The day I Left Sydney

Just over a month ago I left Sydney on the Indian Pacific rail service, bound for Perth. After having spent nearly 3 days in Sydney half recuperating from the hellish trip down from Brisbane on the XPT, and half suffering from the beginnings of a bug/cold, I was about to undertake a journey that I think everyone should endeavour to take at least once in their lifetime. Going across Australia by train.

For those of you who have never seen Sydney Central train station, it's HUGE. There are at least 25 platforms, if not a couple more. You practically need a map and a compass to navigate the place, and unless you keep your eyes peeled and your wits about you, you're very likely to get lost. The main "atrium" of the place, though was adorned with many a banner for the (then) upcoming premiere of The Da Vinci Code (which was really good, btw). When I got there it was getting towards 10:30am, so I stopped at Hungry Jack's to have some breakfast/lunch. While I was partaking of my Bacon Double Cheeseburger with mushroom sauce (BaH! It's no different tasting than the regular burger, I was kinda miffed at that) and onion rings, I was asked by 2 separate passengers if I had any spare change. One made some hushed story about "oh my husband just died blah blah blah" and the other just flat out asked for change, to which my reply was "No, sorry!".





I managed to finish my lunch in peace, which I was glad for. And now a little deviation to what I wrote in my journal...

"The suburban trains here are interesting. They have 3 levels of seating. I guess because of the population, which is obviously bigger than Brisbane. The station is old looking from the architecture. There's banners up for The Da Vinci Code, which I'm going to see, it being my one movie that I'll pay to see this year.

This station has one MASSIVE drawback: no fucking bins! Or if there are, I can't see any. They must be invisi-bins. :) But anyway, I had to walk back to Hungry Jack's to put my drink cup into the bin."

... Having to walk back to HJ's was a major inconvenience, bearing in mind I was carrying a backpack and a huge carry bag with me, both of which weighed close to 15kgs each, thanks to carrying winter clothes AND a laptop. I was later told that there were neither bins, nor luggage lockers due to the threat of terrorism. Apparently bins are fabulous targets for bombs as opposed to their usefulness for disposing of rubbish. This just had me rolling my eyes and mumbling something about the "world gone mad".

I moved over to the Interstate platform, which is where the Indian Pacific would be arriving and departing from. Two Canadian girls showed up, complete with backpacker gear, so I got talking to them. They were going up to Surfer's Paradise, and then up to Cairns. They were full of questions about the weather up there. The two of them had just flown in from Hawai'i the day before.


Plaque commemorating the TransAustralian railway

More from the journal...

"Am now talking to an American guy from Atlanta, Georgia. He has a big ass Canon EOS camera. I asked him what was more expensive, the camera or the huge lens he has attached to it, and he said the lens. Stupid question, really. He is also going on the Indian Pacific (which pulled in about 15 minutes ago, it's now 12:34pm) to Adelaide, and then on The Ghan up to Darwin, then back down to Adelaide, then back on the Indian Pacific to Perth. He's in the "cheap seats", so he told me. They are shunting the train now. Am not sure which end of the train I'm getting on at. I'm told though, that I don't have to check my carry bag in, so that's good news.







Finished shunting now, and still wondering where I'm getting on. By the looks of it, it's going to be the other end, maybe. The American guy went to help the old Hungarian guy get some coffee. I hope they get back soon, so I can get to where I'm supposed to board the train."

(The American guy (whose name I didn't get, but should've) then came back for a bit while the old Hungarian had coffee. The Hungarian man had just arrived on the Indian Pacific all the way from Perth and said it was a wonderful trip. The American helped him out due to the fact that the old man was travelling alone.)







"...My car is halfway up the bloody platform, as I thought it would be. But not too far. Not boarding for another hour yet.

Sometime after 3pm now and we're on our way. Waved goodbye to Sydney, lol. My room/cabin is "cozy" in polite terms, or in realistic terms: SMALL. But, it's comfortable, nonetheless. There's country music playing on the cabin radio, which I've turned OFF, due to my morbid dislike of country music. We are coasting through the suburbs of Sydney."

At this point, I hit shutterbug mode, and started taking pictures of my digs for the next few days:


This corridor was pretty tiny. Also add to that the fact that it's not a straight corridor, but rather is a winding corridor a bit like a snake, it made for interesting hilarity once the train got moving. It also made getting into my cabin a bit of a squish with one huge carry bag in hand and the backpack on my back.


The door of my cabin...the little silver thing is a knocker, which was almost useless. The plaque clearly states that I'm travelling in "Gold Kangaroo" class, which is the only way to take the Indian Pacific. One of the advantages of travelling Gold Kangaroo is that you can go down to the Red Kangaroo class and see how the commoners travel, and they can't follow you back to Gold Kangaroo class! *muhahaha*


The seat in my cabin with the table folded down, which while we were at dinner, the train ninjas converted to...


A rather comfortable single bed! This is where you notice the cramped-ness of train travel. I wasn't expecting the bed to be down when we all came back from dinner. So to open my cabin door and hear it go *CLUNK* was a bit of a shock. The immediate reaction was "Oh, the bed is down!" and the area of space to get into my cabin had become considerably less. Plus, I wasn't ready to go to bed yet. So after squeezing myself into the cabin and shutting the door, I found the lever to unlatch the bed so it could be moved back up to its closed position, and I could pull the folding table out and take some happy snaps of the shaving kit (see below), and scribble some notes in my journal.


The cabin door has a full length engraved mirror on it...


And there's another mirror above the sink... I failed to take a picture of the sink, but to describe it: you pull a small lever just where this picture finishes, and the sink folds out, complete with a hot and cold tap. When you're done shaving or washing your hands or what have you, you simply close the sink back up and the water drains out. What was funny, though, was that for the first couple of hours of the trip (at least until after I came back from dinner and found the bed down) I thought that the lever on the side of the sink was to flush the water from the sink. But, when I pulled the lever, of course nothing happened, so I just thought it was out of order! I had a good chuckle when I finally found out that said lever was for the BED and not the sink, lol.


"...Have selected "Navy" for meal sittings. Sunrise Breakfast, Swagman's Lunch, Moonlight Dinner. Picked the later sittings, so I've got time to spruce myself up a bit beforehand, and try and look halfway presentable." Not long after the conductor came to ask me which meal sitting I wanted, she came back, as some of my fellow passengers that I'd just met and introduced myself to wanted to be sure we all had the same sitting so we could be sociable and chat over dinner.

"...The "radio" is like listening to 6KY, music for grannies. But I guess they have to cater for all types, so it's easier to supply "easy listening" music. Late afternoon now, reception will be soon, which means: COMPLIMENTARY DRINKY POOS!" (Yes, I really wrote that.)

During the reception, we were given a bit of trivia about the service, and then the microphone was handed around so we could all say hello and introduce ourselves. We were also offered a free glass of champagne with a strawberry segment in it!


Indian Pacific lapel pin, which now graces my camouflage hat.

Dinner was a very swish affair, and I think that first dinner we had was some of the best food I've ever eaten! It was very tasty and very well presented, too.

The entree, which I sadly didn't take a picture of, was: Grilled Venison Loin with Beetroot, Artichoke, Native Desert Lime and Mustard Dressing.

"...I don't remember eating Venison before, but nevertheless, it was... tasty doesn't describe it enough, it was GORGEOUS. It came with a quarter of an artichoke, some beetroot and fancy lettuce, all drizzled with a lime and mustard dressing. All well presented and very good tasting."



Main course: Tournedos Rossini: Beef fillet wrapped in Prosciutto with Maggie Beer Pate and Red Wine Glaze.

"...The main course I chose was a beef filled wrapped in prosciutto, with a sizeable chunk of pate on top, with the red wine glaze swirled around it, and roasted baby potatoes. the beef was pinkish in the middle, very tender and very "melt-in-the-mouth" texture wise. I said several times that it was the best meal I'd had in years, and I meant it. It really was delicious! Like tasting a little piece of heaven..."



Dessert: Soft Meringue cake with Lemon Myrtle, Apricot and Ginger compote, Marscapone and Persian Candy Floss.

"...Dessert was positively EVIL with a capital E. I'm not usually one for meringue, but I decided to try it, and I'm glad I did. I'm no expert on meringue, but it was chewy and fluffy all at the same time. It came topped off with "persian candy floss", which was basically sugar. The sauce was sweet and tangy at the same time, and the apricots were flavourful and just a touch on the sour side. Under all that, the marscapone added a sinful creaminess to it all.

Once I got back to my cabin, I had a sticky beak at the complimentary toiletries kit.



Included in this kit: Shampoo, conditioner, soap (not pictured), moisturiser, shaving cream and razor, tissues, toothbrush and toothpaste, comb, sewing kit... and "shoe shine", which is basically an sponge soaked in some sort of polish type stuff. It gave me a giggle, though, and I thought the entire kit was rather cute and amusing.

With dinner done and peoples winding down from the day, I headed to the lounge car to see if anyone was around for a chat. I ended up talking to Loudy from Amsterdam, and we had a nice chat about movies and such. After that, it was time to head back to the cabin and try and get some sleep.

Coming soon... Broken Hill and Adelaide on the Indian Pacific...

(Apologies for the lateness of this post!)

Cook, Nullarbor.

Hey folks, I'm still in the process of collating all my pictures and journal stuff (or you can more correctly read that as "Frostilicus has been a lazy shit and hasn't bothered to get started as yet on The Great Trip Blog Project of 2006"), but anyway, I've uploaded some pics of a very remote place on the Nullarbor.



The place is a virtual ghost town by the name of Cook. It's located 130km east of the Western Australian/South Australian border, and is 1523kms from Perth. It is the only place on the Nullarbor that the Indian Pacific passenger railway makes a designated stop, and the town sits on the longest section of dead straight railway track in the entire world, which is 478kms in length. (nearly 300 miles for all you Imperial people) The only other times that the Indian Pacific stops in this vast expanse of desert is to let passing freight trains through at railway sidings.

Cook was built in 1917 when the Trans-Australian Railway was built, and acted as a support town for the railways for 80 years. In 1997, the privatisation of the railways deemed that Cook was no longer useful as a support town, and the population, which had been declining in recent years, dwindled to the now just 2 (or 4, depending on who you talk to) permanent residents. Cook has a "crossing loop" that can handle trains up to 1800m in length, and is now a place only where freight trains and the mighty Indian Pacific take on water and/or fuel on their respective journey's across the Nullarbor Plain. In it's day, it also boasted a hotel, school, shops, a bush hospital (which has signs outside it reading "If you're crook, come to Cook!"), a swimming pool and probably the Nullarbor's only golf course, that has not a single blade of grass on it.


To the West... Perth. To the East... Sydney.


Cook - Queen City of the Nullarbor


This metal box had a different painting on every side of it... in particular this one is urging Cook residents to get sick... lol. (The reason being they needed more sick people in order to keep their hospital)


If you're crook, come to Cook! :D


The distance marker signs painted on the metal box. Just 130kms left of South Australia and just over 1500kms from our destination of Perth.


Well, it sure isn't the Nullarbor Hilton...



Just a stones throw from the railway line are the "Historic Jail Cells of Cook", which are, essentially, 2 very small corrugated iron sheds that look more like outhouses than anything else. What amused me was the fact that the jail cells were locked with padlocks. Obviously Cook still has a very high crime rate with it's 2 residents... *tongue placed firmly in cheek*


What's been painted on this chunk of limestone reads: "Cook Gaol House Rock"


This bare stretch used to serve as a runway for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. It lies between the railway line, hospital and the rest of the township of Cook.


This sign is in the middle of the runway. Like the rest of the signs in the town that have been here for years, it has been weathered by the harsh dry conditions of the Nullarbor.

A roughly 6 foot tall limestone obelisk also stands in the middle of the disused runway. It's dedicated to the 5 men each that came from Western Australia and South Australia to plant 600 trees at Cook in the 1982.


Obviously seeing as there is a lot of desert out there and not much water, only a few of the 600 planted trees have survived...


Curiously, this sign seemed to be sticking out of what used to be the town swimming pool...


And here's the swimming pool. Or, at least, it once WAS a swimming pool. It's now just a filled in, grassed over area, and to be honest, if I hadnt noticed the ladder sticking out of it, I wouldn't have even KNOWN it was the swimming pool.

These are the signs that grace the abandoned 2 storey school building:





And here are the school rules for one and all to see...



Fadedly written on one building was a sign that designated one of Cook's hotels, the "Trans Arms Hotel, Nullarbor Plain, Cook"...



the hotel was also muralised with some nice artwork:




Various signs from various places along the Nullarbor... Incidentally, Mundrabilla is nearer to the coast on the Great Australian Bight, and like the Nullarbor Roadhouse, there is nothing there except for the roadhouse, and a lot of flat white limestone. One thing that amuses me about Nullarbor Roadhouse is that it is the location of "The Big Whale", of course if I was going to put a whale anywhere, I'd stick it in the desert, too.

At the school there is a mural dedicated to Murray Sims. Murray Sims was a railway worker who served in Cook for 28 years until his death. He is Cook's longest serving railway worker, and the school playground is named after him.



Another shot of the RFDS runway:



Up against one of the many abandoned tin sheds, there were a couple of drums of aviation gasoline, as well as a rusted out truck with very flat tyres. I didn't get a photo of the truck, so you'll just have to take my word for it, but I did get a picture of one of the drums.



What follows is probably the most breathtaking sight I saw during my entire trip across Australia. Now, if you're like me, you're strange in what you find to be exotic or interesting, or even beautiful. When you see a block full of nothing in the city, it's pretty much a matter of "oh big deal, there's nothing there." But when you get into (or out to) the outback of Australia, the fact that there's so much nothing is what is beautiful about it. And sometimes a bit scary. I can't say I'd like to be marooned out there, but I digress.

The very name of the Nullarbor is derived from the Latin "Nullis Arboris" meaning "no trees". It was named as such because the Nullarbor itself is actually a huge solid chunk of limestone, some 260,000 square kms in size. Very few trees grow on it due to the climate, as it lies in what is called the "Arid Zone", meaning there is little to no rainfall. The only thing that does grow on the Nullarbor is saltbush, which is not much higher than ankle height, and the occasional shrub.

This trip marked my second crossing of the Nullarbor. My first was back in 2001 by car, travelling along the Eyre Highway along the Great Australian Bight. It's one of the only places I've seen where you can see desert on one side for miles, and look to the other side of your car, and see a few hundred metres of desert, and then the ocean. The coastline of the Nullarbor is unique in that there is no beach as such, more a several hundred foot drop to the ocean below.

I have come to regard this picture as my favourite picture from my entire journey. It was taken in Cook, at the very back edge of the town. I stood here for a few minutes, and soaked it all in... The beauty of the landscape before me, the fact that there literally is nothing around for miles, and one other thing I hadn't heard since my last time on the Nullarbor.



Absolute perfect beautiful silence. The kind of silence that's described as "deafening". Not a bird to be heard, nor a bug. Not even the wind could be heard. Just perfect, dead silence. Serene and crushing, all at the same time.

After walking back to the train, I caught up with one of my fellow passengers who had purchased a certificate from the Souvenir shop...



I was especially amused by the "3 million flies"...hehe.

Hope this gives you all enough to drool over until I get my act together and sift through the remaining photos from my trip... more soon I promise!

Enjoy,

~Frostilicus~ :)

Frostilicus Returnicus

Hi folks, I'm now in Perth after a very enjoyable week off from the world... Saw some very interesting things and have lots to post, but bear with me as for the next 2 months I'm working from a dial-up connection (BOO!! HISS!! :P ), so I will be updating as often as connection speed will allow.

Stay tuned!

~Frostilicus~