The day overall had some funny bits and some consistent themes. Let me try to capture them so you can get a taste of the things that entertained us all day...

Getting to the train

In general, Australians are very laid back people. There was a great example of this just getting onto the train this morning. The website for the train ride said to check with an attendant on the day to see which platform to go to. I dutifully asked the first attendant I saw at the station, who pointed me to the ticket desk, which pointed me to the information desk, which told me they'd "seen a lot of people coming out of that door in dark jumpers - they could probably tell us what was going on." Luckily, I was able to spot a dark-jumpered train attendant and learn we were leaving from Platform 1. I think Holly was astounded at the lack of organization - I've been here long enough that I knew to allow for extra time for this kind of thing!

All you need to know about the train

About midway through our ride out to Robertson, the train attendants passed out a little sheet with some emergency information and an itinerary. Here are my favorite highlights from the sheet:

"Please take care when using the on board toilet facilities - the toilets and washbasins are quite fragile."
The refreshment menu differentiated "Full strength beer" ($5) and "Light beer" ($4)
"Do not operate any handbrake, air brake or other carriage equipment which is installed for the use of authorised personnel only."

The toilet facilities, in case you were wondering

Robertson

The mid-point of the trip was a small town called Robertson. We had originally all made the mistake of thinking of this in terms of a destination; after spending 2 1/2 hours there, we realized that Robertson isn't so much a destination as a tiny conglomeration of a few cafes and an antique store. It was probably a typical Sydney-surrounds small town: one traffic light, a tiny school, a gas station that looks like it hasn't changed since the 70's, and most businesses closed up tight for the weekend.

There were roughly 4 cafes to be found in Robertson. We headed out down the road from the train, guessed a right turn and headed down the Main Street. The first pub we came to had a train specials board outside, which we all agreed looked promising. It was also the most legitimate-looking of the places we saw, so we headed in. No sooner had we stepped in the door, then a loud man met us asking if we'd made a booking. We said no, we had not. As we looked around the empty dining room, he told us a list of options we had since we'd shown up without a booking. Between the three of us, I think we comprehended about a third of what he'd said and just retreated to a bar table in the corner. After looking over the menu, we decided this was not the place for us and tried a cafe across the road.
The Three Creeks Cafe looked promising: there was a nice big chalkboard with a local wine and cheese tasting special that we all agreed sounded perfect! I headed up to the counter to order, and we had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: "Hi, we'd like to try the cheese plate special."
Cashier boy looks back at the lady making a sandwhich in the kitchen: "They want the cheese tasting."
Kitchen lady: "I can't do the cheese tasting. Not on train day."
Me: "So we can't have cheese?"
Kitchen lady: "I can't come stand by you and tell you what they are."
Me: "That is fine, we really just wanted to try them."
Cashier boy: "So the cheese plate then?"
Me: "Yes, please, for three. We also wanted to get the local wine tasting too."
Kitchen lady: "I can't do the wine. Not on train day."
Me: "So we can't have wine?"
Kitchen lady: "You can pick the wine you want to try off the shelf behind you and I will pour you a glass."
Me: "....ok"

As humorous as this conversation was, the cheese and wine actually all ended up being lovely. It was a good taste of the Australian take on customer service for Holly, too, and she remarked that she'd never eaten at a place that made it so difficult for you to give them money.

After lunch, we did a 20 minute walk and took in the rest of the town. That was all the time required!

The big potato

Australian towns like to make sculptures/statues of things they're known for. Robertson happens to be one of the biggest potato growers in the region. Lucky them!

Train day is a big deal

The people of Robertson weren't the only people that knew the steam train was running this weekend. The whole day we passed people who were out to see the steam train pass by. These ranged from people standing in their backyards, to people out in the middle of nowhere with their families and lawn chairs, camped out to see the train. It was a little unexpected to say the least.

I snapped a few pictures, just because. If I'd taken a picture every time people waved at the train, I would have filled up my memory card!

Roos!

Probably the universal highlight of the day was seeing all the kangaroos coming out at dusk as we made our way back to Sydney. This was the first "in the wild" kangaroo spotting for all three of us, and we were all wildly excited. We stayed glued to the windows almost the whole way back to see as many as we could. And we weren't disappointed - we all spotted one or more jumping along!