A TRIAL TRAIN TRIIP

Last October we flew to Perth and joined a coach tour of W.A. Then we flew to Adelaide and hired a car with friends and travelled around S.A. We returned to Adelaide and then we were to catch the Indian Pacific Train from Adelaide to Sydney.

View WA and SA in a larger map
When we arrived at Adelaide station we were told that there had been a train derailment and The Indian Pacific Train couldn't get into Adelaide. So we were taken by bus to Peterborough a 2 hour trip north, where we had been sight seeing a few days before.

We were waiting on Peterborough Station while the train was serviced. It has come all the way from Perth on the Indian Coast and it goes across Australia via Adelaide to Sydney on the Pacific Coast. It takes 3 days and nights to travel the 4,352 km. Ann and George have done this whole trip but the rest of us were going to trial the shorter 2 day, 1night trip from Adelaide to Sydney.

The train has 16 cars and is 427 m long.

The dining car

The lounge car

At first we travelled through desert.

While we were at dinner the crew converted our cabin into a sleeper. However, we didn't find it easy to sleep as the train rocked about a bit too much. 

In the morning the scenery had changed to farmland.

We climbed over the beautiful Blue Mountains into Sydney about lunchtime.

The diesel engine went in backwards to terminate at Central Station. The symbol of the Indian Pacific Train is the Wedge-tail Eagle. Australia's largest eagle. Its massive 2 m wing span symbolises the train spanning the continent.

The en-suite on board was extremely tiny and I was looking forward to a nice warm shower and a change of clothes. We said good bye to our friends who were flying home to Brisbane. We were going to our daughter and SIL's for a few days before flying home.

Bill loves trains and he was keen to try out this famous Aussie train. I warned him not to expect it to be as good as the super European trains that he was used to in Switzerland and Europe. We enjoyed the experience but we wouldn't like to do the 3 day trip across the country. Take a minute's train trip with us on Bill's short video.

THE MALL'S BALLS AND MORE

After our tour of WA and SA some months ago we spent a few days in Adelaide the capital of South Australia. After we visited the Pandas at the zoo we went for a walk through Rundle Mall, the main shopping area of the CBD. We came across some interesting sculptures.

 Officially called "The Spheres" but widely known as "The Mall's Balls" is a sculpture consisting of two stainless steel balls by Bert Flugelman. It has become a popular meeting place.

 The most fascinating sculpture I have ever seen is here in Rundle Mall, Adelaide. It is a group of life sized bronze pigs called "A Day Out" by Marguerite Derricourt. They are so real looking with heaps of character. A competition was held to name the pigs. This one is 'Horatio". Click here to see me having a chat with Horatio the last time I was in Adelaide.

This one rooting around in the bin is "Oliver"

 This one just standing around is "Truffles"

This one trotting by is "Augusta"

Another sculpture in the mall is "Girl on a Slide" by John Dowie. It was created as a discovery piece, something that would be discovered by accident.

This neo-cubist, copper welded sculpture on a wall is called "Progress" by Lyndon Dodswell. It represents the spirit of progress.

  

AMAZING AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURES

RED Photos

RED Oz has a great blog called 'Amazing Australian Adventures', where she showcases our beautiful country with a big dose of humour and stunning photos. She especially likes RED photos and she invites her readers to submit RED photos and she will post them on her blog together with an interview about the photos. This month it was my turn to be her featured guest. Jump over to her blog now to see my red photos and interview. click here