I didn't think this Aussie train trip was for me - but everything changed on day 3

I have a confession to make. As I embark on the five-day Sydney-return Riverina train trip with Journey Beyond, I'm a bit quick to judge the experience based on the size of my lodgings.

My cabin with twin bunk beds is small - smaller than similar cabins on the Ghan and the Indian Pacific, also part of the Journey Beyond group. My ensuite is tiny - it's the size of a small shower, with a pull-out sink and (gulp!) a fold-down toilet. Within the first few hours of the trip, I have made up my mind: it's a lovely experience, but maybe not for me.

But three days later, by the time the train is snaking its way through a patchwork of paddocks - somewhere between Leeton and Temora - I have a complete change of heart. In fact, I'm embarrassed by how quick and shallow I was to judge the journey, based on the size of my cabin. Because this train trip is about so much more.

It's about the idyllic farms you visit and the passionate producers you meet in this gorgeous food bowl of NSW. It's about the large-hearted volunteers who lead tours at historic sights sprinkled along this route. It's about the outstanding food and wine you enjoy in the dining carriage of the train. It's about the heartfelt service you receive from the staff onboard.

But more than anything, it's about the people you travel with. The conversations you strike, the connections you make. All of them strangers at the start of the trip; but one big party of friends by the end of it.

Is this train trip for me? Absolutely ... for reasons innumerable. Here are just five of them.

While the Ghan and the Indian Pacific are all about epic Australia - parched landscapes, wind-battered eucalypts and flat humanless Earth for hundreds of miles on end - the Riverina is all about the everyday Australia.

Lush expanses of the NSW Southern Highlands on day one transform into endless fields of wheat, barley, canola and oats of the Riverina region by day three, before soaring sandstone cliffs of the Blue Mountains take centrestage by day five.

Roads with endless trucks and road-tripping Aussies are your frequent companions. So too are the small towns, with sleepy railway stations and humble fibreboard houses, their backyards opening onto the passing train.

Along the five-day loop through the state's south-west, we stop at 10 stations. Some of these locations, such as Goulburn and Orange, are simply night stops. The train doesn't move at night, which - for me - takes away from the fun of a rail journey, where the clickety-clack of the carriage lulls you to sleep. But it's good news for people who can't sleep in a moving train. It also means we don't miss any scenery while travelling at night.

At other locations, such as Junee, Griffith and Katoomba, we disembark the train for guided excursions.

The average age group the itinerary attracts is between 70 and 90, and many of the places we visit hold special meaning for the guests on board.

Margaret and George Bennett from Everton Upper in Victoria, for instance, came to the Blue Mountains for their honeymoon 55 years ago. On the fifth day of the trip, they revisit the Echo Point Lookout, with panoramic views of the Three Sisters, for the first time in more than half a decade - part nostalgic; part wide eyed.

"It was not this busy the last time we were here," says Margaret.

I would be lying if I said I eventually got used to the toilet in my ensuite. Folding it out from the wall and then putting it back in after use takes a lot of nerve, particularly on a moving train.

But as Craig Lardner from Sydney's Cronulla - who is on this journey with his wife Gill - says: "You have to dial down your expectations when you sign up for the Riverina train trip ... because it truly is a step back in time."

The carriages on this train started their life back in 1962 when they were part of the Southern Aurora - the legendary overnight sleeper train that ran between Sydney and Melbourne.

Due to decline in passenger numbers thanks to cheaper airfares and the increase in the use of private transport and buses, the service ceased to operate in 1986.

But with the rise in popularity of sustainable rail travel in recent years - particularly sleeper trains - life has come full circle for these carriages, which were lovingly restored in 2020 for the much slower-paced Riverina tour by Vintage Rail Journeys, now part of Journey Beyond.

"These cabins may be small, but I'm not bothered by that at all because it's such a wonderful way to travel half a century ago, when they must have been the epitome of luxury travel," says Lardner.

You are passing through one of Australia's major food bowls, so expectations are high when it comes to dining onboard, and the chefs don't disappoint.

Menus change daily, including breakfast options that range from avocado with roasted sweet potato, haloumi and rocket one day to spinach and Persian fetta frittata the other.

Every lunch and dinner is a three-course affair. The goat tagine with date couscous and preserved desert limes for dinner on day one is a stellar start. Next day, my crayfish is slightly overcooked, but it's a small blip for the tiny kitchen dishing out main courses like smoked glazed duck with mango-chilli salsa and - my favourite - kangaroo loin, grilled to perfection, with beetroot skordalia and horseradish cream.

The drinks list is just as satisfying. There are more than a dozen sparklings, whites and reds on the menu - all of them from Australia, and many that I haven't tried before. I'm determined to make my way through all of them - I have five days and many meals, right?

Wrong. Because the Deakin Estate chardonnay and pinot noir sparkling is so refreshingly citrusy and crisp, I find it hard to move on to anything else for a couple of days. My next discovery, the Lula Rosa rosé from the Central Ranges, is just as more-ish.

All that food and wine calls for some exercise. And while the length of the train (about 300 metres with 11 carriages) offers some opportunities to burn those carbs, it's the daily excursions that really allow guests to stretch their legs.

Almost every day there's a choice of two tours, so the guests get split into two groups with breakfast dominated by "Which tour are you going on?", while dinner's all about "Which tour did you go on?"

On day one, I visit Retford Park in Bowral. Built in 1887 by Australian businessman and philanthropist Samuel Horder, the Victorian Italianate homestead was acquired and lavishly redesigned by media baron James Fairfax in the 1960s. And to this day you can weave your way through unchanged displays of Fairfax's good taste and excesses - from a nine-piece modular bookshelf that cost half a million dollars back in the 1970s to the Downton Abbey-esque servants' room, complete with service bells.

A stopover in Junee allows me to check out historic locomotives and carriages at the Junee Roundhouse Museum - a rail motor dating back to 1925 here, an accident train (built in 1944 with a crane used to clear derailments) there.

But the trip's most exciting tour turns out to be the one on day five, when everything doesn't go to plan.

Transport NSW prioritises commuter and freight trains over tourist trains such as the Riverina, and due to delays on the last day of the trip, we arrive at Mount Victoria a bit late ... late enough to miss our tour of the day: a ride through the Blue Mountains on yet another train, the heritage Zig Zag Railway, with a steam engine and vintage carriages.

We learn about the missed tour on our way to Mount Victoria station. And there's a moment of disappointment. But by the time we arrive at the station, the Riverina's exceptionally well-connected journey manager, Brett Goodgame, has managed to line up a completely different, and in some ways more exciting, tour for all the guests onboard the train.

Within minutes we're all heading to the Scenic World, where we enjoy the mountainside tourism hub's top attractions, including the Scenic Railway, the Scenic Skyway and the Scenic Cableway. All of that is followed by a lavish afternoon tea at the Hydro Majestic hotel and then a trip to the Echo Point Lookout.

On the final day of the trip I ask dozens of guests on the train about their single top highlight and almost everyone says it's the staff.

I have to agree. From the moment you step onboard the Riverina train journey, it's clear you're in the hands of some of the most hospitable people in Australia.

There are 92 guests on this train and one dining car, which means each meal unfolds over multiple sittings. While one group devours chef Remy's ever-changing three courses, others enjoy drinks and live entertainment in the next-door lounge car.

Guest experience manager Leah runs a tight ship, making sure everyone knows their meal time, and no one has to ever wait.

Assisting Leah is the ever-smiling bartender Natalia, whose flat whites are as creamy - and potent - as her espresso martinis.

And a special shoutout for the omnipresent Bronwyn, whose warm presence you'll feel everywhere - right from the onboarding and dining times to off-train tours.

And the best bit is: while the employees on all other Journey Beyond trains change regularly based on rolling rosters, the staff on the Riverina trip stay put. Which means they know this train, this patch of land inside out ... Just another way to travel back to a simpler time.