Day ? Not quite sure on the Indian Pacific

Now the days on board the train are all starting to blur and we’re really not sure what day of the week it is or how long we’ve been on here. However, we both did report a reasonable nights sleep and in fact, I’d go as far as to say that I’m really enjoying it!

Life on board is very easy , even having a shower as the train trundles along is ok and the water is nice and hot and reliable. Luxury.

We had a relaxed breakfast today as there were no adventures until the evening. So we sat eating breakfast with Kirie and Rob from Sydney’s North Beaches and played spot the kangaroo out of the window. There were plenty about but it’s impossible to catch them on camera!

We then spent the morning and most of the afternoon in our cabin watching the scenery go by. Again it kept changing as we travelled past the lagoon coast then industrial parts of Port Pirie before getting nearer to Adelaide where the scenery changed to vast agricultural landscapes of wheat fields, sheep and cattle. Down here it looked really dry and apparently it hasn’t rained for months maybe even years.

This was a lovely lazy way to spend time and I was able to get my sketchbook out whilst Jane read her book on a chair we borrowed so that she could face forwards.

Other people on the train pass the hours playing cards, drinking the wine lake of Australia dry or listening to Adam the musician. Our next door neighbours, on the other hand, kept their ‘Privacy’ notice on their door for the whole trip. I only ever heard them once when she screamed wildly at him (I’m guessing here) – ‘STOP IT!’. I think someone was really having trouble getting sleep.

Anyways…..at about 3-30pm we pulled into Long Plains and it was time for all those travelling onto Sydney to get off the train and onto coaches. We were off to the Barossa Valley and a winery called Seppelsfield. After an introductory glass of bubbles on the lawn we were taken into a large room where we had a wine tasting and small food parings. I sat next to Dimitri the jovial Swiss fellow who was up for a game of scoring the wines! Opposite me was Alastair who was an enormous English GP who introduced himself to everyone by talking about his plot of ‘Murder on the Indian Pacific’. Maybe that’s what had been going on in Cabin G5.

The wines and food pairings were all very tasty and soon it was time to move into the main cellar area which is a vast barn like place with huge long tables for everyone to sit at and a stage. We were sat right at the front and enjoyed the music from a local band who were really good.

Everyone at our table was initially very very quiet but we enjoyed the platters of food and as the wine flowed freely we all livened up! By the end of the evening we were all singing along to Sweet Caroline and the Proclaimers ‘I’m Gonna Be’ (500 miles) and loads of people got up and danced.

Part way through the evening they did something called ‘Firing of the Barrel’ which seemed to involve a man with a flame thrower setting fire to the inside of a used barrel. Of course the old alcohol went up in flames and scorched the inside so that it could then be used to store more wine, giving its flavour more complexity. Or maybe there barrels will be exported for whisky storage.

At the end of another excellent evening we were loaded back onto coaches and I slept the hours trip back to the train which was now in Adelaide waiting for us.

The only slight dampener on the evening was that when we got back to our cabin our little tickets for tomorrow’s trip said we were doing our second choice ‘Painting Like a Pro’. As we’d had everything confirmed in writing before we left home so this wasn’t right at all, something fishy was going on. So, I marched up the train to see Thomas who had taken over as the Section Manager for our part of the train at Adelaide (where in fact the whole crew changed). Thomas looked rather scared as I explained that this would not do at all and promised to look into it and get back to me in the morning. I felt confident that he’d sort of out and reported back to Jane before falling asleep like a baby 😴