| D |
eparting Perth in the late morning you begin
an epic rail journey that will almost span the continent
from west to east... by the time you |
depart the train in Melbourne you will have traveled 3465km
(2148 miles) and 57 hours.
Late in the first evening and 600 km after leaving Perth you
arrive at Kalgoorlie... Built on the 'Golden
Mile' reputedly the richest square mile in the world. Kalgoorlie
marks the start of the Indian Pacific's unbending journey to
the Western Australian border... along a 478 km piece of track
known as the 'Long Straight'. Expect the wildlife to be sparse,
just a few dingoes and red kangaroos and the odd wedge-tailed
eagle.
You wake to the Nullarbor Plain, the world's
largest flat surface. It's a scene of utter desolation with
little but saltbush able to grow there. The scenery hardly
changes, and over breakfast someone makes a joke about going
to sleep and waking up eight hours later to the same view.
To the north are the tribal lands of the Aboriginal people...
Maralinga land... Pitjanjatjara land and over 40,000 years
of the Dreaming... The train now feels like home and you've
developed some good friendships with your fellow travelers.
You spend your hours chatting, playing cards and dining together.
Traveling in air conditioned comfort, you hardly notice the
day turning into night. Arriving at Tarcoola
the 'Indian Pacific' will share track with 'The Ghan' as it
continues to make its run south. It will be early morning
and you'll most probably be sleeping as you reach the halfway
point of the journey, Port Augusta. All trains
stop here... even 'The Ghan' traveling from Sydney and Melbourne
to Alice Springs in the centre of the continent.
You follow the scenic Flinders Ranges to Port Pirie,
then run through the South Australian 'wheat belt" to
arrive in Adelaide early morning. Depending on the day of travel you will need to spend one or three nights in Adelaide (at own expense) before boarding the early morning "Overland"
for Melbourne... traveling through the day you'll arrive in
Melbourne early evening.
An interesting article written by B. Elder about a trip on
the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth can be read at Life
on the Line. |
