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When friends talk about enjoying blissful weekends with no plans, I cannot relate.
I need to be doing things, lest I am left alone with my thoughts.
Which is why, as I arrived at Sydney’s Central Station, I was more than a little apprehensive. I was about to embark on a three night, four day journey on the Indian Pacific, one of ‘the world’s great rail journeys’.
Travelling from Sydney to Adelaide and onto Perth, the train spans 4,352 miles and three time zones — for a few confusing hours, you even set your clocks to ‘train time’.
There are some opportunities to disembark, on excursions such as winery and gallery tours, but only for a few hours at a time, and on a strict schedule.
For some, this is heaven. Like a cruise on the tracks. But for me, it was sure to be an endurance test.
The fact that really alarmed me? The train passes through the Nullarbor Plain, a vast, semi-arid area of the outback, four times the size of Belgium.
Translating to ‘no trees’ in Latin, Nullarbor is a near-deserted landscape with the longest stretch of straight railway in the world — 297 miles without so much as a kink.
What the hell had I signed up for?
Life on board the Indian Pacific
I prepared as if I was going into very slow, very boring battle. You can only take hand luggage on board, but I managed to squeeze in two books and a game of Monopoly Deal.
I was staying in a twin occupancy cabin with an ensuite. The room is modest, but not basic, with luxury toiletries and a bed that vanishes into the wall during the day, reappearing freshly made in the evening.
This soon became a theme on board the train: things just happen for you.
Only of course, they don’t. The 30-strong army of staff (who sleep and eat onboard too), keep this 1km-long train moving just as much as its engines.
Thomas Treloar, aka the nicest man in Oz, swapped accountancy for his role as guest experience manager. He says he has ‘the best job in the world’, despite answering to the whim of the 200 plus guests. Journey manager Brittney Howe says she’s been working on the trains for 14 years because ‘there’s something about railways, it gets in your blood.’
While hospitality attendant Holly Wright resigned to work in head office, but after missing her colleagues and passengers, was back within a week.
And slowly, but surely, you start to understand why they love it so much.
Life is easy on the Indian Pacific — there’s no denying this is a trip for the ‘silver’ traveller (I was one of a handful of guests under 40). You’re called for three-course meals three times a day, and the all-inclusive bar means once the first glass of Pinot is poured, everyone else follows suit. A voice through a speaker periodically tells you which side of the train to look out of, whether that’s to admire Sydney’s Blue Mountains or spot a kangaroo.
Sitting back and watching the outback pass by, like the repetitive background of a cartoon, becomes comforting, not boring. You get a pretty good rest as the train rocks you to sleep (although granted, the first night felt a bit like a tumble dryer), and even a train shower can be enjoyable if you ignore the fact that one bump could send you flying.
Despite little to no Wifi, my books and card games were left untouched, as I chatted with other passengers. Yes, there were some you actively swerved to avoid sitting in the bar cart until sundown, but most had fascinating stories to tell of a life well-lived, embarking on their first solo trips after kids had flown the nest or partners had passed away.
Exploring the outback
I was equally surprised by what I found once I stepped off the train.
Shelita Buffet was our guide in Broken Hill, an old mining town that’s enjoyed an unlikely rebirth as the ‘drag capital of Australia’. Shelita looked impossibly glamorous for an ungodly time of the morning, and later told me it takes her three hours to get ready.
While I’m certain Shelita is the first drag queen most of the guests had ever seen, she talked with pride about the history of the town she grew up in. A century ago it had a population of around 33,000; today, it has dwindled to 19,000.
Broken Hill’s drag credentials are thanks to its starring role in 90s movie, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, but when asked, Shelita doesn’t speak of a thriving LGBTQ+ scene. You have to admire her for striding confidentially around a town where she is sure to garner attention, welcome or not.
That afternoon, we made it to Adelaide, and into the Barossa Valley, wine country famous for its Cabernet and Shiraz. Locals tell me this is a must-visit, but a trip during August – Aussie winter – was not the best time to go, with bare vines and drizzle.
It was the stops in the deepest depths of the outback that have stayed with me most.
The town with just 5 residents
There’s Cook, built in 1917 as a support town for the railway. Today, it has just five permanent residents, who work there for four to six weeks at a time.
Wandering around is eerie; a sign reminds you you’re in ‘the middle of nowhere’. The abandoned school building still has colourful murals on the walls and school rules in the playground, and a swimming pool has been filled up with rubble. Another sign reads: ‘Our hospital needs your help, get sick’.
The row of houses looks like it was plucked from a picket fence street and dropped into the outback. There’s Australian flags flying and potted succulents – presumably the only plants that grow here.
As we wonder around, I bump into Brady Bennet, 52, who is originally from Sydney, but has been living in his four-bed home in Cook since February 2024.
‘I like the quietness,’ Brady tells me. ‘When I knock off, I go home and listen to my records. I do a bit of gardening, clean the house, do the washing, have a couple of tinnies.
‘Sometimes you go and have a drink with the other guys, have a fire out the front and sit around and have a yarn.’
And Brady says he prefers Cook to his off-weeks back in civilisation.
‘I hate city life – especially the traffic jams,’ he says. ‘I can get from A to B here, no worries. No lights, no traffic. No roundabouts. No crime. I can leave my keys in the car.’
And the best bit about living in Cook? ‘We’ve got the best sky here,’ he says. ‘You can see the stars.’
Saying goodbye
That evening, we stop in Rawlina, another outpost five hours drive from the nearest town. In the summer months, Indian Pacific passengers can enjoy dinner under the stars, but instead, we were treated to drinks and live music in a makeshift bar illuminated by twinkling fairy lights.
Being so far from everything feels strangely comforting. Your world shrinks down to the train and the people on it, and somehow your worries seem to float away. After all, what can you do about them here?
I looked up at the starriest I’d ever seen, just like Brady had told me about back in Cook, and I turned to a fellow passenger: ‘It’s foggy,’ I said. ‘No,’ they replied. ‘That’s the Milky Way.’
Maybe it was the fourth (fifth?) glass of wine, the outback dust in my eyes, or maybe I really was just moved to tears.
As I disembarked in Perth, it was clear I had been converted.
I felt a little anxious, as it dawned on me that I would have to start fending for myself once more. No Thomas? No three-courses for every meal? How would I cope?
Yes, the Indian Pacific is perfect for older generations, but I got to see a side of Australia so few do on gap yahs or surfing trips to Byron Bay.
And perhaps for the first time ever, I truly got to appreciate a slower pace of life.
If you can spare a few days – and you want a unique way to travel across Australia’s parts unknown – it’ll be an adventure you never forget.
Kristina Beanland was a guest of Journey Beyond. Indian Pacific, Sydney to Perth, four days three nights costs from £1510 per person. For more information visit Journey Beyond.
A once-in-a-lifetime trip
To explore even more of Australia, Journey Beyond passengers can buy a 14-night package with Audley Travel with prices starting from £9,120. It includes:
Three nights at the Como Treasury in Perth Discover Rottnest Ferry and Guided Coach Tour Three nights at Sal Salis, Luxury Safari Tent Accommodation in Ningaloo Reef (including Ningaloo Reef Whale Shark Experience) Four night Indian Pacific rail journey in Gold Premium Cabin from Perth to Sydney Three nights at Capella Sydney Sydney Harbour Lunch Cruise Economy flights from London to Perth and back from SydneyFor more information visit Audley Travel or call 01993 838810.
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