Sydney to Melbourne XPT

Tomorrow I'm beginning a five day ride along the iconic Great Ocean Road in Victoria. I'll be starting in Warrnambool and gradually making my way to Geelong on Friday. Day 1 will be solo riding, but on day 2 I'll be catching up with 2 riding buddies in Port Campbell.
Of course, this being Australia, there's the inevitable problem of distance and getting to the starting point of the ride from home which, in my case, is Sydney. This time I thought I'd do something different and catch the overnight train to Melbourne rather than having to go through the tedium of checking in a bike at the airport. The problem is that checking in a bike on a long distance NSW train is exactly the same process as checking in a bike at the airport. Pedals, wheels, handlebars, the whole box and dice packed into a bike box.
The experience was made worse by the luggage attendant at Central who I was told would make the process 'straightforward'. If ever I've met someone totally unsuited to a position in the service industry this is your man. He was like a relic from the Paul Hogan show back in the 1970s, or worse still even a character from the film Wake in Fright. A surly manner with vaguely threatening undertones; if you spend enough time in Australia you'll find these characters lurking in the oddest of places.
Given that I'm in a luggage area, I asked if he might have a piece of string to help me secure the brake pad protector on the bike.
'Nah mate, don't have that'. '
'Would you have a hex tool with a little more leverage than mine'?
'Here's my tools mate. That's all.'
He did offer to tell me that he rode a bike once; I'm guessing that was a long time ago and I wasn't quite sure of the purpose of the comment, but with a little elbow grease and no assistance from the baggage man or his tools I eventually packed the bike in its box. Putting it back together in Melbourne tomorrow morning might well be another story altogether.
Given that I knew about all of these problems, it beggars the question, why the hell didn't I bite the bullet and fly. No doubt the train is more environmentally friendly, but the negatives ultimately outweigh the positives, so you've been warned if you're thinking about following in my footsteps.
I might add that he trains that ply the trip between Sydney and Melbourne have been in service for over 40 years. They're based on British rolling stock dating back to the 1970s and I'm guessing they hit their max speed of 160kmh for about 1 minute in the 11 hours it takes to get between the two capitals. The next bit is really hard to believe, but there's no charging points on the train, even in the pointy end and needless to say no wi fi, so you're totally dependent on 4G for the whole trip.
I've lashed out for this journey and gone with the first class sleeper option. It's a comfortable enough space, but the carriage is definitely a rattler and it also does its share of rocking and rolling.
The train should arrive around 730am at Southern Cross in Melbourne. It's then time to reassemble my bike before jumping on the 10am train to Warrnambool which should have me riding sometime after 2pm. Three hours in the saddle and I should be at my destination, Nirranda.
Not sure which is older, the clock or the train!