Indian Pacific

 Indian Pacific 

I was at the Adelaide Parklands Terminal for the arrival of the Indian Pacific. The first railway reached Adelaide in 1856 and a grand station was built in the centre of the city but the trains have become so long that they had to build a new terminal beyond the ring of parks that surround the city centre.

The Indian Pacific logo of a wedge tailed eagle, the largest bird of prey on the continent with a wingspan of 2.5 metres.

Of first off train experience was a drive through the city past a medical rrsearch centre known as the cheese grater and past other buildings that were pointed out as we made our way to Penfolds Magill Estate Winery. They have several vineyards but this was the first one to be planted by Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold in 1844.

The house that they built when they first arrived in Aurstralia has been preserved...

...the iew from the house...

...the consulting room...

...dining room...

...bedroom...

...the breakfast room leading into the kitchen at the far end.

The front of the house.

Then we has a tour of the winery and the cellars...

...a view of the casks...

...some of the more valueable wines costing thousands of dollars.

A tasting room.

A huge vat.

After the wine tasting we returned to the train and set off.We woke up the next morning staring out over a vast barren wasteland...

                                        

...the trees thinned as we ventured further along the railway line.

This is the Nullarbor Plateu, latin for no trees, a vast arid expanse of limestone covering twice the area of UK.

We stopped at Cook, now a ghost town. It was built to service the railway, with workshops, hospital and shops, but it was decided that it wasn't required and was abandoned. The school and hospital shut, the shops closed and people moved away. The train still stops here to refuel and take on water but no one lives here any more.

The old school.

One of the workshops.

An abandoned house.

A picture of the locomotive pulling us across 8,000 kilometres  from Sydney to Perth, although I only joined in Adelaide. The full journey takes three nights but the train is slow and the railway in only single track. We had to pull over to allow freight trains to go past. Freight has priority, not the once a week passenger train which is more of a hindrance to the railway operators primarily interested in moving freight efficiently across Australia. Its a big country and most people fly.

We passed some salt flats.

It was only the last day that the trees reappeared on the horizon and we saw some buildings.

There is just enough rain here to grow wheat.

... more wheat fields...

...another salt lake...

...more desert...

...and finally we crossed the state border into Westrn Australia...the welcoming sign...

...and the official obelisk. 

It was only the last hour that we saw green fields, green trees, tarmac roads and civilisation before reaching Perth.