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  • Home
  • About
    • All Star Profile
    • Current Outlets
  • Stories
    • Tahitian Dreaming Paul Gauguin Cruises
    • Cruise Ship's Historic Return to SA's Copper Coast
    • MSC Grandiosa
    • Ruby Princess
    • Return to Sri Lanka
    • Bryce Canyon
    • Hunter Gatherings
    • Visit Planet Batuu on your next holiday
    • The Falkland Islands
    • Zagreb has just about everything!
    • Historic Train Journeys in Yorkshire
    • The Sunshine State
    • To The Top of Europe
    • The Kimberley and Mitchell Falls
    • Forget Bali - Go Bush
    • Ireland.. It’s just like the movies
    • Tap and Go Sydney
    • Milwaukee: Easy does it
    • PNG with P&O
    • Port Douglas
    • India's Golden Triangle
    • Guns Gods and Gin
    • Return to Paradise
    • The Outback and fascinating Lava Tubes at Undara.
    • SAILING MEKONG’s PAST IN THE PRESENT
    • Italian Treat
    • Jasper
    • The Ghan
    • Grand Old Ladies
    • Brisbane to Townsville
    • MSC Seaside
    • First to the Frozen Continent Antarctica
    • Cuba's New Revolution
    • THE travel destinations for 2018
    • British Columbia and Grizzly Bears
    • Samoa
    • Mudgee
    • SeaDream A Seven-Day Dream
    • Winnipeg Canada
    • City and beach options in Thailand
    • The Canadian
    • Lonna Island
    • Ancient encounters along the Kimberley Coast
    • Silja Line
    • Play and Stay in Uber Cool Brisbane
    • The Vasa Museum
    • Travel to Noosa - For Cooking Classes
    • Spirit House hits new high
    • Mudgee's Blue Wren Winery
    • Helsinki: Europe’s new cool
    • Doing the Locomotion on Grandma's Express
    • SWEPT AWAY BY BROOME
    • Madrid – Tapas on Offer All Day
    • The Southern Highlands - Bowral
    • A Day Trip to China
    • The Never Never
    • Alaska 101
    • The Hydro Majestic Hotel
    • When is a Legend Born?
    • Sun Princess
    • An Amazing Journey
    • Mandurah and Blue Swimmer's
    • A MILLION DANCING SMILES IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA
    • See the historic wonders of Hội An, Vietnam
    • Holidays with Pets
    • YEPPOON – AN OASIS IN THE TROPICS
    • O'REILLY'S
    • Coober Pedy
    • Rum - Smuggler’s - Slavery
    • Sri Lanka
    • Secrets of the Great Ocean Road
    • Looking for Napoleon
    • Blue Lagoon
    • Where is Bowen?
    • The Central Coast of NSW
    • Lake Geneva
    • Mudgee NSW
    • Margaret River
    • Indian Pacific
    • Alsace
    • Cruising Asia
    • The Magnificent Murray
    • Lakes and Daffodils
    • Secret Places
    • Pencils
    • Pacific Jewel
    • Contact
    • Cruising with Holland America Line
    • Bewitching Mt Tamborine
    • Hill End NSW
    • The Heart of the Gold Coast
    • Outback Australia
    • Emerald Princess
    • Ottawow – Canada's exciting capital
    • Majorca
    • The Secret World of Pacific Palms
    • Escape the last of Winter
    • Sailing on Emerald Princess
    • Finding your own Oasis in Doha
    • Tokyo DisneySea

    ​– From the lushness of the Blue Mountains to the vast wilderness of the Nullarbor Plain –
By John Newton
Not long ago, you could jump aboard the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth for a lot less than the cost of flying economy across the continent. But it's a different story today with one of the world's great railway journeys out-pricing the trip by air.
It's simple really. The train journey these days is a four day/three night adventure in either Platinum or Gold Service class with all gourmet meals, selected complimentary drinks and excursions included in the price - which is around the same as staying at a five-star city hotel with meals and a few top drops.
But price aside, it's the glorious Australian landscapes – from the lushness of the Blue Mountains to the vast wilderness of the Nullarbor Plain – that you can't see from 35,000 feet up above the clouds.
For a train pulling as many as 32 carriages with an average length of 774 metres, the Indian Pacific team at Sydney Central Station make the boarding process appear like a simple operation, despite having to load the heavy suitcases of most passengers onto a separate carriage.
And it's not surprising that the train – resplendent with its wedge-tail eagle symbol on the side of each carriage - slowly heaves its way out of Sydney's Central Station, picking up speed in the mid-afternoon sun as it heads west on the long-haul journey – a whopping 4352 kilometres (2704 miles) to the sun-drenched  shores of the West Australian capital.
It seems like Sydney's urban sprawl will never end before the train begins its huff and puff up towards the towering majesty of the Blue Mountains, where the blue haze covering the valleys contrasts with the famous sandstone escarpments. By dusk, the train is on the straight and narrow again with the two locomotives stepping up the pace to the maximum 115 km/hr (average 85 km/hr) - clickety clacking across the rolling green hillsides of the Flinders Ranges
They even serve the 'upper classes' with an early morning cup of tea every day. This was a much-needed pick-up after the first night aboard, particularly as were up just after dawn to trudge around the so-called Silver City of Broken Hill, where the golden days of its rich lead-zinc ore deposit have seemingly fallen in a hole.
Back on track, Adelaide beckons in another seven hours and time to stretch the legs for an extended stay when Platinum and Gold Service passengers can opt for a tour of the fast-growing South Australian capital or a coach trip for a Shiraz or two in the Barossa Valley, topped off with a succulent roast lamb dinner at the Farm Shop of celebrity chef Maggie Beers - a delightful end to an indulgent half-day quaffing some of Australia's premium wines.
No sooner had we hit the unusually green Nullarbor than wedge-tail eagles began to hover above in search of some tasty morsel. Rabbits and reptiles -and perhaps a hairy-nosed wombat – would be on the menu list for Australia's largest bird of prey with its massive two-metre wingspan. One of Australia's largest population of these wombats live on the Nullarbor, as do more than 80 reptile species and over 200 bird species. 
Derived from Latin meaning 'no trees' - the Nullarbor was not living up to its name as miniature trees had burst into life as we zipped along the world's longest straight railway stretch covering 478 kilometres between Ooldea and Loongana, with human habitation non-existent apart from two couples living at Cook, where we clambered off while the train was topped up with fuel and water.
There's still another 1520 plus kilometres to go as the replenished train set off for the last stop before Perth. This time it's in the evening glow of the moon at Rawlinna, a railway siding next to and named after Australia's largest sheep station. Eager - and hungry – passengers are met by lanterns and log fires (it does get cool after dark on the Nullarbor) as they mix for a slap up roast dinner on trestle tables laid out as far as the eye can see along the side of the train. It was an idyllic scene under the stars that will live in the memory of hundreds of people travelling on the weekly Sydney-Perth Indian Pacific run.
The gold mining city of Kalgoorlie passed by in the middle of the night with just a matter of hours before the Indian Ocean was a continent away from its Pacific counterpart.
After an epic, eye-opening journey – with many amusing moments (and few dull ones) - the Indian Pacific finally rolled into East Perth Station 65 hours after it left Sydney Central.
•           For Sydney-Perth and Perth-Sydney timetables and prices on the Indian Pacific -  go to: www.greatsouthernrail.com.au  
The author travelled as a guest of GSR

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