Train Day 3 - Port Augusta to Condobolin

An early start today as breakfast was delivered to the cabin in a little box along with a cup of tea. This was because we were due into Adelaide at 07:20. I took advantage of the offered Whistle Stop Tour and we were soon driving into town.

 

Now, Adelaide is a fine city, with many fine buildings, but I was sitting on the wrong side of the bus for most of them, so the selection of photographs is limited (try to contain your disappointment).

 

Here, though, is a general photograph of the city centre – as you can see the weather wasn't looking too promising. In the foreground is what I believe is an Australian Rules Football venue.

 

 

That photograph was taken from the little vantage point at the base of this statue:

 

 

which shows Colonel Light the town planner who designed the city and gave it its green belt, its grassy squares and its grid pattern for the streets. The central square that he included is named after Queen Victoria:

 

 

As at Perth, the train does not arrive or depart from the central railway station, but from its own terminal on the edge of the central area:

 

 

Great Southern Railways, who operate the Indian Pacific, is based in Adelaide and, from here, they also operate the Ghan which runs all the way to Darwin on the north coast, and the Overland which runs down to Melbourne (a trivial journey that only lasts about 11 hours).

 

 

Not long after leaving Adelaide, we pulled into a siding to allow the Ghan to go through on its way home into Adelaide:

 

 

The Ghan is basically the same as the Indian Pacific in terms of the levels of service, but runs across Australia from north to south instead of east to west. The journey takes about 53 hours. Several people suggested that you'd see more of the variety of Australia on the Ghan, but it was the Indian Pacific that I'd wanted to travel on for 30+ years – ever since I saw it featured on the BBC series Great Railway Journeys of the World back when I was a train-mad child.

 

This afternoon, we were supposed to stop at another mining town called Broken Hill. The mine here concentrates on silver rather than the gold of Kalgoorlie, but, again, a variety of metals is mined there. Australia is a country with an amazing abundance of minerals and other mineable resources. Another whistle stop tour was scheduled for Broken Hill.

 

Unfortunately, track work meant that we were over an hour late arriving in Broken Hill, by which stage, not only was it dark, but there wasn't time to take the tour before we would have to leave again. There was only about 15 minutes, so I nipped into town and back – there being just enough time to get to the post office:

 

 

As you can see, it was completely dark by this time, so photographic opportunities were few. Here is the station:

 

 

which seems to me to have a distinctively art deco feel to it. It has, of course, got a station sign:

 

 

Wandering up to the front of the train, I noticed that we must have acquired an extra engine in Adelaide – the next section climbs up through the Blue Mountains, so I guess some extra oomph is required:

 

 

At dinner this evening, I was sitting with the only other 3 people on the train under 50 (at least in the gold section). It turns out that they work for Great Southern Railways in Adelaide and had been sent on the train so that they would have some experience of the product their company is selling. They get to Sydney tomorrow and have to turn right round and come back again – arriving on Sunday afternoon. As we sat dining on smoked salmon and roast beef, it seemed to me that there are worse things to be told to do with your weekend by your office.

 

Their return journey is in the red section, though, just so they get the whole experience.

 

From them, I learned that Adelaide has two AFL teams – the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide. It seems that this is one of those things that splits the town. Even people who have no interest in sport support (or barrack for in the Australian vernacular) one or other team passionately.