Our long awaited Indian Pacific journey had finally arrived. We were to fly out of Gold Coast Airport at 8.20am and spend a few hours in Sydney before flying to Perth at 1.45pm. Sydney had experienced wild weather overnight, so we weren't surprised to discover (by chance at 2am) that our Gold Coast/Sydney flight had been cancelled.
We received no communication from Virgin but proceeded to the airport as planned, and fortunately, a very helpful staff member confirmed our flights, printed out our tickets and arranged for us to have exit row seats all the way to Perth. Naturally, this flight was delayed for an hour, and we finally flew out just before 11am, arriving in Sydney with fifteen minutes to spare before our next flight.
We finally made it to Perth where we had planned to take the airport train into the city. However, the airport train was out of action for a week due to maintenance, so we caught a taxi and finally arrived at our hotel around 6pm. A big day deserved a big glass of wine, so we walked 300 metres to The Meat & Wine Co. and had a delightful dinner.
The next morning we discovered a DOME cafe close to the hotel and after breakfast caught a train to Fremantle. The markets weren't quite as big as we remembered (16 years ago), but we enjoyed walking through them. Freo is full of beautiful historic buildings and narrow streets, and its many coffee shops were overflowing with people, but we found a table at Chalkys Espresso Bar down by the water before heading back to the station.
That evening we dined with Penny's cousin Craig and his wife Michelle and Craig's brother Kim and his wife Heather, at the Grosvenor Hotel. It was a lovely evening and great to catch up with some of the family after so many years.
Elizabeth Quay is a fairly new waterfront precinct on the shores of the Swan River. It was only a 500m walk from our hotel so we headed there the next morning. Within the precinct is a water park for kids, ferry terminals, public artworks, promenades and twenty-eight restaurants and bars.
From there we boarded the hop-on hop-off bus and for the next hour and a half travelled around the city learning about the history of Perth and viewing old and new landmarks. We drove past both Optus Stadium and the Crown Casino at Burswood and then up into Kings Park for wonderful views of the city.
Back at Elizabeth Quay we lunched at The Island and then crossed the Queen Elizabeth Quay Bridge, a suspension bridge that joins The Island with the ferry terminal.
These giant 'bubbles' are part of an art installation called Ephemeral Oceanic and are spread around the waterfront. At night they are lit.
At the terminal we took a ferry across the river to South Perth and enjoyed a cup of coffee. Spread around the wharf and the main street are some fabulous animal sculptures.
Our Margaret River tour began early on Wednesday morning when fifteen of us boarded a 20-seater bus driven by Neil McLeod or McLeod Margaret River Tours. Neil was a great guide who was born and bred in the Margaret River, so he was full of wonderful information and local stories.
Our first stop was coffee at Mandurah, an hour south of Perth. Penny remembered Mandurah as a holiday location for shacks, but now the population is 100,000, canal estates, high-rise units and hotels abound and there is even a David Jones at the local shopping centre.
We then continued on to Australind near Bunbury and stopped in at the Featured Wood Gallery and Museum owed by craftsman John Ablett (related to Gary Ablett). John does beautiful work in West Australian timbers like Jarrah, Marri and She-oak, much of which has a marine theme, and the grounds are full of really interesting exhibits including dinosaur and mammoth skeletons (in metal), and large cages of stunning king parrots.
On to Busselton and the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere, at 1.8kms. We walked about 500metres but didn't have time to complete the circuit. The jetty is well patronised by swimmers, divers and fishermen, as well as hundreds of tourists wandering back and forth. There is also a little train for those who don't wish to walk.
On the way to Margaret River, Neil pulled into his own property so that our only Chinese passenger could see wild kangaroos, and others could feed carrots to his horses. He then told us about British soldier Geoffrey Edwards who was captured by the Germans on Crete during WWII. He escaped the Gestapo and was led by a shepherd to the monastery of Preveli, a haven for hundreds of Australian, New Zealand and British troops who had escaped POW camps.
In the 1950s Edwards and his wife bought a parcel of land 10kms west of Margaret River. They called the area Prevelly Park and set up a caravan park with cabins that still operates today. And in 1979 they built the Greek Chapel of St John the Theologian, in memory of the people of Crete who risked their lives to save Geoffrey and hundreds of others.
Finally, we arrived at our accommodation for the night, the beautiful Margarets Beach Resort. The next morning we met for breakfast at a local cafe and then headed off for a 'nature' day.
Outside the White Elephant Cafe at Margaret River.
The actual Margaret River
Inside Mammoth Cave where the fossils of ancient megafauna have been discovered, including the 50-million-year-old jawbone of Zygomaturus (below), whose closest relative is the wombat. Also found in this cave are fossils of the Tasmanian Devil and the Thylacine.
Marri and Karri forest where we stopped for honey tasting!
Hamelin Bay, famous for its stingrays. We walked along the beach but only spied one stingray,
from a distance.
One of many fibreglass cows that were produced as a fundraising exercise. Most of them were auctioned off but this one at Cape Leeuwin, and several in the town of Cowraramup, remain
Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse
The small island in the background is the point at which the Indian Ocean
meets the Southern Ocean.
The next day, after breakfast, we headed first to Yahava KoffeeWorks for coffee tasting.
Then it was on to two boutique wineries for lots of wine tasting!
The wines were great, and the second winery is trying something quite different. A number of their chardonnays are packed into a crate and lowered by abalone fisherman onto the bottom of Flinders Bay at Augusta. The crates remain there for about 14 months and when they are pulled up, the bottles are covered in masses of sea plant life. They make unique gifts.
For a very long time, Penny had wanted to visit Rottnest
Island; but not for the fabulous coastline or the white sandy beaches. Penny
wanted to see a Quokka in the wild. We embarked the high-speed Rottnest Express
ferry which took us down the Swan River to Fremantle and then across the Indian
Ocean to Rottnest Island. The Dutch first discovered the island in 1696
and named it Rottnest, meaning Rat’s Nest, because they thought the
Quokkas were giant rats!
We first took a 90-minute bus tour around the island and saw
the most spectacularly coloured water, learned about the history of the
settlement of the island and saw some pretty impressive accommodation. The very efficient bus
driver spent most of his time avoiding cyclists on the road
and we only saw one Quokka; Penny was threatening to write to the WA Premier if
she didn’t see any others!
Back in the ‘centre’ we lunched at Frankie’s on Rotto,
one of many modern restaurants on the island. We sat on the shady verandah and
enjoyed fabulous food and wine. Then, halfway through our meal, two Quokkas
casually wandered onto the verandah and walked around and under our chairs,
sniffing at bags and shoes. They stayed for over an hour, nosing around and
posing for photos. Penny was thrilled! Up close they resemble a small
pademelon, except their faces are much fuller. Nowadays they are only found on Rottnest Island or Bald Island near Albany.
We arrived back in Perth after dark and walked back to the hotel via Elizabeth Quay, which was really jumping with masses of people, lights and music. The aforementioned 'bubbles' changed colour ever few minutes and an old-fashioned children's carousel was in full swing.
The next day, oOur long awaited three-night Indian Pacific journey from Perth to Sydney had
finally arrived!
We boarded the 670 metre long train comprising 28 carriages, located our
tiny ensuited cabin, and unpacked what we could, as storage was limited. The
view was much the same along the way, but we did call into various sidings to
deliver food and mail for the locals. Each of our meals was served in the
dining car and we enjoyed chatting to new people in the lounge and over meals.
One couple, Rhonda and Bill, were from Hobart, so we had lots to talk about. And amazingly, Bill and Penny had gone to the same high school at Kingsgrove in Sydney (albeit 10 years apart). Small world!
On the Nullabor
Our first stop was Kalgoorlie where we chose not to take the 9pm excursion as we had stayed there on a previous trip (and a couple of passengers at breakfast the next morning told us we had made the right decision...).
We then stopped for 30 minutes at the town of Cook in South Australia. This mostly deserted town exists for the maintenance of the railway and at any one time there can be up to 80 workers in the town. Most of the buildings have been condemned, for safety reasons, but there is housing for the workers, a community building and public toilets. Back in the day it had a population of 200 and boasted a school and a hospital.
Original jail houses
Accommodation at Cook
Our second stop was Adelaide where we took a welcome walking tour around the city taking in historic buildings, other landmarks and various monuments. Following our walk, we enjoyed a lovely continental breakfast in the members' area of the Adelaide Oval and saw the Crows training on the oval.
River Torrens
Walking over the Torrens with the Sky City Casino, built over the Adelaide Railway Station, to the left
Adelaide Railway Station (modelled on Grand Central Station in NYC)
Old Parliament House (left) and the current Parliament House (right)
A 28 metre long wall of polished black granite, upon which images from the various wars have been lasered onto the surface
Then it was on to the Blue Mountains via Broken Hill. We didn't stop at either except to allow some of our fellow passengers off at Mount Victoria for their tours of the Three Sisters and Scenic World. We continued on to Central Station whilst those who stayed behind took another train to Sydney.
In the South Australian outback
The Queen Adelaide Dining Room on board
The Outback Explorer Lounge
Sleeping on the Indian Pacific was a real challenge. The train was incredibly noisy day and night, and we were rocked, rolled and jerked (not unlike a ship on very rough seas) for four days. Most of the passengers (including us) were unhappy about the lack of sleep, but we felt it was worth the effort for a once-only trip!
We are now in Sydney for a couple of nights and lunched today at the Harbourfront Seafood Restaurant in the Rocks. There we enjoyed wonderful views, food and wine and were treated to an unexpected storm, which added some entertainment to our lunch!
Tomorrow we fly home, where we plan on getting lots of sleep...
