INDIAN PACIFIC - ADELAIDE

All aboard for the Indian Pacific to Adelaide.

27 carriages plus the locomotives and the motor-rail making this train 758 metres in length. Its’ weight is given as 1,452 Tonnes excluding the locomotives. Evidently it needs 2 locomotives to drag itself over the Blue Mountains.

The trip from Sydney to Adelaide is 24 hours and the fare includes Dinner, Breakfast and Lunch. We also have a very pleasant sleeper compartment so all in all, no complaints.

We were only on board this train for one night as we alight at Adelaide. We then have 3 nights in Adelaide before embarking the Ghan for Darwin.

On the way we had a 2 hour lightening stop at Broken Hill where we had a chance to alight and take a look around.

We hadn’t pre-booked accommodation before we left Aus. thinking we could do it once in Sydney. Oh, dear. That was a bad move! We had not realised that the Clipsal Races were on this weekend and there was NO accommodation to be had in the area. Our best ‘offer’ was $600+ per night some 68 k’s out of town! And that was without transport.

Luckily we did manage to hire a camper van and get ourselves into a caravan park so all was not lost.

Neither of us fancied being ‘homeless’ for 3 nights especially with our 4 cases and a truck load of hand luggage to boot!

We had a great time in Adelaide. The first day we spent at Glenelg Beach before going into the city for the afternoon and evening.

With the races and the Fringe Festival on there was plenty to do. The street entertainment was OK; not spectacular but certainly passable considering it was free.

There are many jokes about the (lack of) culture in Adelaide. The spelling mistakes shown here make me wonder if the jokes are indeed justified.

OMOLETTES

SPECEAL

SNITZEL

Oh, dear. What can I say!!!

Day 2 we took a drive to the Barossa Valley and visited a winery before returning to our camp site and getting ready for our next leg of the trip to Darwin on the Ghan.