Australia, picspam the second!
Mar. 30th, 2014 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beelikejIt took me a while to decide how to proceed with the presentation of my second week in Australia, but I finally figured it out. I'm saving the 333 photos from Sydney for later and will focus first on how I got there... Below is a selection of 42 photos from my trip on the Indian Pacific; a train that travels once a week* between Perth and Sydney. I'll start with a couple of maps so you can visualize the distance. Australia is HUGE, people! A big part of it is desert, as I discovered staring out the trainwindow for four days *grins*
I made 337 photos during this part of my trip; the last day on the train I had to switch to my old camera (IXUS50) that I had brought as back-up, while recharging the battery from my Ixus140 in the Matilda Cafe on the train.
The Indian Pacific is part of the Great Southern Rail network. Years ago I took the Ghan train from Alice Springs to Adelaide, this time I'm going from Perth to Sydney: that's 4352 km (2704 miles;). There are some stops (and tours!) in Kalgoorlie, Cook, Adelaide and Broken Hill, but mostly you can just sit down, relax and enjoy the view. All aboard!
Sunday, 22 December 2013
From Perth to Kalgoorlie
[11:19] East Perth Terminal. Ready to go.
I'll spare you all the photos I made of the interior of the train (unless someone is interested?). I also skip over the experiments with my camera to capture the view without blurs and start after I settled in my seat;)
To not confuse myself I'm using the 24 hour system for my timestamps. (p.m. people: just subtract 12 hours;)
[13:41] To my relief I had a windowseat, but unfortunately the window was dirty.
[15:08] But I managed to get my camera in an angle between the streaks of dirt so I could focus on the view after all, pfew.
[15:35] Like I said: lots of desert
[17:13] Although there was the occasional station along the way;)
[18:00] Mostly the view in Western Australia was like this. I must admit I read a lot in between looking out the window;)
[20:08] But I'm sure glad I looked up for this; a beautiful pink sunset. (Times are a little confusing due to traveling through different timezones, but yes, days are short in Australia)
[23:50] Just before midnight the train arrives in Kalgoorlie, where you can get off for a bustour to the goldmines. You can only see the Super Pit from afar, but it's still pretty impressive.
[00:19] Part of the tour is a stop at an old mine that's converted into a museum with loads of huge machines. It was very fascinating and I'm bummed I couldn't buy a souvenir pin, because the tourguide wasn't allowed to sell stuff from the museum at night, hrmpf.
The busdriver made sure all the passengers got back on the train in time. We left Kalgoorlie around 01:30. Goodnight!
Monday 23 December 2013
From Kalgoorlie to Cook
[09:57] Goodmorning, different part of the desert.
[11:02] Passing by small settlement Forrest on the longest stretch of straight railway in the world (479 km)
[12:00] After 24 hours we finally cross the border between Western Australia (WA) and South Australia (SA). *waves*
[12:33] Aaaaaaaand more desert. I totally spotted a camel, but didn't capture it on camera :( Seriously; everybody I spoke to on the train saw it, nobody managed to take a photo. I DID NOT MAKE IT UP, THERE WAS A CAMEL. Honest.
[13:17] Oooh, civilisation? Could it be?
[13:24] Yes! A stop in Cook, population: 5 people. Ehm.
[13:30] Click for the panorama view of the train from the center of Cook (can you see it?)
[15:12] Oh, desert you are so pretty...
[21:38]... especially at sunset...
[21:41]... *chinhands*
Tuesday 24 December 2013
Stops in Adelaide and Broken Hill
[08:09] Goodmorning, welcome to Adelaide! Let's get on a tourbus with the old people, shall we?
[08:19] Lot's of green around the roads here.
[08:28] An odd mix of old and new buildings.
[08:33] Australia's pride; Haigh's (apostrophe!) is the only original chocolate factury left. We'll stop for a bite at the end of the tour;)
[08:46] View over the Adelaide Oval sportsgrounds. (Cricket and Australian Football)
[08:49] Woah, big tree. Who needs special tours for that. (No, I'm not still bitter about missing that forrestwalk in my first week in Australia)
Like I said the tour ends in the Haigh's chocolatefactury before the busdriver drove everybody back to Adelaide station where I did some shopping in the official Great Southern Rail souvenir shop. :-) Train departed Adelaide at 10:15... back to the desert!
[11:53] First some farmland though;)
As you can see on the map, there is some backtracking from Adelaide to get back on the track to Sydney. Because the train can't turn around, they moved the locomotive to the other end and move all the seats around individually. So passengers are now facing the other way and don't have to travel backwards!
[12:40] Ooh, I see mountains in the distance!
[17:10] Told you: more desert.
[17:19] But it's not long until another stop...
[17:22] these are the mines of Broken Hill,
[17:27] we'll have a dinner break here, with an option for a bustour to the Palace Hotel (featured in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert).
And this is where I had a bit of an altercation... because I could have walked into town for free, I was more than disappointed about the overpriced tour (50 AU$!!). Luckily the busdriver promised to do an extra round through town after the hotel, and give some additional information about its buildings and history.
Unfortunately there were three drunk dudes on the bus who made it impossible for me to hear the busdriver. After I asked them to stop being annoying, they started singing even louder upon which I walked to the back of the bus to let them know how I felt about that. A woman next to them told me to 'mind my language'. *rolls eyes* Thanks for your help, lady. Needless to say upon return to the train I reported these guys to the stewart at my compartment (and I filled a complaint form about the tour's pricing).
After the bustour had dropped us off back at the station, there was still plenty of time for me to walk into town on my own to explore. Even though I couldn't fully enjoy it with the steam still coming from my ears, it was a good walk to calm down before getting back on the train.
In the evening the train-manager came to see me and asked about my side of the story before telling me he had stopped serving the drunk guys alcohol on the train and they had apologized for their behaviour. (FYI they travelled in the Platinum Service which is the most luxurious and expensive class on the train and obviously has all the off-train tours included). I was glad to hear justice was done, but I'm never getting my time on that tour back and I competely missed the hospital of Broken Hill, which was the only other part of town (besides the hotel) that was of interest to me (Flying Doctors, anyone?) and I'll never have another opportunity to go there again. Assholes. /rant
Anyway...
[17:42] ... where was I? Right: the Palace Hotel!
[17:54] Famous for featuring in The Adventures of Priscila, Queen Of The Desert, a magnificent 1994 movie about two dragqueens and a transwoman on a roadtrip through Australia, the interior of the hotel is covered from top to bottom in massive paintings. It's overwhelming and awesome. (As a tribute they are playing the film in the dininghall, you can see a scene in the background)
[17:59] The Staircase
[18:01] View from the balcony.
[18:02] A copy of Botticelli's Venus by Mario.
More about the magnificent paintings on the hotel's website;)
[18:04] Tadaah! (Obviously I did go upstairs for a closer look at that ceiling *g*)
[18:37] Never mind the clock (it's an hour off, not inconvenient for a trainstation at all...) - how cool are those murals?
Quite an adventurous and glorious stop, but it's time to get back on the train for the final stretch to Sydney!
[21:52] Last sunset (and my happy face in the window;)
Wednesday 25 December, 2013
[10:11] Goodmorning. Still using my old camera to make some photos of the fog over the Blue Mountains.
[10:43] Nearly there. Saying goodbye to the train. *heavy sigh*
[10:50] Last stop: Sydney. Bye, train, it was awesome.
From Central station I got on a regular train to Blacktown, which I had already passed with the Indian Pacific earlier this morning, ha. Called the family upon arrival (FROM A PUBLIC PHONE \o/) and was picked up by my sister in law's brother (driving the car), my brother Jaap and nephew Ruben (whom I had said goodbye to in Hongkong, remember?). When I got to the house of my brother's inlaws, I was welcomed with food and it finally felt like Christmas;)
I'll try not to leave as much time until the next picspam... TBC!
J.
P.S. *Twice a week from September to October. Some prices for those of you who are interested: a one way ticket in the cheap (Red) seats from Perth to Sydney (in either direction) costs 899 AU$, but I bought an international trainpass for 445 AU$ with which I could travel all over the Great Southern Railway! (At reservation you only have to pay a small fuel surcharge of about 20-30 AU$ per ticket, so an amazingly good deal for foreign travelers!) Off train tours are sold separately on the train. In comparison: Platinum seats are 3999 AU$. :-p
I made 337 photos during this part of my trip; the last day on the train I had to switch to my old camera (IXUS50) that I had brought as back-up, while recharging the battery from my Ixus140 in the Matilda Cafe on the train.
The Indian Pacific is part of the Great Southern Rail network. Years ago I took the Ghan train from Alice Springs to Adelaide, this time I'm going from Perth to Sydney: that's 4352 km (2704 miles;). There are some stops (and tours!) in Kalgoorlie, Cook, Adelaide and Broken Hill, but mostly you can just sit down, relax and enjoy the view. All aboard!
Sunday, 22 December 2013
From Perth to Kalgoorlie
[11:19] East Perth Terminal. Ready to go.
I'll spare you all the photos I made of the interior of the train (unless someone is interested?). I also skip over the experiments with my camera to capture the view without blurs and start after I settled in my seat;)
To not confuse myself I'm using the 24 hour system for my timestamps. (p.m. people: just subtract 12 hours;)
[13:41] To my relief I had a windowseat, but unfortunately the window was dirty.
[15:08] But I managed to get my camera in an angle between the streaks of dirt so I could focus on the view after all, pfew.
[15:35] Like I said: lots of desert
[17:13] Although there was the occasional station along the way;)
[18:00] Mostly the view in Western Australia was like this. I must admit I read a lot in between looking out the window;)
[20:08] But I'm sure glad I looked up for this; a beautiful pink sunset. (Times are a little confusing due to traveling through different timezones, but yes, days are short in Australia)
[23:50] Just before midnight the train arrives in Kalgoorlie, where you can get off for a bustour to the goldmines. You can only see the Super Pit from afar, but it's still pretty impressive.
[00:19] Part of the tour is a stop at an old mine that's converted into a museum with loads of huge machines. It was very fascinating and I'm bummed I couldn't buy a souvenir pin, because the tourguide wasn't allowed to sell stuff from the museum at night, hrmpf.
The busdriver made sure all the passengers got back on the train in time. We left Kalgoorlie around 01:30. Goodnight!
Monday 23 December 2013
From Kalgoorlie to Cook
[09:57] Goodmorning, different part of the desert.
[11:02] Passing by small settlement Forrest on the longest stretch of straight railway in the world (479 km)
[12:00] After 24 hours we finally cross the border between Western Australia (WA) and South Australia (SA). *waves*
[12:33] Aaaaaaaand more desert. I totally spotted a camel, but didn't capture it on camera :( Seriously; everybody I spoke to on the train saw it, nobody managed to take a photo. I DID NOT MAKE IT UP, THERE WAS A CAMEL. Honest.
[13:17] Oooh, civilisation? Could it be?
[13:24] Yes! A stop in Cook, population: 5 people. Ehm.
[13:30] Click for the panorama view of the train from the center of Cook (can you see it?)
[15:12] Oh, desert you are so pretty...
[21:38]... especially at sunset...
[21:41]... *chinhands*
Tuesday 24 December 2013
Stops in Adelaide and Broken Hill
[08:09] Goodmorning, welcome to Adelaide! Let's get on a tourbus with the old people, shall we?
[08:19] Lot's of green around the roads here.
[08:28] An odd mix of old and new buildings.
[08:33] Australia's pride; Haigh's (apostrophe!) is the only original chocolate factury left. We'll stop for a bite at the end of the tour;)
[08:46] View over the Adelaide Oval sportsgrounds. (Cricket and Australian Football)
[08:49] Woah, big tree. Who needs special tours for that. (No, I'm not still bitter about missing that forrestwalk in my first week in Australia)
Like I said the tour ends in the Haigh's chocolatefactury before the busdriver drove everybody back to Adelaide station where I did some shopping in the official Great Southern Rail souvenir shop. :-) Train departed Adelaide at 10:15... back to the desert!
[11:53] First some farmland though;)
As you can see on the map, there is some backtracking from Adelaide to get back on the track to Sydney. Because the train can't turn around, they moved the locomotive to the other end and move all the seats around individually. So passengers are now facing the other way and don't have to travel backwards!
[12:40] Ooh, I see mountains in the distance!
[17:10] Told you: more desert.
[17:19] But it's not long until another stop...
[17:22] these are the mines of Broken Hill,
[17:27] we'll have a dinner break here, with an option for a bustour to the Palace Hotel (featured in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert).
And this is where I had a bit of an altercation...
Unfortunately there were three drunk dudes on the bus who made it impossible for me to hear the busdriver. After I asked them to stop being annoying, they started singing even louder upon which I walked to the back of the bus to let them know how I felt about that. A woman next to them told me to 'mind my language'. *rolls eyes* Thanks for your help, lady. Needless to say upon return to the train I reported these guys to the stewart at my compartment (and I filled a complaint form about the tour's pricing).
After the bustour had dropped us off back at the station, there was still plenty of time for me to walk into town on my own to explore. Even though I couldn't fully enjoy it with the steam still coming from my ears, it was a good walk to calm down before getting back on the train.
In the evening the train-manager came to see me and asked about my side of the story before telling me he had stopped serving the drunk guys alcohol on the train and they had apologized for their behaviour. (FYI they travelled in the Platinum Service which is the most luxurious and expensive class on the train and obviously has all the off-train tours included). I was glad to hear justice was done, but I'm never getting my time on that tour back and I competely missed the hospital of Broken Hill, which was the only other part of town (besides the hotel) that was of interest to me (Flying Doctors, anyone?) and I'll never have another opportunity to go there again. Assholes. /rant
Anyway...
[17:42] ... where was I? Right: the Palace Hotel!
[17:54] Famous for featuring in The Adventures of Priscila, Queen Of The Desert, a magnificent 1994 movie about two dragqueens and a transwoman on a roadtrip through Australia, the interior of the hotel is covered from top to bottom in massive paintings. It's overwhelming and awesome. (As a tribute they are playing the film in the dininghall, you can see a scene in the background)
[17:59] The Staircase
[18:01] View from the balcony.
[18:02] A copy of Botticelli's Venus by Mario.
More about the magnificent paintings on the hotel's website;)
[18:04] Tadaah! (Obviously I did go upstairs for a closer look at that ceiling *g*)
[18:37] Never mind the clock (it's an hour off, not inconvenient for a trainstation at all...) - how cool are those murals?
Quite an adventurous and glorious stop, but it's time to get back on the train for the final stretch to Sydney!
[21:52] Last sunset (and my happy face in the window;)
Wednesday 25 December, 2013
[10:11] Goodmorning. Still using my old camera to make some photos of the fog over the Blue Mountains.
[10:43] Nearly there. Saying goodbye to the train. *heavy sigh*
[10:50] Last stop: Sydney. Bye, train, it was awesome.
From Central station I got on a regular train to Blacktown, which I had already passed with the Indian Pacific earlier this morning, ha. Called the family upon arrival (FROM A PUBLIC PHONE \o/) and was picked up by my sister in law's brother (driving the car), my brother Jaap and nephew Ruben (whom I had said goodbye to in Hongkong, remember?). When I got to the house of my brother's inlaws, I was welcomed with food and it finally felt like Christmas;)
I'll try not to leave as much time until the next picspam... TBC!
J.
P.S. *Twice a week from September to October. Some prices for those of you who are interested: a one way ticket in the cheap (Red) seats from Perth to Sydney (in either direction) costs 899 AU$, but I bought an international trainpass for 445 AU$ with which I could travel all over the Great Southern Railway! (At reservation you only have to pay a small fuel surcharge of about 20-30 AU$ per ticket, so an amazingly good deal for foreign travelers!) Off train tours are sold separately on the train. In comparison: Platinum seats are 3999 AU$. :-p