I took a short trip to Adelaide this month, with the purpose of going to the Art Gallery of South Australia to see the exhibition More Ink Than Ocean.
To be a bit different, instead of flying down to Adelaide I decided to start the journey by going down by train. Though not a train spotter I do love train travel, having crossed Canada by train a number of years ago. So my lovely travel agent Merryn from Ramsgate Travel Service
http://www.ramsgatetravel.com.au/ organised for me to travel from Sydney to Adelaide on the Indian Pacific. The Indian Pacific, goes, as the name suggests, from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean across Australia, and vice-a-versa. I was only completing the first part of the trip from Sydney to Adelaide and leaving the train there, while fellow travellers on the train were heading across to Perth to complete the journey.
We left Sydney at 3.05pm from Central Railway Station though check in was earlier and you could feel the anticipation of the train travellers while standing on the platform. The train is long, someone told me that it held fourty eight carriages, plus the locomotives and a vehicle carrier. All I know that it was the length of two platforms of the station. The photo shows one of the engines (no that's not me but a fellow passenger) and then one platform length of cars. I had to stand in the middle of the platform and take one photo down the platform and then photo up the platform to be able to capture all of them. Add that length again and you have the size of the train.
We were welcomed on board by carriage host individually, who provided information on the trip, its inclusions and off train excursions. Another lovely lady came around to organise times for meals with us. Then it was off, travelling through the suburbs of Sydney on one of Australia's icon trains, later afternoon we were travelling through the Blue Mountains and then onto the Western Plains. By 7.30pm having just been seated for dinner (sounds extra special doesn't it?) we arrived into Bathurst to collect a couple of passengers and then we were off again.
Dinner was beautiful. All meals and drinks were included in the package I had chosen, so my three course meal consisted of Lamb for Entree, a roasted vegetable pasta for main and a selection of Australian cheeses and fruit for dessert. I really don't know how the chefs and other staff turned out these beautiful meals, in a small kitchen on a rocky train. My hat goes off to those people.
I was travelling by myself, which never never worries me, as I feel it gives me the opportunity to meet new people and this I did over dinner. I shared the table with a father and son who were travelling over to Perth for a few days, and we discussed what they were doing in Perth, and what I would be doing in Adelaide, the latest Rugby League scores and my calligraphy and the son's photography. It was an interesting discussion but good food, and the rocking of the train took it's toll and I began to feel sleepy, so it was time to retire. After the necessary preparations and with the berth changed to its night configuration, I was propped up in bed and reading until the eyes began to close and only the occasional light broke the darkness.
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