Originally Posted by
jshphilly
I'd be happy making Sydney or Melbourne as the main destination on the itinerary, and just figuring out a train (or brief flight) to Cairns as needed.
Forget trains - Australia is much bigger than you seem to expect!
A train just from Brisbane to Cairns takes 25 hours on the Tilt train, of which there are only
2 services per week, or 31 hours on the Sunlander,
which runs 3 times a week.
To get to Cairns from either Sydney or Melbourne by train, you would first have to pass through Brisbane (and, if starting from Melbourne, you would have to pass through Sydney, too).
Melbourne to Sydney would take about 12 hours by train; Sydney to Brisbane is 14 hours by train. And in none of these cases is the train cheaper than flying. Cairns has direct air links to all the state capitals.