DAY 15 21/1/15

This was our last day on the train as we went through the Blue Mountains. We enjoyed breakfast during this segment in the Queen Adelaide Restaurant. I'll use this time to reflect on the whole experience.

The Train:
It was really worth seeing it one way in gold and one way in platinum. In all i'll have to say go Platinum, for the extra money you get a bigger room and soo much more. It's all the details and extras that make it a special experience. One drawback was how uncomfortable the platinum class seats are, theres simply no springs in the seat and that means a numb bottom! A testament to the train is the workers who obviously love it, they really are promoting Australia well. All i'll say is that they've fixed up this train to go into the next century! Everyone in Australia should do this trip. I'm already planning the Ghan train trip!

Perth:
Perth was a friendly city that was easy to navigate, I enjoyed my time there. I have to mention that in 8 days you would've seen every attraction the city had to offer. Maybe next time I'll stay in Fremantle which was nicer and more busier. As the Perth CBD had a very business like atmosphere to it. I will have to visit Perth again soon!


After breakfast we shortly arrived into Sydney Central Station where were met by our limo drivers. They took our bags and he drove us all the way home. This again was included in the platinum fare!

DAY 14 20/1/15

Today we woke up to what was a great breakfast service! Simply I was disappointed it wasn't offered every morning. But I loved how it was delivered on time and with a friendly smile.

Our coffee's arrived after we had our toast, which worked out well to enjoy our pastries with. I really loved how it was all presented and it meant we got to enjoy breakfast in style in our room.

Now you're probably wondering what we did in Adelaide, we joined the sights tour. This is where you got the typical "this is on the right, thats on the left" this was acceptable in the 1990's or early 2000's but not in our modern age. I would never do it again, full steam ahead to the walking tour next time! 

Our afternoon tea arrived promptly as we left Adelaide. What I noticed was a scone cut in half. Now I do realise that some guests chose to pay more and upgrade, but don't lower our service for that. If its not up to standard don't plate it. One comment i'd like to note is that our original attendant left us in Adelaide and a new one joined us, I don't see why they couldn't give us the same one for the whole trip. Also she gave us drip coffee instead of the espresso based one we were used to. It is obvious theres a lack of uniformity in staff.

 
In the afternoon we arrived in Broken Hill for our Pro Hart tour. We weren't allowed to take photos inside. He was a famous artist who happened to be a miner. His art was abstract and did fit into the soul of the town.

After returning we quickly joined the train and later in the evening enjoyed our dinner. The lamb shank was great, but the chocolate tart had mint in it that was extremely over powering. It was our last dinner onboard, but never less we really enjoyed it.

DAY 13 19/1/15

This morning we had breakfast in the Queen Adelaide Restaurant, where we ordered our usual hot breakfast. In this time, our attendant has turned up our room to its day setting for us. Our first stop in the morning was Cook.

The second we got off, all we could feel was the immense heat. It was sweltering at 50 degrees Celsius. We went wandering but not very far, as our shoes got very hot! One thing that i missed was the general store that used to be open in cook for the train stops. 

Our platinum attendant was very happy to take a photo of both of us together at the front of the train!

As you can see there was a little something waiting in our cabin. It was water, iced tea and two cold towels. All three really helped us recover from that immense heat. The iced tea was really nice. Its touches like these that make the experience a luxury one!

We enjoyed our lunch once again, and we both got the beef with relish, which had the wine jus. It was a great dish that we both devoured. We also enjoyed the passionfruit cake for dessert. 

After lunch in our room was our room service request form for tomorrow's breakfast. This was given due to the early arrival into Adelaide. As you can see there was a wide selection in a continental breakfast style.

Once again afternoon tea arrived promptly in the afternoon, once again with biscuits that were dry as always. But we got that great coffee! Later on in the evening we got our pre dinner drink. 

For dinner Daniel enjoyed a great soup for starters whereas I was the same with my crap starter!

We retired to our cabin after this, as the bar was always closed after the late sitting.

DAY 12 18/1/15

Today was our departure day from sunny Perth. In the morning our trip on platinum service began with our Limo picking us up from our hotel in the morning. He was on time and polite. What really impressed me was that at the station he dropped us off to the side of the terminal and we were met by the porters who took our bags to the check-in area.

We didn't even have to line up, they took all our bags, even our cabin bags for us. We chose to not wait around there and went straight to the locomotives.

About 1 hour before the scheduled departure time we boarded our carriage! This was really exciting especially because our carriages were really gleaming.

Our cabin was in berth 9/10, which was a twin cabin at the very end of the carriage. As soon as we stepped into the cabin it was welcoming and warm, and we immediately fell in love with it. You can see that with our gleaming smiles!

Our Room Keys

As we left we were greeted by our cabin attendant, following this, she brought us some champagne and nuts from the swan valley. 

The bathroom ensuite was very large and similar to any cruise ship one. There is a separate shower also, which pretty much rounds the platinum room. I would say that the platinum rooms are zoo much better then the gold rooms. 

Public Platinum Amenities

All our dining room bookings had preferred bookings, i.e we never were told no. So we went for lunch and had continuing amazing service. We both really loved the Pannacotta which had a beautiful hint of lavender, which is a very unusual combination. 

Beef with redwine jus

Chicken with Cous Cous

Lavender Pannacotta

We then returned to our room, where our lovely attended offered us afternoon tea. We happily accepted, and what impressed us was the use of La Perruche sugar! We found the coffee to be really good, I'll actually say the best coffee on the train. I believe they had a proper pod machine in platinum. For afternoon tea we enjoyed a passionfruit cake, which was rather dry, and once again brought into the train and not made onboard. But we still enjoyed it.

To continue with the great service, our attended came to the room, at about 5pm offering us a pre-dinner drink. We had a choice of a red or a white, and we chose the white chardonnay. Once again we keep noticing all these little details that were never present in gold service.

Next was dinner, which was enjoyed in the Queen Adelaide Restaurant again. As you can see, we both ordered the crab starter again. The reason why we did was it tasted really nice, and it was cold and fresh, the perfect way to start a meal. This same evening we met a nice british couple, who made for great conversation. For main's we both ordered the kangaroo (Not shown). The apple dish for dessert was just ok, and uninspiring, but i enjoyed the ice-cream. 

Now we were impressed to notice that our room had been turned down for us while we were at dinner. Once again there was dim lighting and it made the room look amazing and inviting. Once again she had waiting for us our choice of nightcap, mine was port and Daniel's was Baileys, all served with some chocolates. We were really impressed with this.

We went to sleep before we arrived into Kalgoorlie. Many chose to go on tours in the early hours of the morning, but we already saw it on the westbound journey.