Nullarbor Plain, Cook, Rawlinna

It’s day 3 on the Indian Pacific.  I had a much better night last night and managed to get in several hours of continuous sleep. Overnight we traversed from Adelaide to Woomara and are now heading westerly again. We had breakfast with Elaine and Briony, two lovely women from South Australia.

We are on the train for most of the day today as we will be crossing through a portion of the Nullarbor Plain. The word ‘Nullarbor’ (no trees), pretty much sums up this part of Australia, which runs through both the southern and western territories. We see some occasional wildlife and few human settlements. After lunch we stop at the ‘town’ of Cook to fill the water tanks on the train and to drop off provisions for the 4 residents of the town. Cook originally had a population of 200 people and its primary purpose was to serve as a way station for the Trans Australian Railway. Once the government privatized the rail, the town slowly began to lose population and it is essentially abandoned at this point. The 4 residents still service the Great Southern railway and serve as a stop to switch out train drivers.

We spend the remainder of the afternoon continuing through the Nullarbor Plain. Towards evening we make a stop at Rawlinna, where we dine al fresco under the stars with some nice campfires going. The crew has worked hard to make this a memorable last evening with tables set up, lanterns lit and a great dinner of roast lamb, sausages and veggies – and of course, wine. It is very surprising how much the desert cools off once the sun sets.

Back on board, the regular group adjourns to the lounge for nightcaps and lots of talking and laughing. Everyone we have met has been very relaxed and outgoing. The best part is most of the passengers are from all over Australia. Dick and I have decided we are the only people on our section of the train that don’t own a farm.

Mary

————

Whether it was the smoother track or a result of being overtired, I finally got a nice night’s sleep.

Today we begin our crossing of the massive Nullarbor Plain – it’ll take us a day-and-a-half altogether. The tracks we are on make up the longest straight stretch of railway in the world, some 478 km or 297 miles. The terrain is reminiscent of Arizona – low scrub grass, no trees, with a reddish tint to the soil. There are some occasional sightings of kangaroos & sheep. Folks at the table next to us spotted a few feral camels.

As Mary noted, we stopped at the tiny outpost town of Cook. Cook serves as a resupply station for the Indian Pacific. Not much is left there and a placard in town says it all: “The middle of nowhere”.   The closest highway is over 60 miles away. The nearest major town is a 5-hour drive and the local doctor a 12-hour drive.

We spent a large part of the day chatting with our fellow travelers in the lounge area.   While most of the party are Australian there are folks from the UK, New Zealand, Canada, and a few others from the US. Makes for some interesting conversation.

Dinner under the stars along the railway siding in Rawlinna is good fun. The main course is a fantastic roast lamb – not surprising considering that Rawlinna is home to Australia’s largest sheep station of over 2.5 million acres and some 70,000 sheep.

Dick