Glimpses of Australia part 2 – The Indian Pacific

6 – 9 October 2024

We were up at 06.20am, ate breakfast at the hotel, called a taxi to the railway station and already checking in for our long train journey soon after 07.30am. This is no ordinary train journey but an all-inclusive luxury experience on the Indian Pacific travelling between Perth, Adelaide and Sydney on a spectacular 4352km crossing of the Australian continent from west to east.

We had an opportunity for a second breakfast but I just opted for coffee and spent the time waiting for the journey to start chatting to Heather and Philip from Canberra who had already completed the Ghan train journey between Adelaide and Darwin. Sadly, having met new friends, we discovered that we were in a different set of compartments for the journey and we didn’t see them again until a chance meeting off the train near the end of the expedition.

Most of our luggage was taken from us and stashed into dedicated luggage carriages and we boarded the train only with what we needed for the next four days. Our own compartment was in day mode with a seat, cupboards and an en suite shower / toilet. After a briefing by one of the train staff, we moved to the communal lounge which was complete with complimentary bar. We were offered nibbles and drinks – we certainly weren’t going to starve on this journey!

The train travels slowly along lines that are used mainly for freight. In fact the freight trains have priority; however this journey is about the travel experience rather than about speed. Amazingly the train is 685m long!

We traversed the Perth suburbs and were soon in countryside near the banks of the upper Swan River and its tributaries. We could see walking trails alongside the river.

Soon we were in areas of bush, farmland, sheep ranches, grain fields, salt pans and lakes. Occasionally we saw small and larger settlements. The terrain became very flat and the fields were huge. The land also became more brown and dry in appearance.

We settled into a relaxed lifestyle – reading, looking at the scenery and chatting with fellow passengers interspersed with delicious meals served in the dining carriage while a wide range of beverages and snacks were available at all times. We realised that we were travelling through different time zones but were informed that we would be told when to change our watches – which didn’t necessarily quite match the time that the train arrived in a fresh time zone.

We had been up early to check in for our journey but nonetheless we didn’t want to miss our first off train experience. It wasn’t scheduled to begin until after evening dinner so it meant a late night. Unfortunately our train was delayed as we had to wait in a passing loop for freight trains and for the “fast” Kalgoorlie – Perth train. It was over an hour late after 10pm when we boarded a coach to head through the gold rush town of Kalgoorlie to the North Tourist Mine. We were driven past historic hotels, a shopping street and the market before leaving the coach to watch a shortened performance about the origins of the mine and the town. We explored a huge dumper truck and an even more enormous excavator both of which were able to board. After this we were transported to the Super Pit, a gold mine which is over 3.6 kilometres long, 1.6 kilometres wide and 512 metres deep; it’s enlarging all the time as more mining is carried out. Sadly as a result of our delay, the lights on the visitor platform had been turned off and our coach driver decided not to allow us to disembark to see the huge open cast mine for ourselves. In order to occupy the time until our return to the train, the driver decided instead to show us what had until recently been the town’s red light area! This was very disappointing and the Australian contingent of passengers were extremely embarrassed that the “foreign” tourists had been offered such an “amateur” experience.

We woke next morning to find that we were in the middle of the Nullarbor Plain. In view of the late night, we were offered brunch and I opted for the curried camel – my first taste of camel. An endless expanse of desert scrubland stretches to the horizon and extends for 1,200 kilometres at its widest point. A sand track with yellow topped posts at intervals runs close to the railway line and marks the route of a fibre optic cable linking Perth to the rest of Australia. The scenery is of scrub, red sand and an occasional small tree. I also spotted an isolated ranch with a helicopter landing area. The railway track runs straight for 478km – the longest straight stretch of railway line in the World.

I’d discovered an interesting book among the small collection in the lounge carriage and was determined to complete reading it before the end of the journey. In 1977 after two years preparation Robyn Davidson had trekked over 2700km with a dog and four camels through the Gibson Desert from Alice Springs to the west coast of Australia and written a book about the experience. Hence I was reading this with half an eye on the carriage window so as not to miss the scenery.

We stopped in the middle of the desert at the ghost town of Cook. The train stops for water and fuel but is so long that this is completed in two stages with the front half being serviced and then the train moves forward for the back half to be replenished. We were allowed off the train during the time that the rear half of the train was being serviced. After being in an air conditioned carriage, it was a shock to step out into 32-35 degrees centigrade of dry heat. Cook is home to disused buildings and a few occupied buildings with a population you can count on one hand – but in its heyday it was an important part of the development of Australia’s interior. Established in 1917, it was built as a support town for the railway, with more than fifty people helping to maintain the tracks.

A couple of gaol cells are near the old station buildings. Each cell is no larger than a toilet cubicle. Imagine how hot and unpleasant it would be to be incarcerated in one of these tiny buildings.

A commemorative stone stands alone in the middle of a large open area.

Beyond this there is a small swimming pool, now filled with gravel.

Behind the swimming pool are disused school buildings still with some school chairs, tables and a painting of the sun on a door. The remains of a swing stand forlornly in the old playground area.

There’s even the remains of a very dilapidated tennis and netball court including the remnants of the umpire’s chair.

A signpost to the nine-hole golf course extends a welcome to visitors.

All too soon the train hooter summoned us to return to the train. I passed one of the few occupied cottages. The small garden was decorated with ornaments made using recycled artefacts and an Australian flag was flying. The resident was chatting to some of the train passengers.

Once on board, we progressed further across the arid plain in a very straight line. However the transition to an area of more trees was quite sudden. The land was still deserted although there were more tracks and even a road. An area to the north of the train line has been used in the past for nuclear testing.

We sat with an Australian couple from Victoria for dinner and I tried unsuccessfully to learn about the rules for Australian football.

The next morning we woke early for pastries and coffee before leaving the train at Adelaide for an off train experience. Our time began with a coach tour round the city which is built on a grid pattern interspersed with large areas of park land. We disembarked to enjoy a guided tour of the large central market together with a second breakfast and tastings of various market foods. There were stalls piled high with fruit and vegetables, butchers, exotic wildlife foods, health foods, bakers, delicatessens, chocolatiers, coffee and a couple of non food stalls. Many of the stalls had traded in the market for generations.

We returned to the train to be greeted with coffee and scones with jam and cream. Oddly Devon scones are frequently on the menu in Australia. I was able to educate the Australians on the train about putting on the cream first and the jam on top so it’s proper Devon! The mid morning snack was soon followed by lunch – this is definitely not a journey for losing weight. We were joined by an Australian couple who were keen to discuss politics in Australia, UK and USA as well as issues around green electricity.

As we left Adelaide, we realised why there was so much local food in the market. There are large areas of fruit and vegetable growing and then this gave way to a predominance of grain fields with villages and isolated settlements.

As we progressed further we entered the bush again. The land became undulating with dried out creeks. I spotted a kangaroo and groups of feral goats.

We were entertained by a drag artist who organised an entertaining game of bingo. The train made a stop at Broken Hill for “her” to leave the train.

The final night on the train was less settled and more bumpy as the train wasn’t going straight all the time. We woke to completely different scenery – undulating green fields, lots of cattle and many small settlements. The train track was very bendy as the line had been built so as to attempt to minimise the gradients as we ascended to well over 3,000 feet above sea level. We could see the end of the train as we curved around.

We arrived at the Blue Mountains for an off train experience. In fact this was the point where we left the Indian Pacific for the final time as we would be on a chartered “normal” train after our time in the mountains.

At the station where we disembarked in two tranches (the platform was too short to take the entire train). As we waited we were entertained by a rather confused kangaroo with joey in her pocket – somehow she had managed to get on to the track area despite it being fenced off.

A coach carried us higher on winding roads and eventually we disembarked to transfer on to Scenic Skyway which is a Swiss made aerial cable car above ancient ravines, visible 270 metres below through the glass cabin floor. The cloud was clearing and we were able to just about see the Three Sisters Rocks although the separate nearer Orphan Rock was more clear. The walkway that I could see on the Orphan Rock was closed to the public in the 1970s.

We transferred on to the cable powered scenic railway – at 52 degrees descent the steepest passenger railway in the World.

A short guided walk along a boardwalk followed. We saw old mine workings and heard a lot of birdsong. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for biodiversity as there are more different species in the forest than in the whole of Europe. We even saw a lyrebird. The board walk is checked daily by staff as cliff falls can happen and we were shown an old area of collapsed boardwalk.

Finally we boarded a cableway which lifted us 216m vertically over a horizontal distance of 470m. We enjoyed further views of the cliffs and rocks both during the journey and at the viewpoint.

We travelled by coach to the Echo Point Lookout, perched on the edge of the escarpment in Katoomba where we ate lunch and had some time to look at the views as well as to be entertained by some sulphur crested cockatoos. I also spoke to Philip who we had met in Perth before we boarded the train only three days previously. It seemed strange that we had been on the same train all the time but the different groups of passengers were completely segregated on board.

The coach dropped us all off at the station in Katoomba in time to board a private chartered train for the two hour journey through mainly settled countryside and then into Sydney.

We picked up all our luggage and were soon on our way to Sydney Circular Quay on another train. Although we had been to Circular Quay last year on our travels, it was amazing to arrive right in the middle of iconic Sydney with views of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge as we made our way on foot to nearby Sydney Harbour Hotel.