So often a great story is let down by a lacklustre ending. As a storyteller herself, Rachel Griffiths isn’t about to let that happen. And so it is that after our two-hour lunch at Sydney’s Tilda (tucked inside the Sofitel Wentworth), Griffiths accompanies me on the Metro.

I’m off to pick up my daughter, Griffiths is headed to an appointment at Stretch Lab. She lives in Melbourne but has heard great things about Sydney’s new public transport system and wants to give it a crack. She ignores the glances of passersby – she must be used to it, after 30-odd years in the public eye – and declares the new trains “beautiful”.