Posts Tagged With: Indian Pacific Train

Into the Blue Mountains

Posted on March 8, 2025 by julieallen36

After all of the fun and games yesterday, we had a sedate dinner on board the train and then did a bit of tidying up our cabin before bedtime. This would be our last sleep onboard and I was already saying things like ‘I don’t want to get off the train…..boo’.

But we needed to be up early again for our trip into the Blue Mountains. We got off the train at Mount Victoria where a fleet of buses were waiting to take us all on our different tours. Our bus was a big red London Double Decker bus that struggled to make it up some of the hills around here but caught the attention of the Korean tourists.

As we drove to Scenic World the driver gave a v good commentary on the Blue Mountains. However, today it looked as if nothing would be particularly scenic as the mountains were covered in mist! When we got off we were handed freebie Indian Pacific ponchos which were very welcome as it was rather damp.

Interestingly, as we get nearer to Sydney we are catching up with all the history that I’ve been listening to on the superb ‘A History of Australia Podcast’. I’ve been listening to this back home whilst taking Molly for walks and doing chores etc. It’s by an Australian undergraduate called Anthony and is really good (nerdy). So far I’ve listening to 37 episodes and we’re only upto 1830!

But I do know that the Blue Mountains were seen as an impassable barrier by the first settlers from the time of Captain Cook landing in 1770. It wasn’t until 1813 that Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson along with 4 servants (convicts) and 6 dogs (let’s call them Woody, Buddy, Winston, Molly, Maevie and Dougal) , 2 cats (Bibi and Lily) and 1 Budgie (Toto the Intrepid) managed to find a way across. I do feel an entirely separate story coming on about this unlikely band but perhaps that should be for another day!

We drove through the town of Blaxland which was first settled way back then and allowed the colony to continue because it provided access to reliable farmland further beyond. Notably today I spotted the billboard advertising MacDonald’s in Blaxland so still providing a source of food today. Boom boom.

Meanwhile back at ‘Not so very scenic world’, Katoomba. It was time to get off the bus and start the rides! Basically, here they’ve created a bunch of different ways to travel across the canyons and forests of the Blue Mountains. First up was the Scenic Skyway which at 270m is Australia’s highest cable car. I’m sure the views normally are terrific but today….nothing! However, we were allowed in before everyone else which was great.

This took us to the next ride the Scenic Railway. At a 52 degree incline this is the steepest passenger train in the world. The metal seats are bucket like but when the driver said ‘hold on tight’ I thought it was a joke as there was nothing to hold us in and I had my rucksack in one hand and my camera in the other. As we set off the train tilted vertically and I felt myself sliding down. Oops! I was able to jab my foot up against the front and stop myself from….well , let’s not think about that but I do have a few Health and Safety concerns about this ride. Imagine if one of the tiny 3 sisters from the train were on here , I don’t think they could hold themselves on.

After these thrills and nearly spills , we took a leisurely stroll along the Scenic Walkway amid the ancient, temperate rainforest. Here we got up close to the flora of Eucalyptus, Banksia, Ferns, Acacia, Honeysuckle, rhododendron and huge strong vines.

By now the mists were starting to clear as we took our final ride on the Scenic Cableway. This is Australia’s biggest cable car and takes us back upto the Scenic Shopping Emporium. Jane and I ignored all this and just started to admire the views across the vast expanse of mountains and forests below.

But we’re not finished yet….no. We leave scenic world behind now and drive over to Echo Point which is the famous viewpoint for the iconic Three Sisters. These are 3 ancient sandstone formations from 200 million years ago (Triassic) named Meehni, Wimlah and Gunneddoo by the Aboriginal indigenous people.

But even though the sun was out we weren’t going to look at them. It was time for the Indian Pacific folk to eat lunch and consume vast quantities of free beer and wine. Dear God, they love a freebie! Unfortunately, around about the Scenic Walkway, I’d started to feel horrible motion ‘sickness’ after being on the train for so long. Not exactly sick but just like I was still walking on something that was rocking and feeling very unsteady. At lunch I discovered that others (all women) were feeling the same way.

So as soon as we’d scoffed the excellent taster board , Jane and I skipped off to see the view of the Three Sisters. Now the mists had completely cleared and the formations looked stunning in the sunshine! Not for the first time this trip, I felt a little bit over-whelmed (tired).

It had been a great trip, once again extremely well organised by the team at Journey Beyond who run the Indian Pacific Train. At Katoomba Station we boarded a local train that had been specially hired to get us back into Sydney and relaxed for the 2 hours it took before we arrived into Sydney Central Station.

Our luggage had all been taken off the original train and lay waiting for us in orderly queues next to where we got off. Amazing but then it all became a bit of a bunfight as people rushed to find their things. Suddenly there was a scream from a nearby train door and it was one of the 3 sisters who had fallen between the train and the platform and badly hurt her leg. Poor lady. The Indian Pacific team did all they could to look after her but that was definitely going to hurt in the morning.

Of course, we had our own issues what with Jane’s back and there was no way I could lug all of our luggage to a taxi. Did I mention that we had a lot?! So I guarded everything whilst Jane went and fetched Greg, a super helpful chap, who helped us get everything to the taxi queue and then waited with us until one came. Thank you lovely Greg and all of the Indian Pacific crew. The train has been absolutely amazing and we’ve loved everything about it. As I overheard someone else saying ‘I could get used to someone telling me to go here, do this, do that, cook my dinner and make my bed!’

But now it’s welcome to Sydney folks!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Australia, Blue Mountains, Indian Pacific Train, Sydney | 6 Comments

Things to do in Broken Hill

Posted on March 8, 2025 by julieallen36

The next day Jane woke me from my slumber at 6-20am even though we’d agreed we didn’t need to get up until 7. She said she’d had a really bad nights sleep mithering about us not getting on the right tour and running the conversation she’d now be having with Thomas, over and over in her head. Apparently, I’d left the outcome rather too open ended 🤣

Whilst I had a quick shower it was Jane’s turn to march off down the train to see your man. Upon her return she could report that in fact all was well and by chance, two people had cancelled off our first choice tour, so now we were back in again. Nice one Thomas.

So you might wonder what was this incredible tour that we were so keen to join. Well, when in Broken Hill the only tour worth doing is the ‘Shelita, Queen of the Outback Tour’ based on the iconic film from 1994 ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ which we’d watch just before we left for Oz.

It’s a rather sad film and this was the reason we were now doing a tour of a back of beyond town with our fabulous drag queen, Shelita. The surprising thing to me were the other 38 people on this tour whose average age was about 78. I’m not sure some of them knew what they’d signed up for but maybe we’re just dragged in by the word ‘Bingo’.

It was already incredibly hot and so we were all glad to take our tour at a very leisurely pace on foot round the quaint old town. Shelita couldn’t got too fast herself due to the outrageously high heeled shoes, of course. As we ambled along we were shown various landmarks from both the film and mining history of the town.

Next we all got on board our Disco Bus and we drove upto the Lode Line viewpoint and memorial. As we drove along we were accompanied by a selection of jolly ABBA tunes. The viewpoint was on top of the old slag heaps which loom over the entire town.

Up here, Jane and I had a nice chat with Shelita as well as photos. She gave us all the gossip on her meetings with Miriam Margolyes and Griff Rhys Jones who included Shelita in their TV programmes about Oz. But that’s between us and Shelita!

Back on the bus once more and we made our way to a Brewery where we all piled out once more and were encouraged to dress up in their glittery hats and feather boas etc! We had been right at the back in the bus so this meant that we were left to sit on the front table which everyone else had been avoiding like the plague. Tasty snacks were served and beers were cracked open. It must have been about 11-30am by now.

In between, Shelita made several fabulous outfit changes before we had a couple more games. One of which involved guessing the celebrity name from clues. Scooby Doo was indeed the answer! Jane won a lovely Indian Pacific fridge magnet and tote bag. Hurrah!

The morning progressed with Shelita doing some excellent lip syncing to Pet Shops Boys and Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’ etc before we settled down to the serious business of Drag Queen Bingo. This is just like normal bingo except…..no, no just like normal bingo!

The finale was when Shelita said she needed a couple of backing singers and naturally, she chose me and Jane. Now this sort of audience participation is not normally my kind of thing…..but up we got and we’re then joined by a few others including the oldest man on the train who was celebrating his birthday. The music started and Shelita checked in with Jane that we knew the song. There was no mistaking the iconic introduction to YMCA by the Village People and of course we know all the actions, even if I wasn’t 100% sure which way round my C should be. Everyone else was singing along and having a whale of a time and something about the outfit I was wearing made me feel very much like a Village Person! Meanwhile, Jane seemed to forget all about her bad back and it was all joyous fun.

After a few last photos it was time to get back in the Disco Bus which took us back to the train. What a fabulous morning with the really rather lovely Shelita.

Back on the train, people on the other tours tried to convince us that they’d had a very nice time too down the silver mine and in the railway museum 🥱🥱

We were quite exhausted by our morning so Jane lay down and had a nap and I spent the whole afternoon staring out of the cabin window spotting kangaroos. Once again there were many about lurking in the shadows of the trees. Hold on a minute, did that one have a feather boa on?

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Australia, Broken Hill, Indian Pacific Train, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Shelita | 3 Comments

Day ? Not quite sure on the Indian Pacific

Posted on March 7, 2025 by julieallen36

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 😴

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Adelaide, Australia, Barossa Valley, Indian Pacific Train | 4 Comments

Crossing the Nullarbor Plain

Posted on March 6, 2025 by julieallen36

It was still Sunday and after our early morning trip and breakfast, we were able to sit back and enjoy the ride. By now we were crossing the Nullarbor Plain which, as the name suggests, is an almost treeless area of semi-arid country. It is the world’s largest single exposure of limestone bedrock of about 200,000 square kilometres. To start with there was a very red soil and some lovely, blobby eucalyptus trees but these gradually disappeared and we were left looking out of the stones vast plains. There was no wildlife to be seen and only the occasional pile of bleached bones at the side of the track.

We spent the afternoon in the Outback Explorer lounge trying to blog but there is no reception to be had out here. Then we joined in a trivia quiz run by Adam the singer. It became quite competitive but Jane and I were a bit poor! Even getting the age of Princess Elizabeth when she ascended to the throne wrong. We noticed that lots of our fellow travellers were making the most of the free bar onboard and we finally gave in at 4pm and ordered a glass of wine!

Along the way we stopped at Rawlina which is one of the largest sheep stations in Australia with 30,000 sheep over 2.5 million acres of land. But today there was not a single sheep to be seen.

We also travelled along the single longest stretch of straight railway in the world at 478kms and now we passed into Southern Australia where the clocks moved forward by 2.5 hours!

Our final stop of the day was in Cook, firmly in the middle of nowhere. It used to be a service centre for the railway but had been abandoned in 1997 and now only 4 people live here. Including the splendid fellow who had prepared our bonfire and lantern trail. So after dinner with nice Nigel and Gareth from South Africa now living in Stroud, we all got off the train and enjoyed a sing song round the fire and gazing at the stars above us. It was a very clear night and the Milky Way looked awesome. The singing was lead by our own Adam but also joined by the very chipper Adam Thompson from the Ozzie group Chocolate Starfish who were quite big in the 1990s, apparently.

It had been a very long day and so it was back to the cabin for a good nights sleep.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Australia, Cook, Indian Pacific Train, Nullarbor | 1 Comment

Day 2 on the Indian Pacific. Go big or go home.

Posted on March 5, 2025 by julieallen36

Hm……sleep. Discuss. Well , it wasn’t easy but I’m pleased to report that Jane, despite her back, did get a fair nights sleep on the lower bunk. However, up on the top bunk it was terribly hot. The bed, although pretty narrow, was quite comfortable. However, the train itself was v rickety and noisy as it rattles along at about 80mph. At times, in the blue cabin light, it felt like it might fly off the rails and I kept thinking ‘How can it be so bumpy when it’s just a straight rail line?’. I felt like a backseat train driver making sure we stayed on track. All night…..

At about midnight, I needed to come down the ladder to visit the en-suite facilities. I also discovered how to turn off the blue light but I’m not sure the pitch black dark helped with my sense of disorientation. I slept very fitfully until about 5-30am when I was woken by noises outside in the corridor. I looked at my watch and wondered why my alarm hadn’t gone off at 5-15?

Crikey, we now had just 30 minutes to get up and dressed as we needed to be in the Outback Bar ready for our day trip at 6am. Bleary eyed we put on our long trousers, long sleeved shirts and boots as described in our instructions.
We slowly pulled into Kalgoorlie and disembarked. The groups were split up onto coaches for the different tour options. We’d chosen the Superpit Tour which would take us right into the huge working gold mine. I was beyond excited to be doing this as a Geography nerd and Jane happily went along with the plan.

We boarded our coach with Alan the driver whose commentary throughout was somewhat negative. He was very cross with the people who got on with short sleeves and insisted that they’d have to wear overalls which were ‘very unpleasant’. We were all given Hi-Viz jackets and plastic protection glasses and Alan made it clear that we had to wear them when he said as otherwise he would lose his job.

Our first stop was Hannam’s North Tourist Mine. We’d only stop here for a cup of tea and a loo break but Alan said it was ‘ridiculous’ as we could easily spend at least a couple of hours here. The main attractions for us were the big trucks!! These weren’t in use and we were able to climb all over them which was great fun.
Next we drove on and into the Superpit mine site itself. Alan threw lots of facts and figures out about the huge piles of boulders, massive cranes, enormous machinery and of course the monster trucks. I’m afraid it was still a little early and I couldn’t take it all in so you will need to fact-check my statistics of the day yourselves!

My Top 10 AlanFacts
1) Size of the pit. The pit is an oblong in shape 3.5km x 1.5km x 600m deep
2) Amount of alcohol you are allowed in your bloodstream when entering the pit – 0%
3) Number of monster dump trucks going up and down in the mine – 40 at a cost of Aus$ 3million each
4) Date when the goldfields were created 2.6 to 2.9 billion years ago in the Dolerite rock.
5) Number of dump trucks that have enough gold ore in them to be sent to the mill (rather than just dump their 250 tonne load) 1:6
6) The Golden Mile is one of the world’s richest gold deposits and by 2019 had produced how many gold bars? 50,000
7) How much can a big truck driver earn in a year working one week on, one week off? Aus$ 100,000
8) When did they first discover gold at Kalgoorlie ? 1893
9) How many little rocks did Jane sneak into her pocket in the hope that it might contain some gold? None, Alan was very clear that we were all being watched by multiple sources and would be strip searched if they suspected any funny business.
10) Amount of Sodium Cyanide used in the process of extracting gold, globally. 35000 tonnes. I have used Prof Google here and it’s obviously a very touchy subject and on their Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines website, they seem defensive about its use.

We also made two stops at a couple of amazing viewpoints looking right over the Superpit. It was at one of these that we needed to wear our glasses and even a hard-hat. What a treat. It was incredible to see the bands of different coloured rocks and the now ant-like Monster Trucks winding their way up and down.

I must say, Alan did seem very optimistic about the future of the mine saying that there was probably enough gold here to keep the company busy for another 60 years. He drove us back to the train in time for a lovely brunch. The day was only just beginning.

PS Today, even the photos are BIG! I’ve had some trouble making images fit the grid so decided to send the full images today. Let me know which you prefer in the comments. Thanks. 🙏

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Australia, Indian Pacific Train, Kalgoorlie, Superpit | 4 Comments

No Worries, mate!

Posted on March 5, 2025 by julieallen36

(Update…..our travels have been continuing but we’ve been on a train and our WiFi v limited. Now that we’ve arrived in Sydney I will try and address the current backlog of adventures! But not all at once! ) So here we go….a few days back…….

Sorry for the radio silence folks. We’ve been holed up in our lovely Country Comfort Hotel in Perth relaxing and recovering. So, we basically enjoyed a day and a half by the pool in the beautiful sunny weather and 30 degree heat! Our only trip out was by Uber to a local pharmacy. Did I mention that we had a ridiculous amount of luggage? Well unfortunately, this had taken its toll on Jane’s back and she is suffering from a serious twinge to her lower back. Eek! This was going to need stronger meds than we have with us….hence the trip out to the extremely helpful pharmacy ladies. The other thing that seemed to work quite well was the jacuzzi by the pool.

We’ve noticed that everyone seems to have a great attitude and whatever you ask for, you get the response ‘No worries, mate!’ And they mean it. This was the case in the hotel reception and restaurant so it was very easy to just stay put! We could explore Perth more when we return.

Yesterday (Saturday 1st) we arranged a late checkout at 12 noon and then had another 3 hrs to kill by the pool before our taxi would pick us up. It wasn’t quite so relaxing today as the kids are now on half term and had taken over the pool with their inflatables and bombing! One particular group amused us by sitting in the jacuzzi blowing up their rash shirts with the jets of bubbly water making themselves look like Michelin men!

When it came time for us to get ready, we had all our stuff in a Conference Room (No worries, mate! ) and we got changed and repacked ready to go. We now each had an enormous suitcase, a holdall bag, a backpack and a suit-bag. I was very worried that they wouldn’t let us on the train with all this stuff.

Our taxi collected us and we drove the short distance to the East Perth Train Terminal where it was very exciting to see the Indian Pacific Train waiting for us. It is absolutely enormous with 29 carriages, 2 locomotives, 30 crew and 20 platinum beds and 182 Gold Beds.

We quickly checked in and were very pleased to say goodbye to our huge suitcases. We’d only see them again 4 days later in Sydney. We were told to go onto the platform where there was some entertainment, snacks and drinks and even some wildlife. So, you can imagine how overwhelmed we were when the wildlife turned out to be a snake (no thanks) and a pair of Koala Bears. We were allowed to go right up close and even stroke its little leg (the koala obv, snakes don’t have legs, silly!) It actually made me well up as it was all so unexpected and lovely.

Next Anne-Marie, the Perth manager, wanted our photo and also insisted on taking our other heavy bags off us and would take them to our cabin!!! No worries mate! Literally, no worries!

We made our way to the refreshments and sat down with Morag and Ian from Dundee. There was some very loud singing going on and although we tried to chat with our Scottish friends, I’m afraid I could only hear about 1/4 of what they said but just nodded encouragingly.

Soon it was time to board (5pm) and we made our way upto coach G where Paul, our host, greeted us and welcomed us onboard. We found our room and admired its host of facilities. These included a bunk bed, an en-suite toilet and shower, a small amount of storage and floor space. We soon got ourselves organised and waited for the train to leave.

Unfortunately, when we did leave it became apparent that our request for a forward facing carriage had been ignored. Oh dear….Paul said he would need to get his manager. He turned up and obviously hadn’t read the ‘No Worries’ memo. There was nothing he could do about the direction of travel but he did reassure that the train would be reversed from Adelaide onwards. He kept asking if we had any other questions but when we did, he just sort of snorted, as if this was all beneath him to have to deal with.

Ah well, he was obviously having a stressful time! Luckily Paul made up for it by giving us a cuddly eagle 🦅 soft toy and Marcello, in charge of the dining car , was an absolutely star in letting us eat earlier than our card said and letting Jane sit in a forward facing seat.

We were joined by Nigel from Chinnor for dinner in the Queen Adelaide restaurant car. Nigel told us that this was a dream trip for him too after a serious illness. He’d also treated himself to an Aston Martin! The food and wine were extremely good and then it was time for bed. The room got made up and I climbed the little ladder up to my bunk bed! We were both very tired and couldn’t suss out how to turn off the blue ceiling light. Let’s see how sleeping goes!