From Sea To Sea

Newcastle Herald

Thursday October 5, 2006

Fran Thompson

Crossing Australia west to east, Fran Thompson fi nds an

Indian Pacific train journey one of dramatic dawns.

A rail journey across Australia on the Indian Pacific is a life-affirming experience. "We just had to do

it," is a comment heard time and again.

There is excitement and anticipation the length of the train, from the older passengers in the topof-the-line Gold Kangaroo class to the young Australian and international travellers on student discounts

in the Red Kangaroo carriages.

Marketing language describes the trip as "aspirational", but for Australians and international visitors

alike, it is a rite of passage. No one takes this journey for granted.

I travelled in a Gold Kangaroo carriage in July from Perth to Sydney with Great Southern Railway (GSR),

which also runs the popular Ghan service between Adelaide and Darwin.

The journey begins with an on-time Sunday departure from the East Perth rail terminal and a gentle

glide through the suburbs, giving passengers time to work out their compact cabins.

A post-departure reception is presented by senior staff and the mature passengers need no

encouragement to talk, including one couple who, after decades in Perth, have sold up and are heading

east to start a new life in retirement in Melbourne.

The first stop is late at night at Kalgoorlie?s beautifully restored railway station, built in 1896. Its pink

ashlar stone emits a welcome glow.

There is time for a tour of the town?s wonderful main street - all tours during the trains three extended

stops are extra to the fare - which is a roller-coaster ride of architecture styles, and the nearby 24-hour

operation at Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines' Super Pit.

The Super Pit is about 3.5 kilometres in length, 1.5 kilometres across and approaching 400 metres deep.

At night it looks like a sci-fi film set.

On the Indian Pacific, each morning dawns on a dramatically different landscape.

The fi rst sunrise on the Nullabor Plain is to be savoured and ushers in views of a country that can

overwhelm some passengers.

Australians are probably prepared for the vastness of the plain but one New Zealand passenger simply

cannot believe what he is seeing.

There are disappointingly few camels and kangaroos but the bird life is diverse and includes many

sightings of wedge-tailed eagles, the symbol of the Indian Pacifi c, and their large stick nests in old power

lines.

Many smaller birds flit in and out of the blue/grey saltbush and scattered wildflowers, which include a

splash of colour from red hops.

Several isolated graves marked by crosses are close to the line.

Nigel, a young New Zealander in the Red Kangaroo lounge, says the Nullabor is not big enough for

him. He wants more.

Travelling during winter means your view disappears quickly and the nights are long, so travellers may

wish to time their journey to maximise daylight hours.

There is no internet access on the train and mobile telephone coverage is very limited. I do not know

what is happening in the world from Sunday until arrival in Sydney and there are no dreaded television

monitors to intrude on what is a very quiet trip.

Next stop is Cook, one of many Nullabor sidings named after Australian prime ministers. There were

once several hundred people here but as the railways were privatised, the town shrivelled.

It is now a place to reflecton history, isolation and man's insignifi cance, but it is an important stop for

the train and the passengers. The Indian Pacific takes on water here and passengers can enjoy the cool,

clean air and gentle winter sun.

There is a strong relationship between the train and the communities along the way.

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The Indian Pacific's Christmas concert trains bring entertainers such as Jimmy Barnes to some of the

country?s most isolated locations.

Station hands travelling to the big smoke regale the crew with stories and on our trip, the train

stops in the middle of nowhere to pick up an Aboriginal group of travellers.

At Barton siding lives a former railway worker called Ziggy, a tall, thin man surrounded by yapping

dogs, who is in his 80s. His home is built from old railway sleepers, squashed Milo tins and other

recyclable rubbish from the train, which slows to drop off his supplies and for tourists to take a

photo.

Around Ooldea the landscape changes from the Nullabor's flat saltbush country to deep orangecoloured,

undulating sandhills, covered in bright green native pines, lush bushes and pretty, fluffy spinnifex.

It is a perfect wild garden with a backdrop of indigo deep-blue hills, probably the southern end of

South Australia's Flinders Ranges.

Night falls before Tarcoola and the next dawn breaks over the Adelaide Plains. We change crews in

Adelaide after arriving about 7.30am, with passengers having about two hours to enjoy Adelaide's

fantastic Central Market - no other Australian city has anything like it - or take a city bus tour.

The next seven hours to Broken Hill take passengers through South Australia's very pretty mid-north

region that in summer will be fields of golden wheat and classic sheep country. A two-hour sunset

stop in the Silver City is the last where passengers can get out and stretch their legs or take a tour.

The fi nal dawn breaks in foggy mountains west of Sydney. Breakfast in the dining car affords

spectacular views of the Grose Valley in the Blue Mountains, where heavy cloud fi lls the honeycoloured

sandstone valleys making them look like massive lakes.

For the fi rst time we can see the powerful NR26 locomotive pulling the train around the bends.

The food served to Gold Kangaroo travellers, which is included in the ticket price, is of very high

standard. Two chefs cook on the Perth to Adelaide leg and are replaced by another two on the

Adelaide-Sydney run, and both teams deserve the enthusiastic applause and cheers of travellers at

the end of each stage.

Young travellers in Red Kangaroo - Nigel and friend Robin from Mannheim in Germany paid $234

and $173 respectively for a day/nighter seat, with discounts, from Perth to Adelaide - want to splurge

on the food and there are free seats in the dining car, but they are forbidden from entering Gold

class.

Nigel says the food in red class is wholesome, the facilities clean and properly serviced and prices

refl ect value for money, and you can bring your own food if you want.

There are Red Kangaroo sleeper cabins for singles and twins, with private basins and shared toilets

and showers.

I found the journey very relaxing, the service responsive and I would certainly consider doing a

shorter leg, say from Sydney to Adelaide, again.

It is not the rail adventure of India, which has journeys of similar distances, nor is it a mad, social

whirl, but only a very hard-to-please tourist would not feel satisfied to have crossed Australia on the

Indian Pacific.

The Gold Kangaroo carriages are about 30 years old but have been upgraded over the years. They

are of high quality although the upper bunk does lack places to put things, such as bottled water, a

book or reading glasses.

A fold-away toilet, sink and shower with reliable hot water, are built into a neatly-designed, closetsized

space, but a strong swerve of the train while showering can cause water to overflow, and GSR

plans to revamp the carriages, reportedly replacing some of the upper and lower bunks with double

bed layouts. Designs and other details have yet to be released.

I slept on the upper bunk and getting up and down was not easy, and the cabins can be overheated

at night while the lounge and dining car are chilly, so take a light jacket for the chilly spots and opt

for the lower bunk.

The cost of the Gold class between Perth and Sydney is $1690 (to March 31, 2007, plus $30 fuel

surcharge from August 1, 2006) per person.

The NR26, which pulled our 17 carriages from west to east over three nights and 4352 kilometres,

came to an elegant stop at Sydney's grand Central Station only about half an hour behind

schedule.

I was soon hopping on Sydney's commuter rail network and regretting the next leg was not

another of Australia's great train journeys.

- The author travelled as a guest of Great Southern Railway.

If you go

* Indian Pacifi c fares between Sydney and Perth to

March 31, 2007:

* Adult Gold: $1690 (includes food, toiletries and

towels)

* Adult Red sleeper: $1290

* Adult day/night seat: $560

* Fuel surcharge of $30 for Sydney/Perth run from

August 1, 2006

* Pensioner, student and youth concessions available

* Take your car for $99 (conditions apply)

* Travel one-way by rail and fl y home on a

Trainways airfare

* The Nullabor Plain crossing includes 478

kilometres of straight track, the longest stretch

in the world.

* GSR's longest Australian train to date was

a Ghan service of 45 carriages and two

locomotives at 1.2 kilometres in length.

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

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