From: "Philip
Merryman" <phil_merryman@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu Feb 14,
2002 02:20:42 AM Etc/GMT
Subject: G'day from
Adelaide
Hi again,
A mail sooner than I had
anticipated. The Youth Hostel here
has a good internet facility of its own, and it is working quite quickly this
morning! :-) My train to Alice is not until this afternoon so am taking advantage of it!
Anyway, the train across
from Perth was really worth doing.
The train itself was about 25 carriages and 3 car transporters! It
seemed to go on for ever! There was only one locomotive pulling all this, but
at 4000hp it managed quite well!
Furthermore the train was very nearly full, with only one or two spare
seats here and there.
The railway leaves Perth
following the Avon river. This
time of year, late summer, it looks a benign little stream tumbling over a few
rocks. However, in the winter it
transforms into a real white water river and hosts one of the world's longest
and most dangerous white water rafting races, all 130km of it!! After leaving the river the railway
crossed open countryside largely used for wheat. All of this had been cut by now so the fields just had
stubble, or were just empty soil, and there were groups of trees scattered
around. Perhaps a bit like some of
the arable areas back home, but with much bigger fields and much drier! By the railway were grain silo depots
used to load the wheat onto the railway, much the same as on the railway across
the prairies in Canada.
After dark we reached
Kalgoorlie. The railway company
arranged a coach tour around the town and to visit the open cast gold
mine. This is the largest in the
world for gold (others are bigger for other minerals). The hole is about 4.5km by 2.5km and
over 300m deep. They work around
the clock and so it was partly floodlit.
So from the viewing gallery we could see only a small part of it and
make out these tiny trucks at the bottom of the pit. However, they may have looked tiny from the top but each
truck weighed 300 tons!! With
wheels 2m diameter inside the tyres!!
After this we continued
through the night. I was in the
seating area, so sleeping is much like on an aircraft only with a bit more
room. I slept better than I
expected and awoke at 6am, just before dawn, and just as the train had begun
"The Long Straight" across the Nullabor Plain. Both are aptly named as this is the
longest section of dead straight railway track in the world: 422km!! Nullabor
is bad latin for "No Trees" and that is exactly what it is! Flat empty scrubland twice the size of
England! It was utterly
featureless beyond these small bushes thinly spread over it. In places there were virtually no
bushes either. The surface is also
thinly scattered with loose rocks from small pebbles up to ones the size of a
large suitcase. For those who know
Rannoch Moor in Scotland, I once described that as "the Moon with
grass". Well, the Nullabor is
Mars with scrub! With the reddish
soil and the loose rocks, without the vegetation it would have looked much like
the views taken by the Mars lander a few years ago. This was Awesome Emptyness. However, because I had woken just before dawn I was
priveliged to see the sun rise as if from out of the ground over this
expanse. Now as most of you will
know I am not a morning person, but some things are worth being awake early for
and this was one of them. Although
the plain remained largely constant the light kept changing as the sun rose
higher so it always looked a little different as the day progressed.
The train kept trundling
across the plain for most of the day, including a stop at the ghost town of
Cook. This town grew up around the
fuelling point for the railway.
However, as modern diesels need less upkeep than the old steam trains,
it is now no more than a filling station for the train and has a population of
the princely number of 4 people! We
had about an hour and half there while the train was serviced and we were able
to get out for a look at the empty town.
It even used to have a 9 hole golf course!! This was still on the long straight on the Nullabor, and
only a minute or two from leaving here the plain looked as unchanged as ever.
By late afternoon we
eventually left the plain and went round a curve!! Here there were more trees and bushes and the land had a
more "rolling" appearance.
As the evening drew on we began to see the occasional kangaroo hopping
through the bushes. They are
largely nocturnal, as are most creatures in the heat of this area, however we
did see the eagles over the plain and other terrain during the day.
After dark I had a chat
with the couple sat behind on the train.
They were a retired copule from the Govan/Clydebank area of
Glasgow. 10 years ago they decided
to retire to Perth as they were fed up of the Scottish weather and the
Midges! Next to me was a young
Japanese student who was studying in Melbourne I think. His English still wasn't too
fluent. However, he shattered all
stereotypes by spending most of his time reading, listening to his walkman, or
sleeping and did not take a single picture!! As usual I made up for him!!
The train rolled into
Adelaide at 6am, so it was early get up and off. However I had not slept so well as the night before. So dawn over the railway sidings did
not have quite the same appeal as over the Nullabor! After getting to the Hostel I couldn't take up my room until
10.30! So I left my bags in the
store and went to the lounge area for a tea, and then fell asleep on one of the
couches for nearly 3 hours!
I had no specific plans
for Adelaide, so in the afternoon I went for a wander. I was heading in the general direction
of the Adelaide Oval cricket ground.
The cricket ground in Perth (the WACA) was not open when I was there as
they were rebuilding one of the stands, so I was only able to get a few picures
through the closed gates. However
I had much better luck here, there was a match!! South Australia v. Queensland. Day 1 of a 4 day game.
So I paid my Aus$6 and went and sat in the "Sir Donald Bradman
Stand". For my non-cricketing
friends, Don Bradman was the greatest player ever! I (and no one else either)
am not worthy!! I had about two
and a half hours watching the cricket before close of play at 6pm. Queensland were batting and doing very
well. I saw one batsman get his
100 and another 50, who had just come in when I had arrived. The home team had no more success! and
these two batsman ended up both not out on 115 and 52 at the close of play.
I managed to find a good
seafood restaurant later in the evening.
In fact I had not eaten anything at all since evening meal on the train
the night before. Yet I did not feel
hungry in all thay time.
Bye for now. The train to Alice is another overnight
journey and I arrive there at 10 am tomorrow.
Cheers
Phil