Trains in Australia ( Solo travel first time)?

If you want to go to Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney then Darwin is the most stupid entry point I can possibly imagine. What you will save on the airfare from Singapore to Darwin you will lose twice over trying to get from Darwin to any of those cities.

The cheapest and fastest way to get around between those cities is to fly. End of the line. Trains are not that cheap and take ages and if you are on limited time, do you really want to lose whole DAYS to your train travel? (Melbourne -> Sydney, a whole day on the train. Sydney -> Gold Coast, another whole day.)

Fly into Melbourne, enjoy some time in Melbourne, then fly to Sydney, then fly to the Gold Coast. If you have three weeks you can spend a week in each city. I really don't recommend January though. Quite apart from being school holidays (when all the fares and prices go up anyway), it will also be hot - and unlike what you're used to, it will be a searing, dry heat, not humid.

Arriving in Darwin the only train is to Adelaide and the tickets are more expensive than flights....it's a luxury train. There are not much in the way of trains for you to choose from and you have to go right down the middle then to Sydney before you can head up and it will take at least 4-5 days of constant travel to get to the Gold Coast....not worth it

Trains are more expensive and take a lot longer than flying. They aren't realistic.

Forget Melbourne, it's a great city to live in but there are much better options for tourists and it's a long way out your way.

If you want to go the the Great Barrier Reef then you will need to include Cairns.

First decide how long you are coming for. If it's two weeks stick to three destinations, if it's three then you can visit four if you wish. I suggest you leave out Darwin and fly in via Cairns and out via Sydney (or vice versa), ie go to Cairns, Gold Coast, Sydney. There's not much point getting a cheaper flight to Darwin if it's not somewhere you want to go and you have to pay extra to fly out of it to somewhere else.

Don't fly to Darwin, fly to Sydney and start your journey there. For a three week holiday, spend a week in Sydney then fly to Cairns for four or five days in tropical north Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef then fly to Alice Springs and Uluru for three or four days in the red centre then fly to Canberra, the nation's capital for two or three days before returning to Sydney for your flight home.

Darwin is about half way between Singapore and Sydney. It might be cheaper to fly to Darwin than to Sydney but you then have to get to Sydney from Darwin.

There is no train from the Gold Coast to Sydney. There is a train from Brisbane to Sydney or you get a bus from the Gold Coast to Casino in northern NSW and get the train to Sydney from there. Flying from the GC to Sydney is cheaper than the bus/train

wow... you are really trying to do the impossible

not only are the distances vast as mentioned earlier answers the other big big problem is your timing

your trip is planned during the school summer holidays here there will be hundreds of thousands of local families all on the road on the train on holidays... places get booked out and fares go up for peak season... so you really need to put your plans in motion and suggest simplifying your itinerary

if you need help here are some good itinerary that would suit you

http://www.australia.com/itineraries-two-weeks-syd...

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/australia/764...

just because darwin is the cheapest does not make it the best arrival point

you want to do almost the entire length of the east coast in only a couple of weeks wow and in high summer peak season... seriously you are attempting too much

yes there are trains and you are correct in not wanting to drive here it is much too dangerous

yes you should remove some of your list concentrate on a fewer areas try and think what are the things that interest you that are different from your home and good luck

For cheap travel within Australia you have two options - bus and flying. Australia is huge. and if you are only in Australia for two weeks, you do not have the time to spend half of that time in buses getting from one place to another. Flying is your only real option. Well ahead of time go into the Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin websites and look at flights available and the fares and you will find some good bargains. Trains are fun, particularly the Ghan from Darwin to Adelaide stopping at Alice Springs but they take as long as the bus and are far more expensive.