaps the only visitor and sitting alone by myself. I don’t think many people would choose to spend their long holiday like me. Food wasn’t what I liked the most, but I was quite happy that could find food around that time. After the dinner, I walked very relaxed back to the hotel. The moon looked bright and smooth. So beautiful and peaceful. My sleep was good except a few musketeers bite me on my hands, but not too seriously. Luckily I got some repellent.
Got up around 9 the second morning and started preparing my visit in the town. As I had to leave away from this town 4am the second morning, I only had one day left for Newcastle. I decided to visit the city and the beach. The famous visitors’ place in Newcastle is Hunter Valley, which is also near the beach. I took a walk since I haven’t moved much since got on the train. Sun shine in Newcastle was bright, but somehow wasn’t as strong as in Brisbane. To me, I felt more acceptable walking under this sun. Street view wasn’t much difference from Brisbane and other cities. All similar suburbs, but the houses are more Victoria feature. Here you can see a few nice houses.
The beach was beautiful. But you won’t be too impressed if you have lived in sunshine state for 7 years. Those one to two hours driving distance beaches away from Brisbane city with graceful beaches and fresh air can satisfy your eyes and nose without intentional effort.
If there’s one thing I find different, is the history of this town. From the feature of the building you can tell, modern civilisation started earlier here than in Brisbane. Buildings have a feature of the older industrial background. As if you could imagine there was how the people lived a century ago with farm goods, mining and industrial product exchange in the city. While I was wandering around the city without a particular purpose, a corner of a brick building suddenly appeared in front of me. It’s a stunning historical church at the top 
of the hill. It’s as if you found a glowing pearl in a pile of gravel. The church locates at the top of the hill, which gives you a feeling you are achieving some thing while you are climbing. The view is a bit inspiring while you get to the top of the hill. Everything that used to be tall and grand suddenly becomes so clear and smaller in front of you. What’s lying under neath you now are the hotels, the old industrial manufactures, the cruise, the bridge, the everything.
There’s a small clock tower standing in front of the church. I believe was 
used as a clock long time ago. Right now, it is standing there humbly. The well preserved bell and hanger still indicates the grace and elegance while during victoria stage what was famous for. It is as if it’s quietly reminding its future generations not to forget the history that so many ancestors and pioneers explored this uncivilised land from scratch and started building the beautiful and colourful city for us to enjoy today. Not sure how many young people nowadays will pay attention to these precious memories their ancestors had build. Young kids are playing in front of the beach, swimming, getting sun tan and having fun. Hope someday they will start to realise it’s a bless for them having history like so.
It is called Chris church cathedral. All the churches in Australia seem to be built for the glory of god. Started around 1800, it took the ancestors exact 100 years to finish the construction of this building. People who started the design, may not be able to see the completion of the project. By looking at the elegantly and fine made artwork, you won’t be surprised that it took so long. Each evenly laid brick, each delicately crafted wall, each piece of colourfully painted picture, all seems telling people the architects, the engineers, the builders, were all trying to pursue a perfect finished project for future generations.
The reception lady was very hospitalised. She gave me a brochure to read, which contains the events all that day in the church even though i told her I was just visiting.
After passed the hall, i was stunned by how beautiful and elegant inside of the church is. Every window is sophisticatedly decorated with colorful painting, providing an artistic feature and piratically allowing natural light coming in.
Music always seems a big important part of the worship. The music instruments here is 5,6 meters tall and some of them, in order to operate them, you have to climb above through a narrow stairs. You can tell what’s the importance of the music in those events.
It’s nearly 2pm after I got out the church. I decided to have a look at the other tourist’s attraction that afternoon – the Memorial Walk. There 
weren’t many restaurants around the walk, either many shops. So if you want to go there as well, remember to bring some water and energy supply if you can carry. It took a while of walk to arrive at the memorial walk. I was a bit tired and hungry honestly. But as long as I stand on the walking bridge, it’s worth it. The view was great. Standing on the bridge, you can almost see the whole view of the city. Interestingly, since I would see everything happening in the city, I observed a fire happening near the hunter vale. No wonder I felt the air was a bit dusty and dry. It’s the fire mist! If you look carefully, you will be able to tell where the fire occurred as well. Is it often fire occurs in a city or just it’s my bad luck? But the view of the city is really incredible.
It’s very tempting to walk through the bridge. I stood next to the iron statue for nearly 15 minutes but finally gave up. Exhausted and not confident with my left energy to accomplish this big exercise. Besides, it’s 3pm and it’s quite hot since it’s the hottest season in australia. But I was still quite happy for what I accomplished this day. The cathedra church, the memorial church both surprised me in a good way.
I walked towards home starts around 3pm. I found a little small park on the way home. I sit in the park for nearly one hour. Waiting for the sun to set a little bit. While it’s 4pm, i stood up and decided to walk again. On the way home, i found several other churches. All of them are decently beautiful. I believe in Newcastle, christian religion played a vital important role in older generations’ life.
After I got home, I was very exhausted. For a long time, haven’t I did exercise as intense as this day. As I need to get up around 3am the second morning to catch the train to Waga Waga, I got to sleep early. I took a shower, had some dinner. Packed everything. Setup the alarm at 3am and went to bed. It wasn’t easy to get up at 3am after you had an earlier intense day. What you can do if your train leaves at 5am? I knew I couldn’t afford to miss the train. Everything was arranged in a schedule. If I miss the train, I won’t be able to get Wagawaga untill the second day, that means I would miss my hotel in airbnb as well. I didn’t hesitate much while the alarm woke me up. Jumped out of bed, had some breakfast and packed my last bit. It was still dark outside. I checked the time on my samsung, it was 4am. Good, plenty of time. I called uber around 4am and left the airbnb hostess still in bed sleeping. It’s quite on the street, but it’s a bit brighter now. It seems a bit strange being that bright at 4am. The sky looks like 5am in Brisbane. I peeked at the time on the clock in unber car. It shows 5:30am. Oh my god!! I missed the train. It’s 5:30 already! I shouted. “I missed the train”. The driver looked a bit stunned. I realized the time on my samsung was still in Brsibane timezone! As last time I visited Melbourne, I set to adjust my timezone manually, not automatically. That means while I got to Newcastle, all the time I read was still Brisbane time, which was about one hour and a half ahead Newcastle. I missed the train, which means I’ll miss the airbnb hotel I booked in Wagawaga tonight as well. Which means I won’t be able to get there untill tomorrow. My plan to explore Wagawaga is crashed. All the effort I have made, all the waiting, will be just a waste of time and money. I was disappointed and frustrated and embarrassed by myself at the same time. How could this have happened? I have told myself so many times not to miss the train. This is the first time I am trying a journey by myself and I messed up. The uber driver asked me if I still want to go to the train station or go back to the hotel. I already checked out from the hotel. What’s the point going back there again? Besides, we are already on the way to the train station. So I told him:”Yes. We still go to the train station please.” I’ll figure out what to do when get to the train station. Also I had a slight hope that the train may be delayed. That happens all the time, right? I got off the train station and found the train already left. However, the next train to sydney will leave in one hour. Sydney is the transferring city from Newcastle to Wagawaga. I’ll go to Sydney first, then get a train from Sydney to Wagawaga. I got on the train. Still feeling sleeping, and didn’t know what to do exactly next. All I could hope was there will be a train the same day to wagawaga and it won’t arrive at mid night. I’ll open a separate post for my journey to Sydney since this post is been so long. Please go to my next page. Stopping at Sydney.
