IP: First Day on the Train

With today’s off-train experience scheduled for late tonight, today was a relaxing day on the IP as we began the journey east.

After departing Perth shortly before 10:00a, we whiled away the time watching the scenery passing outside our windows. Having driven from Kalgoorlie to Perth a week ago, the first part of today’s journey took us along the same scenery we saw then. Shortly after noon, however, the tracks started to veer away from the road and all was new to us … though not dissimilar to the bush we’ve seen elsewhere in Western Australia. The scenery was a mix of woodlands, cattle and sheep stations, small settlements … and the occasional salt pans.

We’ve been making periodic stops as we head east on what is a mostly single-track route. Even though the IP is nearly one kilometer long, we are still shorter — and more maneuverable — than the freight trains that make up the majority of the rail traffic. Zafer, our Journey Manager (and coincidentally a transplant from Türkiye), said that we are the only real passenger service on this line … certainly the only one that makes the transcontinental journey that we have embarked upon.

Meals on the train are assigned seating to accommodate passengers in their respective dining cars. Not sure how many sleeper cars there are to a lounge and dining car … but at least four in our case since we have to pass through three other sleepers on our way to meals. Tables are shared four-tops. So far we’ve dined with an American from Tennessee; a Kiwi (New Zealander); and a couple from Scotland. Good food … free-flowing drinks … and good company.

Around 4:00p, the blue skies grew dark … quite ominous. We heard some thunder … and then came the rain. A few lightning strikes in the distance. The wind picked up as well. This was replaced by overcast with patches of blue in fairly short order. There was a lovely sunset behind us … very colorful … but impossible to photograph.

By the time we returned to our cabins after dinner, the weather had undergone another change. Rain was pouring, thunderclaps were louder and more frequent; lightning was tearing across the night sky.

It was then that we decided to skip tonight’s off-train experience in Kalgoorlie. Turns out that due to the inclement weather the Super Pit public lookout was going to be closed anyway. So, instead of a late night visit to Hannan’s Tourist Mine, we’re going to just chill on the train. By the time those who partake of the outing return around 1:00a — maybe later — we’ll be fast asleep.

Not a bad idea to get our beauty sleep tonight anyway … we’ll be losing 2.5 hours tomorrow to put us on South Australia time.

(By the way … please excuse any wide-angle lens distortions in the photos.)Read more