Australia – Perth to Sydney – a very long journey from the
Indian to the Pacific oceans
We rent a car to get around as public transport has never
been Perth’s forte. We stay with friends for the first few days and start contacting
other friends to organise our get together. We also catch up with family and
though the kids are all grown-ups now and have their own kids, it feels like we
never left. Quickly our diary fills up for the 2 weeks we are here. Perth is
still very hot and dry in the summer and the sun pierces our skin more than
anywhere else in the world. Also, Perth has the most beautiful violet blue sky
and the most fantastic sunsets, unspoiled beaches and parks, not to mention the
best restaurants, some amazing people and definitely the most comfortable
lifestyle in the world. Perth has also been experiencing a mining and
commodities boom and there is so much money everywhere, it is scary! Oblivious
to the boom we go “barbecue hopping” with our family and friends, check out our
old favourite restaurants and shop in a way you can only do in Australia, “summer
sales style”. Our time in Perth passes in a big haze of BBQ, beer and wine, catching
up with our amazing family and friends. We also do a bit of sightseeing, of
course, if just to take some pics for you guys.
We decide to take the train to Sydney, the famous “Indian
Pacific” train journey across the Nullarbor. It’s going to be a 3 day trip and we confess,
after so much wine and running around trying to see people, we are kind of looking
forward to a bit of “us time”, even if in Sydney it all starts again as we have
some more wonderful family and friends to catch up with over east. We board the
Indian Pacific train and leave Perth at around midday. The seats are nice and
comfortable but there are two old ladies seated just behind us just who won't shut
up. Maybe we are not being very patient with other people or maybe they are
just a couple of annoying bitches (we'll go with the latter) We are even
considering using our hardcore sleeping pills, the ones we use to get Paul
into a plane, to get the ladies under.
For
our convenience, the train stops in Kalgoorlie at 10pm and you can either do a
tour (yeah, we heard Kalgoorlie is a really fascinating place when everything
is closed) or you can wait until the train leaves again at almost 2am to catch
some sleep, providing our old lady friends manage to shut up. Who had this
brilliant idea? The ladies prove to be our worst nightmare talking all the time
and kicking our seats every few minutes. We complain with the train guys (I
guess we were not the only ones) and finally they are “offered” a discount
upgrade and move into a cabin. Peace rules again. The next day is quiet and
uneventful besides a stopover in delightful “Cook”. Yeah, it’s called “irony”.
Cook is a ghost town in the middle of nowhere and it is so hot you can’t even
breathe, yet another brilliant idea for a stopover. Who plans this shit? It is
also important to highlight how annoying it is to wake up every morning to some
Australian “classic outback tunes”. Ok, I agree it creates a great outback
atmosphere for the tourists on the train but really, at 6.30am? The night is
nice and quiet and the next morning we arrive in Adelaide. Anyhow, we leave
Adelaide the same morning and our next stop is “Broken Hill”. Broken Hill is
actually a cute and interesting place, full of amazing heritage buildings. It
is also the place where BHP, the mining giant, originated. Yeah, BHP stands for
Broken Hill Proprietary, living and learning. We jump on board again and arrive
in Sydney at around 12.30pm with yet another amazing very long journey under our belt (over 4300 kilometres).