3-Night Train Ride Across Australia.

Here are a number of photos I took while traveling from Sydney to Perth a number of years ago on the Indian Pacific, so named because the train travels across the Australian continent from Sydney on the Pacific Ocean to Perth on the Indian Ocean.
 

Cleaning the windows 90 minutes before departure outside of the Sydney railway station.
 

Not a lot of room, but comfortable and adequate. Lavatory door in front of seat. The upholstered back rest folded down at night and a mattress on top made for a very comfortable night’s rest.
 

The Australian Outback goes on forever, horizon to horizon–mile after mile of hot, flat and dry–quite spectacular in its own way. Every few hours there’s a road … to where, for God’s sake??
 

In the town of Cook (pop. 4) we stop for a couple of hours while the locomotives are serviced and refueled. Ahead lies the longest stretch of perfectly straight track in the world” . . . just under 300 miles and straight as a string!
 

Two days earlier, a freight train had derailed, but by the time we reached the location of the wreck. most of it had been cleaned up. A flash flood had misaligned the track a few hours before the train had reached the area.
 

Dusk the following day brought us to Kalgoorlie and, while the train was being serviced, those of us who wanted to, got a close-up look at a one-mile deep open pit gold mine.
 

And finally we reach Perth where, as I recall, the Swan River reaches the Indian Ocean. I must say, I felt very much at home in Perth. The weather was lovely and so was Kings Park. It was a three-night trip with comfortable accommodations and excellent food on board. Very much worth doing.