Travel times are a different thing in Europe. Take for instance where I live (Brno). We are about 200 km from Prague. We're connected by a motorway and express trains. The idea of catching a plane from one to the other is ridiculous. No commercial airliner does it because nobody will pay to be up in the air for 20 minutes and spend an extra hour in airports. So you're left with either driving for 2 hours or taking the train for 2.5 hours. In terms of travel times these 2 cities being 200km apart are functionally further apart than Adelaide and Melbourne. They may be 750km apart but I can get a 50 minute flight between them. This country is about the same land area of Tasmania but if I were to take a train from somewhere in south Bohemia to Brno it takes longer than travelling Perth to Melbourne by plane. To broaden it out more (and this may sound unrealistic but it's true) - I lived in Prague, studied online with Swinburne, and had to do invigilated exams in Wasenaar, Netherlands. Fuck it, hey? Tram to metro, metro to airport, plane to schipol, train to the Hague, bus to the exam. Sit the exam, repeat in reverse. Woke up and went to sleep in the same bed in Prague that day. Being far from something in Europe sometimes makes you closer.