Jo got the phone message to ring the limo company about the car that was to take us to the train station, so she gave them a call and it was to let us know that the driver would pick us 15 minutes later than we were previously advised. We were the last to the train….

Day 1 on the ride and it was all aboard for familisation and meet the crew. The rolling ride gave us our train legs while meeting our travelling companions, some from Canberra, some from Melbourne, some from Braidwood, Perth and even some from Ulladulla’s SES unit! The train – 28 carriages, carries 3000 litres of water per carriage, 200 passengers (30 in Platinum), is around 2000 tons in weight and tops out around 120k’s. There is a musician on board (Brooke) who wandered up and down the train and played a few tunes.

With unlimited food and drink the careful trick was to pace ourselves, particularly when the off train experience for the day was to get off at Kalgoolie around 9.30pm for a tour of the super pit (big dark hole in the ground on a dark evening) and a short play about the history of the place and a close up look at some of the machines. Rugged up and off we went to be back to the train around midnight (WA time) for a relaxing sleep…

Getting a good sleep is difficult, what seems easy enough while sitting or standing becomes a not so gentle rolling around the bed. The day seats (not so comfortable) are turned into (for us) a double bed with chocolates and liquors every night.

Up at 6am with coffee and snacks delivered to the cabin for the Rawlinson sunrise made an early start and for those that could eat them, bacon and egg rolls around a fire pit. Back to the train for more window watching until the mid afternoon stop at Cook where we could walk what was left of the town while the train topped up with water before getting back on for the afternoon and night time run into Adelaide first thing day 3.

Night 2 was a good sleep – something about getting adjusted to the jolting around and only having about 4 hours sleep the night before! Breakfast was not on the train, instead there was a number of options available and we took the city sights tour with breakfast at the Adelaide Oval. Back to the train and off to Broken Hill again where we took on more water, didn’t get off but took on one of the Hill’s drag queen’s for the on train evening’s entertainment. She was entertaining with a round of bingo in the Platinum carriage before doing song and dance (wait for the movie…) 

Night 3 was the overnight run to Lithgow was as bumpy as driving the Tanami with hard tyres, the jolting was severe and very uncomfortable in bed make for a trainload of grumpy people the next morning. Talking to the crew it is always the same, except for those heading out of Sydney get their first long night as their introduction into how to sleep at night…

Getting off at Lithgow because of the landslips meant catching a bus into Central Station or doing the off train Blue Mountains experience which we opted to do and rather than travel to Central Station at the end and then back out again we opted to get off at Katoomba and train it to Emu Plains so we get back to the Caravan sooner rather than later. The Scenic World trip at Katoomba was excellent with a great guide and access to every ride they have followed by – wait for it…. lunch that catered for GF people!

Highlights of the train, meeting people, great service from the crew, the sights of Australia out the window, the on train entertainment (particularly the drag queen) and for many the food. The not so good points, unfortunately for my diet needs some of the meals weren’t the best and certainly how much the train throws you around when trying sleep – if you are doing this trip, get your sleep before boarding.

All in all we had a great trip to the west and back on the train.