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