DAY 3 9/1/15

Once again we woke up to a warm coffee that our steward brought to us. I took a peek out of the window and all I saw was endless nothing. We were in the Nullarbor Plain! It's arid with lots of salt bushes and almost no life. The only life that I could see were a few Camels, Emu's, Kangaroos and Wedge Tailed Eagles. In the late morning we decided to have breakfast, for starters i had a wild peach with natural yogurt and nuts, which was delectable. For starters Daniel had cereal and for main we had the same full breakfast.

In the late morning at about 9am and we ended up having one hour here. The city started as an outpost for those who built and maintained the track. One special thing about today was that we were on the longest straight track in the world. It feels like a city of yesteryear, that was booming back when the track was built, its as if everyone has just packed up and left. Its only home to four people now who keep the city alive.

 

 

We stared down the straightest track in the world!

Here you can view two structures that caught our eye, although similar they are different. The one on the left is the towns jail cell and on the right is the toilet.

A bit of humorous info haha

There were many cars travelling behind us, even the cars get a holiday!!

After rebounding the train we enjoyed a relaxed day onboard, read some books and magazines. at about 1pm it was time for lunch, where once again we enjoyed the damper!!! For main we enjoyed the beef tenderloin and red wine jus, along with a relish which was amazing. Then Daniel finished with a berry tart and i enjoyed an excellent lavender panna cotta. The panna cotta was amazing, it was refreshing and it worked so well with lavender. We also chose to have some fruit on the side.

That evening we met some great people from all over the world next to me is a gentleman from Germany and opposite us is a family from Cairns. We became great friends and stay in touch since. The next installment was dinner as we were just pulling into Kalgoorlie. We met a very nice couple that were from Perth and they gave us some ideas about what to see in Perth.

I started with the crab again (you can see how much i liked this dish!) and my brother and the minestrone soup. For main I had the kangaroo and my brother had the beef cheek. I never knew how nice the animal on our national emblem tasted haha. I finished on an apple tart and Daniel finished on the chocolate fondant cake.

At 7:30pm we arrived into the Goldfields city of Kalgoorlie. We boarded a whistle stop tour of the town, with gold rush tours. We saw the epic super pit, where we learnt that having 1 gram of gold in a tonne is profitable!! Another fact is that most of the huge trucks are driven by females!! They are better drivers.

After the Super Pit we visited the miners hall of fame. where we got to go up close and into the cab of one of the huge trucks. After this we returned to the train and retired late at night.

DAY 2 8/1/15

Today we woke up from a sleepless night. It is said the track is one of the oldest in Australia, from our experience it has to be one of the bumpiest too. We showered and changed and at about 6:00am we had a knock at the door from our cabin steward and she had two warm cups of coffee for us. After our coffee we made our way to the Queen Adelaide Restaurant Car for Breakfast. Firstly we were given the choice between orange, apple or tomato juice. We had the choice of a full hot breakfast or a bagel or a cereals. We both chose the full breakfast which was also served with toast. As we finished our breakfast we pulled into Broken Hill Station.

Full Breakfast 

Broken Hill Station

At Broken Hill Station we embarked on a coach tour called the Broken Earth Whistle Stop Tour. It began with a tour of the town, all I can say describing it is that its a living museum. We learnt that the name Broken hill was thought up by Charles Sturt, who viewed a number of hills that had a break in them. We were surprised with the size of the town, it houses over 18,000 people. What was funny was that many streets in Broken Hill were named after minerals, like Sulphide street and Chloride Street. The population was enticed here because Broken Hill has one of the world's largest silver-lead-zinc deposits. The huge company BHP (Broken Hill Proprietary) was formed here in Broken Hill. After seeing the cities sights we went up to the Miners Memorial. This had a moving memorial to the 900 miners who have lost their lives in Broken Hill since mining began.

The Miners Memorial

The view from the memorial

Visitors Centre

It was inside the memorial visitors centre that we got to enjoy some complimentary scones with tea or coffee. It helped give us a few moments to enjoy the bleak view of this city surrounded my mines. Following this we made our way back to the station, where we took the opportunity to get a photo with the sign.

 Station Sign

After this we rebounded the train, bound for Adelaide. The scenery immediately was arid and dry. In a few hours at about 1:00pm we had our lunch sitting. Lunch was two courses, of main and dessert. We started with an amazing dish, it was damper with a bush herbs and oil. You break open your warm damper dip it in the oil then into the herbs, the combination is unique and it works. I still crave it now haha. For main I ordered the chorizo with relish and crushed potatoes and Daniel ordered a seafood noodle dish. For the sweet tooth I finished on a mint tart and Dan ordered the Passionfruit pudding, which was served with fresh fruit. We found this lunch meal excellent, it was a good portion for the middle of the day. In the afternoon from the bar car we helped ourselves to a coffee before our arrival into Adelaide.

We arrived into Adelaide Parklands terminal at 3:05pm. The terminal was long enough to fit the train, it had a gift shop, information and it was where a bus tour was waiting.

Below you can see our lovely tour guide Carole for our Whistle Stop Tour of the Adelaide Markets. I begin by saying how great the group size was, only 10 people per guide! She took us through the markets telling us about the life of it and giving us the history of each store and details of what each sells. Most of all we got to have samples all along the way, and we got a generous discount on items. The tour finished with a plate of antipasti food and a choice of Barossa Valley Wines. We left with olive oil, nuts, chocolate coated coffee beans and a belly full of food haha. I have to admit that we really loved this tour, it didn't go quick and we really enjoyed the immersion into local culture with our great funny guide.

mmm natural locally made yogurt!!

We posed for a picture with the icon of the train, the Wedged Tailed Eagle. After more photos we rebounded the train and met the new crew that would take us to Perth, as changeover happens in Adelaide.

The train here on was pulled by a single locomotive NR118.

The next instalment was another dinner in the wonderful Queen Adelaide Restaurant Car. We both started with the Crab again, which we fell in love with as it was so refreshing and worked well with the avocado too. Next my brother had the lamb rack that he said was divine and really tender. I had the pork chop with an amazing crackle too, it was also outstanding. We both finished on a wild berry chocolate fondant cake, that was simply divine and a great finish to the evening. From our chats with our new found friends we weren't in bed till after 12am.