The last day - Sydney then home

Had another poor nights sleep last night.  Woke up with the flu, I felt it coming on yesterday afternoon so thought I’d have a red wine to try and kill the bug.  Didn’t work so I had another, then a couple more.  Seems the flu bug thrived on the red and  therefore I was a bit crook this morning.  The red wine must have kicked in finally and I was pretty good by breakfast time, so lucky I took the appropriate action in consuming all that medicine!!

We were up and about by about 6am (5am in Qld so it was still dark!) just before we got in to Bathurst. Got our cup of tea in bed.  Beautiful country, rolling hills, lush grazing and very healthy cattle and sheep in the paddocks.  Got to Katoomba about 9am and it had been raining and there was a thin fog through the gum tree forest which really set the scene after traveling through so much desert country.  Arrived at Sydney Central Station, they had to split the train because it was too long for the platform, we detrained at 11.40, jumped on the airport train, checked in, breezed through security and were sitting down having a coffee at 12.40…very efficient!!

In regards to the trip –

The cruise was great; it was about as long (16 nights) as we’d want.  Very good therapy if you need to distress and wind down.  There is easily enough to do if you need to get more active and we really enjoyed ourselves.  Met a couple of nice people who were at the table next to us at dinner, even though we didn’t see them at all throughout the cruise other than dinner time.  Not sure where everyone goes but we never felt crowded at all and could always find a quiet place for coffee or a wine.  The excursions were mostly pretty good, I’ve described some of our tour guides however they didn’t make the tour that much worse…just more interesting!!!  We’d love to go back to New Zealand again and cover it more thoroughly.

The train trip was not what we expected.  Watching the landscape change as we went from one side of the country to the other was fascinating.  The lack of fresh air wasn’t ideal and the noise and the rocking of the carriages was unbelievable.  The beds were comfortable enough but it was like trying to sleep on a vibrating bed.  It just moved from side to side the whole time, it was exhausting.  It will be good to get back into our own beds tonight.  It was one of those things which is good to do once in your lifetime.  We have seen all the pictures and it always looks so adventurous and glamorous, sipping champagne in the lounge bar, eating 5 star food in the dining car, relaxing in your lounge watching the kangaroos, camels, sheep and cattle quietly grazing in the paddocks as you glide across the country with all your needs fulfilled.  It is a little bit different to that image…although the red wine did assist with taking the rough edge off the less enchanting aspects of the ride.

All in all a successful holiday experience and one I’d recommend to anyone…just go in with eyes open and understand the benefits and disadvantages of this type of holiday combination.   

Train day 3 - Adelaide to Broken Hill

Better nights sleep last night (I give credit to the red wine, Pam’s not so sure but I’ve ordered another bottle anyway) and got our cup of tea delivered at 6am as we were coming in to Adelaide.  Only one more night before we make it home!!!

Had a 3 hour stop in Adelaide and got the bus in to the Adelaide Markets.  Were greeted with pikelets and coffee, had a guided tour of the markets with tastings of cheese, yoghurts, salamis and fruit.  Very enjoyable tour and was great to get out in the fresh air and go for a walk.

Now that we are in Adelaide they don’t turn the train around, they take the engine off our end and take it up to the other end so we were sitting ‘backwards’ going over the Nullarbor and are now sitting looking forward.  It’s a pleasant unexpected change.  The train is about 750 metres long (30 carriages), we will travel 4352 kilometres from Perth to Sydney with an average speed of 85 km/h and a top speed of 110 km/h.  There are 30 crew (who changeover in Adelaide)and about 350 passengers and 15 cars (which can only travel between Perth and Adelaide due to lower heights of tunnels and underpasses between Adelaide and Sydney).

Left Adelaide about 10am and traveled north through very rich wheat country and lots of wind farms around Snowtown (we got out of there before they got the barrels out!!) Turned right and traveling north east through the Mallee scrub to Broken Hill.
Got to Broken Hill about 20 minutes late so we had a quick tour of the Pro hart Gallery and on the train at about sundown and heading for Sydney!!!

We'll see you all soon.  I'll do another entry when we're waiting for the plane maybe to wrap this whole thing up.

The symbol of the Indian Pacific - the wedge tail eagle - at Adelaide train station

Fine dining wife

Fine dining in the Queen Adelaide Restaurant

Farm house north of Adelaide

Wheat storage

Hay

Wind farm near Snowtown

Mallee scrub

The gate keeper

One of four Rolls Royce cars owned by Pro hart, the other three haven't been painted like this one. No photos allowed inside so this is this best you get.

Miners memorial overlooking the mine and the town.

Our train as it leaves Broken Hill at sunset

Day two in to South Australia

An interesting nights sleep, if you could call it sleep.  The rocking and rolling was relentless and the noise of the wheels on tracks, the carriage creaking and any loose item rattling was enough to keep deep sleep far from our thoughts.  We were a bit rested by morning and were happy to get our morning cup of tea delivered at about 6.30.  We obviously covered a fair distance since last night and when we got up this morning we were near Nurina.   We had a brief stop in Forrest (not named for the local vegetation) to deliver the locals their weekly mail and groceries.  I say locals and it is plural but only just.  There are 2 people live in Forrest, they run and B&B and maintain the local airstrip where a few tourists drop in.  They also have the longest paved runway outside the metropolitan area for two reasons – it is used as a training area for the RAAF and it is situated in a position where it can be used as an emergency landing strip for commercial planes if required.

Travelling through endlass plains of low stunted plants with hardly (could be NO trees) trees in site.

Our room is interesting.  It is soooo small.  The lounge folds out for the bed and there is a top bunk which folds down at night.  The ‘cupboard’ is about 5cms deep and can hold about 4 hanging shirts.  There are no draws.  There is a small fold out table which we can put our drinks on but it won’t fit the computer on as well.  The bathroom as a sink, shelf, towel rail, toilet, shower, soap tray all in a room about 1metre by 1 metre.  The door opens into the cabin so we sort of have to plan our entry/exit into the shower with military precision.  We are just lucky we didn’t bring a cat with us, there’d be none of that swinging stuff in here.  It is comfortable though, in a minimalist sort of way and it’s a bit like living in solitary confinement (except with a bottle of red handy!!)  The only real problem Pam and I have is we can’t open any windows in any of the carriages to get fresh air, and although the temperature is fine, we do miss the wind in our hair!!!

The lounge and dining carriages are nice with lots of seating but a few too many tourists for our (my) liking.  Not that I’m opposed to tourists, it’s just that they tend to carry on a bit and want to talk to your all the time!!!

Crossed into South Australia at about 10am this morning and arrived in Cook to replenish the water supply and refuel.  Cook is the town where the rail joined together to complete the Sydney to Perth rail connection, although it wasn’t until 1970 that a single gauge, non-stop trip was possible.  Prior to this, because of the different gauges across the states there were up to 6 changes of train to travel the distance.

Cook has twice as many residents as Forrest so they have a healthy population of 4.  They have to be healthy because the hospital (and all other government buildings) are either abandoned or gone.   These 4 are employed to refuel/rewater the trains passing through.

From the town of Cook until it got dark (short time after Tarcoola) we saw there had been plenty of very recent rain, lots of water in the drains running along side the tracks and also puddles into the scrub.  About half an hour out of Cook the topography changed dramatically, from flat featureless plains to 20 metre high red sand dunes with a good covering of vegetation and taller trees.   Stopped to deliver/collect the mail at Tarcoola for about 3 minutes then had showers and drinks/tea time.  Hope we get a good nights sleep tonight!!!  Think I’ll take a medicinal red to assist in that quarter.

Dawn on the treesless plain of the Nullarbor

Not so treeless after all!!!

Longest paved runway outside metropolitan area

With the hangar

Cook....and clean and make the beds and do the dishes?

Swimming pool at Cook - full of dirt and sand!

Tribute to railway worker

School verandah

The abandoned school

Community recreation area

Just a nothingness, empty and barren.  The Nullarbor Plain is full of life though!!!

Jail cells at Cook, surprisingly no longer in use.

Meeting of the rail

With a selfie

Going one way or the other

Advertising for customers at the hospital

Going places again

Fifteen cars make the journey as well.

Main Street - Cook

Luxury features.

Big red sand dunes

Sand dunes south of Maralinga/Woomera, we at the little blue dot on the right.

Losing the 'desert' feel

Lots of water

Even more water

You knew you couldn't get away without another sunset!!!

Sleeping arrangements