Indian Pacific 2023-2024

 

The train left from Sydney Central Station a few hours late so we got to spend time waiting, eating and drinking in the Eternity Bar and Grill at the station. Soon we were on our way over the Blue Mountains which is a very familiar line for us, but we don't usually dine in style on the way like this.  All the meals on the train were fabulous.  Outside it was raining and the country was very green

Soon enough and before we headed west towards Broken Hill we bedded down in our cosy beds.  We chose to travel in two single cabins because neither of us wanted to climb the ladder to the bunk bed.  And the showers in the single cabin, though shared, are roomy unlike in the twin cabins.  We had rooms opposite each other and there was room for us to sit in each others rooms so still very companionable.

I woke up early the next morning to catch a glimpse of the Menindee Lakes which is 100 or so kms outside Broken Hill.  The trees had become much shorter overnight. After a break at Broken Hill we travelled through dry country until we turned south to Adelaide.  In Adelaide we had another break.  We took the option to go to Harndorf an old German settlement in the Adelaide Hills.

Then it was back on the train to sleep and begin our travel over the Nullarbor Plains.  It is incredibly flat and beautiful country. We had a brief stop at Cook before stopping for dinner under the stars at Rawlinna. There were no stars because it was very cloudy that night and with all those lights I doubt we would have seen any anyway.

The next morning the trees were back and we went through an amazing amount of wheat country which had been recently harvested before going through the Avon River Valley to Perth.

We stayed at lovely CBD hotel by the river in Perth and did various activities over our week there including attending the Christmas eve service at the Cathedral, looking at the stunning Christmas light displays, checking out the shopping, visiting Kings Park, going to Fremantle and Mandurah by train, and catching a ferry to Rottnest Island where we saw the famous Quokas.

The return journey was similar but after the first night I felt ill.  I ended up spending the return trip mostly sleeping and missed out on the lovely meals in the dining carriage. I actually enjoyed the solitude.  There was a New Year's outing at Kalgoorlie and another stop at Cook and Adelaide which we did not participate in.

The return journey was different because there had been a train crash up near Broken Hill.  This meant we had to travel via the Southern line through Melbourne and get a bus from Goulburn to Sydney which made the journey a little longer but very interesting.  In Victoria the huge wheat fields we still being harvested.  

After a night's sleep we were back in super green country and it was raining again as we reached home.