Next stop Adelaide

On my fourth day in Australia, I boarded the "Indian Pacific Train" for Adelaide. (The train's name originates from the fact that it travels from Sydney on the Pacific Ocean to Perth on the Indian Ocean and vice-versa.) The train is much like VIA's "Canadian" consisting of 30 stainless steel coaches of which there were 6 dining cars, 6 lounge cars, 12 roomette coaches and half a dozen of other coaches.  The first leg of the trip was between Sydney and Adelaide where the rail line makes somewhat of an arc, that is; leaving Sydney, it travels north through the Blue Mountains, then northwest to the town of Broken Hill and finally in a southwest direction to Adelaide.
 

We were supposed to leave at 3 pm but didn't get underway until 6 pm. This gave me a chance to catch an hour or so sleep before we got going. However, the voices from the Lounge Car next to my coach became louder and louder. Even though we still hadn't left the station, the Lounge Car was in full swing and my fellow passengers were enjoying the beer, wine and spirits which are all-inclusive in the fare. As all the passengers were retirees, no one over indulged and nobody got out of hand.

I was hoping to see the Blue Mountains, but by the time we reached them, it was dark as we had left at a late hour. This also interfered with the guided tour at Broken Hill as it was cancelled to make up time on the schedule.

After a great meal that evening and a bit of socializing in the lounge car, I went to bed and had a very restful sleep. Some of the passengers complained about the swaying of the train caused by uneven track...but not me, I slept soundly. The track and roadbed for the Indian Pacific is not as good as the railways in France and for that matter the Canadian railways' roadbeds are a bit better but not quite as good as those found in France. The Indian Pacific roadbed looks to employ good ballast and uses concrete ties but maybe the ties need more tamping, better alignment and perhaps heavier rails.

As customary, I arose early and enjoyed a coffee in the Lounge car while waiting for breakfast. We were traveling on the plain between the Blue Mountains and Broken Hill. If one thinks the Canadian Prairies are flat you should see this one in Australia. On this flat land, I saw many dozens of kangaroos. One such animal tried racing our train. (The train won.) Also, there were many wild goats. I thought at first they were sheep but was told later they were goats. Later on there were some sheep. I enquired as to where do the animals find the water to sustain themselves and was told the animals seem to find a "billabong" somehow. I couldn't see billabong from the train but of course the animals seem to find them as there a great numbers of wild animals.

As we approached Broken Hill the terrain became quite hilly. Broken Hill is a gold mining town and because I being an old mining engineer, I was curious to have a look around but no such luck as we were only aloud to get off the train long enough to walk up and down the platform as the train crews wanted to make up for the time lost from Sydney.

On leaving Broken Hill the terrain again became flat and very dry but as we came closer to the coast (Adelaide) one noticed that things became greener with more trees and grass and finally grape vineyards. What I have seen so far is that the coast areas are very lush for about 100 kilo-meters inland and then slowly the landscape becomes very dry with only salt bushes (like our sedge brush)  and eucalyptus  trees.

Arriving in Adelaide late, I skipped dinner as we were giving a large grommet dinner at lunchtime. Again rising early, I enjoyed a breakfast of bacon and eggs and terrible coffee. I should mention my first full day here was Good Friday and would you believe that everything is closed and there were very few people around. The concierge tried to get me on a wine tour but there were none that day. Anyway my city exploring started by walking with city map. One thing I noticed here and also in Sydney was they are not as concerned about people smoking on the street or in the parks as they are in Victoria. At home there no smoking on the street or in the parks. There are designated smoking areas and they are few and far in between. One sees cigarette butts on the sidewalks and around the park benches here in Adelaide. (What a shame!)

On thing that first confused me was the naming of streets. It seems that King William Street which runs North and South is the main diving point. All streets running east and west, change names at King William Street. For instance, Grote Street to the west of King William becomes Wakefield to the East of King William. Likewise Franklin becomes Flinders; Weymouth becomes Pirie and so on. Once I figured that out I was OK.

In the morning I went out walking with nowhere in particular just to get the feel of the town but in the afternoon, I really went out on my exploration trip of the city. Walking north along King William Street, one comes to the State Parliament Building on North TCE (no change of name for this street...see there is an exception to the rule). The State of South Australia has two governing bodies: the House of Assembly and the Legislative Council. (Quebec used to have two houses but abolished the upper house sometime ago.)

On walking further north, I came upon their Festival Centre where Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's "CATS" was playing. (Irene and I saw that play in London 30 years ago. Not to brag but I will, I play "Memories" a song from the same play on my piano.)

Just north of the Festival Centre is a small (very small) lake, it is only a widening of a small stream called Torrens River. There are parks on either sides of the lake and river where the locals come down to sit on the grass and have their picnics. While I was sitting, a young lady shared the bench so I began talking with her. She was there with her two children (ages 12 and 11) who were presently sailing in a peddle boat. I found out that this lady had come to Adelaide with her husband and two children six years ago and since then they had split up. Apparently, her husband has since married a Chinese woman. The young lady said that it is difficult to make friends in Adelaide as most people who were brought up there have already got their circle of friends and are quite contented to leave it at that. Although this lady works in a bank and meets many people but has made no friends. I said to her, “Have you thought of going back to England or moving to somewhere else?" She said, "She had thought about it but didn't have the courage".  I said to her, "Do you think that in a year's time that things will change?" She said, "No".  Then I said, "What are you waiting for?”  (For a person like myself, moving is no big deal as I in my lifetime have lived in 20 different towns and cities.)

On my last day in Adelaide I made arrangement for a wine tour. Unfortunately I stood at the wrong corner to catch the wine tour bus and therefore, I missed it. OK all was not lost; I took a taxi out the nearest vineyard in the area and conducted my own wine tour at the Magill Estates. Never have I seen so many barrels of wine nor bottles either and expensive too! One cannot understand why wine costs so much here in Australia when they make so much of it. Wine was so cheap in France and to tell you the truth, the cost of local wine in Canada is much cheaper for good wine too!

So much for Adelaide as the Ghan waits for me next. (The Ghan is the railway to Alice Springs located at the centre of the outback.)