Adios Sydney, Indian Pacific RR

It’s our last morning in the Sydney flat.  Dick wanders over to the local boulangerie to pick up our morning croissants.  After packing, we Uber over to the Central Train station (huge, think Grand Central),  locate our platform and check our bags.  We have some time to spare so we walk over to ‘Ze Pickle’, a cool craft beer bar and burger place, the Dick has discovered through meticulous research.   Our server is originally from North Carolina – go figure.  We have the loaded fries (voted best in Australia) and split a burger.  A nice selection of wine and local beers as well.

After lunch, we return to the station for boarding.  The train is so large, it is split between two platform.  We are in Carriage C and I think we walked a half a mile to get to our car. Before departing they will merge the two sets of cars together, 31 in total. We get settled, arrange our excursions and meal times with our hospitality assistant and wander down to the lounge car for a pre-dinner libation. We meet, two Aussie couples, Norma & Tom, Margaret & Greg, the guys were a hoot. Our dinner companion was LeeAnn, also another Aussie. Her husband has a tour company and has a nice tour planned for their 14 people which includes the train and then a cruise. Their tour company’s main guide’s husband got ill and LeeAnn is subbing for him. There were multiple choices for dinner, I selected the beef Fillet, accompanied by roasted pumpkin and an arugula, pear and walnut salad. We stay up for a while, getting to know more people, then head back to get some sleep.

This is going to be interesting!

Mary

————

The transcontinental Indian Pacific Railroad is one of the world’s iconic rail journeys, connecting the Indian & Pacific Oceans (hence the name). The train travels over 2700 miles from – Sydney on the Pacific Ocean to Perth on the Indian. We joined the train at Sydney’s Central Station for a 4-day, 3- night journey. The trip is 65 hours one-way which our brochure notes is equal to the time taken to fly to the moon.

The train itself is huge – 39 carriages (33 passenger, 3 lounge & 3 dining) ; two diesel-electric locomotives; 2,250 feet long (slightly less than ½ mile); averaging 2,866,000 lbs. Our cabin is small, but well equipped with a fold-down bunk bed for sleeping and a tiny ensuite bath with shower. There are eight cabins in our car and we share a dining carriage and separate lounge carriage with two other cars.

For the first few hours of the journey, the train works through Sydney’s northeastern suburbs, then starts the long climb up into the ‘Blue Mountains’.   There are fine views into the Blue Mountain National Park and Megalong Valley. Interestingly, the ‘blue’ of the mountains comes from oils released from the eucalyptus trees which dominate the forest. As night falls, the train continued on through west New South Wales.

Dick