On the advise of Neal and Alan, we are planning to take the train from Sydney to Campbelltown and then rent a car there (since it will be our first experience driving on the left!). I suddently realized that I have NO idea where the Thrifty Car Rental facility is from the train station. Is it walkable or will we need to catch a cab? According to my info, the address is 62B Queen St in Campbelltown. Any help is greatly appreciated.

jcasale, I don't remember giving that advice (early onset of oldtimers' disease perhaps), but there's nothing wrong with the idea. Campbelltown marks the SW edge of Sydney's suburban sprawl, so you'll soon be in open country. I forget where you're heading to, but assume you'll be taking the Hume Highway SW?

If you go to www.whitepages.com.au and search under thrifty - campbelltown, and specify NSW - metro area, you'll find Thrifty's entry. Then click on the little Australia-shaped icon under "Map" and you'll have the location. The railway station is the black rectangular shape on Hurley St; Queen Street is just around the corner and Thrifty appears to be no more than a 500-metre walk from the station. Once you've picked up your car you can head back past the railway station and turn right, not far along, at the first major road - the name isn't marked on the map for some reason but there's a set of traffic lights at the intersection. After you've turned, make sure you're in the LH lane and not far along you can take a left onto the Hume Hwy. I think the sign indicates Goulburn/Canberra.

Campbelltown has precious little to recommend it, so don't bother hanging around there. If you want to stop for a coffee or whatever, take a brief exit to Mittagong or Berrima 30-45 minutes further down the road. Much better than the ghastly and overpriced fast food outlets at the highway service centres.

Good luck. It's bound to be a better first "wrong-side" experience than ours, which was at Logan Airport in Boston...

Thanks so much, Neal. It was a while ago and I forget what I did yesterday, so don't worry about the memory ! We're heading to Jervis Bay for the night. Seems like that would be the way we would go. I figure the car rental place will have some maps to set us on the right path! And hey, Logan is a trial for those of us used to driving in the States. I just printed off directions for a friend of ours who will be venturing to Logan to start his trip up to our place in Maine. Anyway, I appreciate all of the advice you have posted here to me and to others. We leave in five days and have started packing. Also just booked some tickets to the Sydney Opera House on Saturday to see Mandy Patinkin. Hopefully we won't have to be dressed too formally for that. We tend to pack light. Khakis and a nice shirt will be about as dressy as we get.

I just did the search on white pages and it was completely helpful. I now have our map printed off and ready to go! Thanks again.

At the risk of confusing matters, collecting a car at Wollongong would give you a more direct route to Jervis Bay. Wollongong is on the coast, due south of Sydney, and is served by a good interurban electric train service.

However, you can cut across to the coast from Campbelltown if you like - from memory, when you hit the traffic lights I mentioned you turn left instead of right.

Or you can take the Hume Highway as described, exit at Mittagong in the Southern Highlands and go through Moss Vale and Robertson, joining the Princes Highway at Albion Park, south of Wollongong. If you can't get a good map (which you'll need) from Thrifty, buy one from a gas station.

Be aware that any way you do it, from Campbelltown it won't be a fast trip. After Robertson in particular you descend the coastal escarpment via a steep, narrow road with plenty of hairpin bends (switchbacks). It's a beautiful drive through forests full of tree ferns and pretty farming country, but there'll be times when you should manually engage 2nd gear.

I hope I haven't scared you off. The main thing to remember when driving on the "wrong side" is that if you turn on to an otherwise empty road there'll be a temptation to move onto the right side of the road from force of habit. From bitter experience this is a temptation that needs to be resisted. Apart from that, you soon get into the swing of things. Have a great time.

Forgot to say, you don't need to dress up for the Opera House, even for an opera performance. You won't feel at all out of place in smart casual clothes.

Mandy Patinkin at the Opera House!! How come you live on the other side of the world and you knew about that, and I live in Sydney and didn't know a thing? It's been a while since I've been to a concert in the Opera House -- I think Bernadette Peters was the last -- but Mandy Patinkin might just get me to let the moths out of the old purse again. I reckon he and Audra MacDonald (as a duet) give Bernstein and Sondheim's "Tonight" the absolute-best reading it has EVER had!

The internet is a wonderful place to gather information from halfway around the world ! Some friends of our had said that we should try to see a performance when we were in Sydney to fully experience the opera house and so I went to http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/ and found Mandy. We had just been talking about how much we liked him as a actor as we watched the season finale of "Criminal Minds". Neither of us knew he sang also, but from the listing of what he will be doing (Rogers and Hart, Sondheim, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin) we couldn't pass it up. He's only there for two shows, so that purse out of mothballs !

Thanks for the additional info, Neal. Maybe I'll check and see if we could pick up the car in Woolongong. Otherwise, we'll just enjoy the scenery. That's a big part of wanting to get out of Sydney for a bit - to see the surrounding countryside.

I think the train ride down the coast to Wollongong would be quite nice - it goes along the coast for some of the way, and along the beach in Wollongong.(At least, it used to), and would be an InterCity train, rather than a suburban (more comfortable). There is a new coastal road north from Wollongong, which is like a long bridge over the sea, and looks spectacular .
You could then perhaps do an inland day tour from Jervis Bay, up the Robertson road, when you are more rested.