Day: June 19, 2022

Clickity Clack: The Indian Pacific Train.

/ brisbanefrannie / 3 Comments

Pick up from our hotel in Fremantle is part of the Platinium service for the Indian Pacific. We are being spoiled on this trip! So naturally we’ve been looking forward to this train journey for quite some time.

We arrive at East Perth Station and are checked in with Layla a lovely young girl wearing an Akubra hat. We are in carriage I, cabin 4.

First sight of the train.

It’s 9 a.m. when we board the train and the Bollinger has been popped. People start to smile. The service team introduce themselves and the guests start to chat. It may be expensive but the treatment is first class.

Our cabin is small but perfectly laid out. Our comfy seats face the way the train will be going and every little convenience has been included.

The seats fold out to become the bed.

It’s not long before it lunch time. the food is lovely.

The menu cover.
A sample menu. I had the camel curry! It was delicious.

Of course lunch was a accompanied by another Bollinger or two. This was followed by a nap!

We met some fellow travellers. Miranda and Gavin from Perth are on board celebrating a birthday. They are lowering the average age and look like fun – enjoy a drink and a chat!

Val & Jim from Melbourne are lovely and we swapped lots of stories. There are other keen train enthusiasts who are on their 2nd, 3rd and even 4th journey – the Ghan north to south and the Indian Pacific east to west !

Some are travelling Premium because they no longer like climbing up to a bunk style bed. I can identify with that feeling.

Card playing had become our afternoon or evening activity and it has continued. Today we multi-tasked! There was a trivia competition hosted by the resident guitar-playing entertainer. We played cards, played trivia and drank Bollinger.

Tonight after dinner we arrived into Kalgoorlie around 9 p.m. We left the warmth of the train for a tour of cool Kalgoorlie with Katherine.

She drove through the dark streets pointing out sights we couldn’t see. She told us stories and used the word ‘actually ‘ more times than necessary. She’d had a long day and sounded exhausted. We were all thinking our Katherine needed to be home in bed.

First stop was a yard housing a small museum and theatre where two locals put on a play about the discovery of gold by Paddy and Tom. Unfortunately it needed a better script & better actors.

Next stop was the giant pit. We went to a viewing platform but with few lights on it was hard to see anything. The photos told the story of a pit that is 5 km long, 2 km wide and 1 km deep.

The whole tour was ‘actually’ underwhelming. It would have been more effective to have an audio on the bus. We should have listened to fellow travellers Miranda and Gavin who were staying on the train in their cabin with a glass of wine and a Netflix movie.

Couldn’t wait to get back to the train, have a warm shower and tumble into bed.

Fremantle: a village by the sea

/ brisbanefrannie / 2 Comments

Our stay in Fremantle was supposed to be warm. Was supposed to be spent with a ferry trip to Rottnest Island. A little swim.

The Esplanade Hotel

Weather has a way of changing things around. The ferry service is cancelled so we changed our plans.

Friday night we went to Nedlands for dinner with some old friends of Chris and Jill. We had a great night and some lovely soup. Not a chip in sight.

Saturday morning called for a sleep in. Our hotel – The Esplanade – is large and old and right near the old town on one side , the park and marina on the other.

We made our way, in the unaccustomed cool breeze, to the Moore and Moore Art space and cafe. There was a good watercolour exhibition on where we spent a few minutes before ordering breakfast.

It was the first cooked breakfast we’ve had so we all enjoyed tucking into eggs.

The streets are old and lined with lovely shops and cafes. Lots of bookshops and quirky shops like a map shop – where we lost Steve but all ended up enjoying. A gentleman’s shop with shoes and other accoutrements. A few galleries and our planned stop – the Palace Cinema.

Funny to go to the cinema on holidays but we thought it could be raining all day! We saw Maigret – about the French detective. It was slow and mysterious.

Coming out an hour or so later the skies were blue and the wind was blowing. We went browsing a little more and managed to do a little retail therapy. The streets had a Saturday buzz about them.

We saw the markets. It’s always good to walk through markets. These aren’t as big or colourful as the Adelaide Markets but it’s a good way to pass the time under cover while the rain poured outside.

Chris and Jill’s friends arrived at the hotel for afternoon tea. Sitting in the foyer is a good place to see people – both local and tourists. There was a Year 11 formal on so the young students were posing for photos, the boys looking dapper and the girls looking much older than their age – in beautiful long dresses.

Feeling a little peckish we headed up Essex St. to Nuncio. It’s a lovely Italian restaurant serving very good Italian food. The best Carnarvon scallops, prosciutto and pasta dishes.

I’d been told about Darling Darling – a whiskey bar nearby, so we braved the now very strong gusty winds and made our way past shops and restaurants.

Sadly there was a line to get in! We don’t do lines so back to our hotel for a nightcap. We have to reorganise our bags for tomorrows Indian Pacific journey.

Pity about the late night party in the room adjacent to ours where the group of people gathered on their verandah at around midnight and proceeded to party hard.

Not good for sleeping……. so I made a call to reception! It took awhile but they eventually settled down.