Ayers Rock to Perth

Dave wrote:

The night before leaving Ayers Rock, we (my fellow travelers) attended the "Sound of Silence" dinner. What this included was a short bus trip out to the Rock (near it) where we would watch the setting sun just like we had watched the rising sun in the morning. Believe it or not, just because the sun is in the Northern Sky, it still rises in the East and sets in the West. (I just put that in as a little joke.) On departing the bus, we walked up a short ramp to a small plateau where we would watch the setting sun. While waiting for the sun to set, we were given any amount of champagne. (I had two glasses.) It was a spectacular sunset, well worth going out there to see it as there were neither clouds to obstruct one's view nor haze to shroud the sun.

Before going on to dinner, being concerned that I wouldn't have a dinner partner, I started to look around to find one. Off to one side was a nice looking old doll, so approaching with caution, I used the line. "Hi my name is Dave and I would like to escort you to dinner as my dinner partner. Also, I don't bite." She looked at me in disbelief. I gave her my card. An Aussie couple behind me, heard my invitation and the Aussie lady said to me and the nice looking old doll, "I'll introduce you two". To the old doll, she said, "What's your name? She said, "Pat". Then the Aussie lady said, "Pat let me introduce you to Dave." Then she said, "Dave, this Pat." Now she said, "You both have been introduced". So Pat and I (She was in her early 70's) sat down with the Aussie couple and three other couples, one other Aussie couple, an American couple from Florida and a couple from Japan. We all had lots to say perhaps as the wine and spirits were all supplied generously. (These dinners are great where everything is included gratis, even though they were paid in advance when making this excursion.)

The dinner was a wonderful buffet which included everything like kangaroo and crocodile as well as other delicacies. Kangaroo tastes like beef and crocodile like chicken.  While there was a short intermission, three aboriginals gave us a small dance recital with the accompaniment of a didgeridoo. (Not to be cynical but I will, the dances reminded me of the Indian dances back home... not much to them.) What fascinated me was the didgeridoo...the unit the guy played was about 1.3 metres long and about 10 centimetres in diameter. The sound is much like that of a Jew’s harp.

After the main course but before dessert, we were given a lesson on astronomy by a practicing astronomer. He started by turning off all the lights so that we could see the stars. Because it was so dark where no light could check the darkness, more stars than normal could be seen. Never have I seen so many stars as there were neither obstructions nor pollution. The astronomer asked us all to be very quiet for a minute or two... which we did. With all the lights out and with the quietness, the stars seem to become more pronounced. It was a wonderful moment to be experienced. After this he began his lecture (with the use of a laser beam) pointing out various constellations. After our desert he had set up two telescopes pointing one of them to Jupiter and the other to the most prominent star in the Southern Cross. Looking first at Jupiter, I saw that planet and three of its moons. When looking at the most prominent star in the Southern Cross, it was found to be actually three stars. The experience of the "Sound of Silence” dinner will be something I will always remember. It was quite overwhelming, almost spiritual.

The next morning, a flight first back to Alice Springs was caught where there was a change of planes for Adelaide. While at the Adelaide Parklands Terminal waiting for the Indian Pacific Train to Perth, my laptop was pulled out so as to begin composing the experience of the night before, the "Sound of Silence".

 Both the Indian Pacific and the Ghan Trains are designed for tourist travel, where they leisurely transport folks around the countryside stopping at various sites of interest and conducting tours of the area just like cruise ships do. For instance, when traveling between Sydney and Adelaide, there were tours planned at Broken Hill but these didn't materialize because of the three hour delay in starting from Sydney. However, there were  tours of Adelaide (a six-hour stop) to visit a Barossa Vineyard or the Adelaide Market as well as tour of the village of Cook (more about that later). Like the cruise ships, they serve first class meals and supply entertainment. We had a singer with a guitar.

   It wasn't until 1960 that one could travel across Australia to Perth in one train. Prior to that date, there were three different gauges of track (standard, narrow and large). This meant that passengers and goods had to be off loaded and reloaded onto different cars each time one track gauge ended and another track gauge started. The world's longest railway tangent (straight stretch) is on the route across the Nullarbor Plain (no trees) for a distance of 478 kilometres. As one can expect the land across the Nullarbor is very flat with no vegetation.

  We made a stop at a place called Cook which in the past housed 200 people with a school for 30 children, hospital, golf course (red sand greens) and shops, but now is down to just four souls. The train stops there for 30 minutes allowing the passengers to tour the town which is still in tacked. One can rent a house cheap here if you like the heat, flies and isolation.  I only stepped off the train for a few minutes and took pictures of the two-cell jail. The jail reminded me of the punishment hut that appeared in the movie "The Bridge Over the River Kiwi".  The heat and the flies chased me back onto the train fast.

Our next stop was for a star gazing dinner off the train at Rawlinna. Tables were set up along the siding for 200 passengers where we were served a three course meal very quickly and efficiently. (The Southern Australian Railway likes to keep the passengers happy, consequently: they seem to hire pleasant and accommodating staff who are well trained.) As it was night time, the temperature was comfortable and there were no flies.

I met a few interesting people such as a young Australian couple who travel the world doing free-lance photography and writing. She was the photographer and he was the writer. Their work has been reported in many magazines and newspapers. That's how they can afford to travel. They've been all over as they showed me pictures of their travels. Another interesting group were three of my luncheon passengers, an Irishman, an Englishman and an Aussie. Each one had done considerable traveling and recounted experiences at various places while we were having lunch.

As we were approaching Perth (about 250 kilometres out), things slowly turned from a bleak flat landscape to something reminding me of the hills around the Okanagan. Yes, instead of being flat, it started to become hilly with some small lakes and many trees as well. However, these small lakes are not large enough to supply irrigation water as they need to pipe water using large diameter pipelines from near Perth. The area does receive some rain as they are able to dry-farm like the farmers do on the Canadian Prairies.

I should say something about the telephone and power poles. The wooden poles are not the tall straight poles seen in B.C. They are short and scrawny. The telegraph poles used by the railway are perforated steel channels with a perforated angle iron fitted into it which can be adjusted for height.

Finally, our train approached Perth and what a fine sight it is!

Bon Jour.