STAY ON TRACK
ALL ABOARD AS AUSTRALIA’S GREATEST RAIL JOURNEY WORKS ITS MAGIC ON YOUNG AND OLD
Nostalgia prickled my skin on arrival at Sydney Central Train Station. Last time I was here I was seven years old and holding my Nan’s hand tightly as we boarded our overnight train for Melbourne.
Fast forward 40 something years, and the little hand tugging mine is that of my sevenyear-old daughter, willing me to help her find platform 9¾. Harry Potter has indeed done wonders in promoting the magic of train travel to young children. However, I did ponder if the magic would last on a threenight, four-day pilgrimage covering 4500km on-board the Indian Pacific bound for Perth.
We settled quickly into our gold-class cabin – my daughter opening every door, drawer and working every latch as her induction, while I was mesmerised by how much function could fit into such a tiny but well-appointed ensuite.
Our beds were luxe bunks – I say luxe because they are dressed with pillow-top mattresses and the finest hotel linen. During the day they are hidden covertly, appearing only on nightfall, convincing my daughter there were indeed wizards at play.
My eldest daughter, who is 19, enjoyed the privacy of a single gold-class cabin with shared bathroom facilities. A touch bigger than a first-class seat in an aeroplane with similar configurations, she had room to sit, sleep, plug in her devices and enjoy the moving art rolling past a window that was as wide as the cabin.
As the city slipped away that first evening to make way for the navy silhouette of the Blue Mountains against a molten sunset sky, we joined our fellow companions in the Queen Adelaide Restaurant to indulge in what would be the first of many wonderful meals.
Local flavours are celebrated during threecourse silver service dining with native Australian ingredients like finger lime, rosella and quandong delivering an interesting twist.
Paired wines included selections from the Barossa and McLaren Vale vineyards we would have the chance to visit on our offtrain excursion in Adelaide, but the most endearing aspect for us was sharing the fourseater table with one other guest during each sitting.
By night two, we had become more accustomed to the train’s gentle lurching rhythm and the hum and click of the tracks, sleeping soundly and waking early to catch our first glimpse of Australia’s arid yet ethereally beautiful outback as we approached the Nullarbor Plain.
This part of the journey drew most passengers from their cabins – the hero – a vast and treeless plain, and the chance to acknowledge this stretch as the longest straight track rail crossing in the world – with a blurred photo of scenery passing by quicker than our shutters.
But there was plenty of time to relax and watch the landscape change from leafy eucalyptus and pastoral grazing greens to the haunting juxtaposition of verdant vineyards, drought-stricken farms and blackened bush where bushfires had recently wreaked havoc.
The outback gently slides in merging tracts of pastel pink and smoky grey salt lakes before culminating in what seems to be an endless horizon of sunburnt Nullarbor.
A fitting touch was listening to the Indian Pacific radio, a curated compilation of Australian music, poems and podcasts as told by locals that have played a part in the past or present of the towns we pass.
It was a poignant reminder of the hardship, hope and often unsung heroes of our big brown land and there were more than a few times I swept a tear from my cheek from pride but also empathy.
We watched for kangaroos, emus and camels and saw many. A hapless camel wandered on to the track prompting an emergency stop on the Nullarbor while it was