australia travelogue

Travels in Australia - Andy Webb 2003

The Indian Pacific

Wednesday 25th June - Perth-Kalgoorlie

We said our farewells to Fi and Cam before the short drive to drop off the van in Bayswater. Unfortunately it appeared our little kangaroo friend would cost us $500 due to them having to replace the sliding door. Next was a dilemma we were relying on the owner to give us a lift to the station on time so I had to be careful how I approached this one. What I really wanted to do was launch into an angry tirade about how crap their vans were and that they shouldn't hire out vans with dodgy gearboxes in the first place, this was after she had basically accused me of breaking the gearbox aswell! Anyway I was determined not to let this ruin our mood, so I decided that $500 for now could be written off!

We arrived at the Indian Pacific with plenty of time, although I must confess I had absolutely nothing to say to the campervan owner the whole journey! Check in was really easy before I knew it all my bags had been checked in before I had the chance to get out my coat. When we boarded it appeared that our cabin was taken, after a small heart attack we were then shown to our correct cabin. The cabin was designed in such away that no space was left wasted, we had a fold up everything it seemed even the kitchen sink! The table folded out but also snapped shut relatively easy as Helen's knees found out on two occasions (sorry!). We were booked in the Red Kangaroo Class, which was effectively, one down from Gold Kangaroo (First Class), basically you got a small cabin with bunks, but that was about it, you had to pay for your meals and drinks.

We departed at 12 noon, passing through the suburbs of Perth until they dissipated into vineyard before meeting forests, rolling hills and streams. Venturing out of our cabin was like going back into a time warp, the 1950s Art Deco canteen served as a reminder of a bygone era, and so were our fellow passenger, all of whom, seemed to be over the age of 60! The canteen served fairly basic fare that wouldn't actually be out of place on the British Railways, pasties, sausage rolls, crisps, biscuits and coke sized cans of beer. We passed the afternoon playing cards, chatting and listening to our older passengers moaning about the service these days. Quite frankly, I had hoped the Indian Pacific would be a very sociable experience, but for some reason, I rally didn't have any inclination to start up a conversation with these moaning oldies. So it seemed for the next 2 and a bit days we would be surrounded by a world full of thermos flasks, knitting patterns and hot water bottles!

Evening dinner was much a communial affair in that it was first come first served from a selection of stew bags. The food wasn't exactly restaurant quality but as train food goes, it wasn't that bad and certainly filled a hole! The only downside was while we were eating the announcer rather tactfully read out the Gold Kangaroo Menu for all to hear, salmon prawn champagne buffet bastards!

We were blessed with a nice sunset, and then before we knew it, we had pulled into Kalgoorlie at about 10pm for a three hour stop. I was quite excited about the prospect of seeing Kalgoorlie, I had expected dust covered roads with the odd wooden building, but the first minute into our coach tour we were passing a Woolworths! Kalgoorlie boasts the richest square mile of real estate in the world, given to the fact that it one of Australia's most famous gold mining community. Their water supply is piped over 1000kms from Perth. We were given a tour of the main street with a few of its famous historic buildings before going off to see one of the last open gold pits in Kalgoorlie. The sheer size of the place was phenomenal, it looked like the set of a James Bond film, where dumper trucks were dwarfed by even bigger dumper trucks the size of 2 storey houses. After the pit we were taken on a drive by of the Kalgoorlie Red Light District, which was pretty much just a few buildings with red lights on them, but apparently they were essential in feeding the sexual appetites of the miners. The first one we passed was now a Youth Hostel, so you could actually write home and tell your parents that you were staying in a brothel without fear of being disowned. We passed the biggest brothel, Langtrees, which you can actually tour, although we were just content to see a drunk passed out right outside the doors!

After our tour, we went for a walk up the deserted main street, everyone it appeared, seemed to be at the pub on the corner where one of the biggest up and coming Rock bands in Australia were playing. It was so loud you could hear it at the other end of the street, so rather than losing our hearing we opted for a coffee in the aptly named 'Monty's'. On our way there, we saw another drunk being bundled into what can only be described as a bear cage by the police, obviously it seemed, they didn't take any shit in this place. After a nice coffee we returned to the train.

Our beds literally came out of the wall and we were just about enough space for one person to lie without moving. Amazingly sleep came easier than expected and it was into the land of dreaming about van journeys, kung fu kangaroos and rollercoaster rides.

 

Thursday 26th June - The Nullabor and Cook

At various points during the night I woke up disorientated, each time the train only seemed to be going at a snails pace, at one point I had dreamt I was travelling in the back of a van. I awoke properly with early morning views of the Nullabor Plain, a vast expanse of nothingness 4 times the size of Belgium, but maybe not as dull. The name, Nullabor, is derived from the Latin nullus arbor, meaning 'no tree'. It serves as a physical and metaphorical barrier between Western Australia and the rest of the country. To me it looked something akin to a Martian Landscape, although due to the time of the year, I imagined that the blotches of green would be gone in the summer. Our train was running straight through the middle of the Nullarbor on the longest straight piece of railway track in the world, 297 miles (478km), they must have used some pretty amazing protractors then!

Mid morning we arrived in Cook, a remote outpost in the centre of the Nullabor, it used to house 200 inhabitants now it appears there are only 2 permanent residents. Stepping off the train was just like walking into some kind of post-apocalyptic settlement: old cars stripped of their usefulness, old road signs rusting in the breeze, a filled up swimming pool and an old hospital. There was a sign to the golf course, but I failed to see how they would any sort of golf tournament, perhaps for the mentally insane. Anyway we were told just before we got off that the weather was extremely wet and muddy, strange how that when we got off the train it seemed to be just mildly wet, I guess Australians just aren't used to any form of wet weather.

Anyway about 30 or people had now descended on Cook, temporarily increasing it's population 15 fold. We all had a look around, in fact the local shop seemed to be in an old school classroom and had nothing really of note for sale, except a few postcards and pens which you could purchase from a rather large lady who we presumed to be one of the two residents. Without any refreshments in sight we took a wander around the rest of the place hoping to locate Cook's other resident, but I guess he was too busy in some exciting activity to be found. Apparently 95% of the buildings were infected with white ants so I guess this wasn't the place to buy property unless you were Bill Oddie. By far the highlight was the 2 jails which were essentially large tall wooden boxes, but the irony was that what happened if one of the two people committed a crime would her/his husband/wife have to lock them up?

After a slight staff changeover we were off again, after lunch, we were informed that our locomotive was broken down. I must admit it didn't really bother us despite the fact we were stuck in the middle of nowhere. All the old people around started getting tetchy, 'terrible service' 'it wasn't like this in my day you know' 'bloody disgrace nowadays'. Anyway out of nowhere and I mean NOWHERE two 4WDs arrived, although it appeared they were just dropping someone off. As luck would have it a freight train going in the other direction had generously decided to sacrifice our locomotive to us, although initially it would have to push the train before it could turn around.

The rest of the evening we spent playing cards and rather successfully spraying red wine all over our cabin due to another arguement with the flip top table, this also resulted in me having to spend the rest of the evening/night in my boxer shorts much to the bemusement of anyone who happened to spot me popping out to the toilet or the drinks car.

Friday 27th June - Adelaide

We arrived in Adelaide a couple of hours late to be met by Helen's friends, Marg and Fred. It had been an enjoyable trip, definitely a trip that you would want to spend with someone, as there isn't a great deal to do other than read, talk, play games and spill red wine! Anyway to find out about our Adelaide experience please click here

To view all the pictures from the Indian Pacific click here

Adedlaide and Kangaroo Island >>

Back to travelogue menu <<