Tracking the Australian Outback

It’s one of the world’s great train journeys, and the Southern Spirit reveals the heart of Australia’s coast and outback in first class style. 

We’re rattling westward through the parched Victorian countryside, through one-pub towns with level crossings, and the rail line pulls alongside the Princes Highway. We’re now in a race of sorts with a couple in a car, and he looks really tired and bored with the driving. It’s a little cruel, but I raise my cold beer and offer a cheers, and he waves back and then re-focuses on the road ahead.

From the bar on board the Southern Spirit it’s difficult not to be a little smug and this is just the first of a seven day journey from Melbourne to Alice Springs on Australia’s first luxury “rail cruise”. It’s a throwback to a bygone era of travel where the train journey itself is a romantic getaway in its own right: you relax back in your compartment, watching the landscape slide by, and maybe read a book or even just lay back, relax and sleep. 

But we’ve been warned this train journey will be a little different to the good old days when it was simply a means of getting from point A to Point B. As a rail cruise, ahead of us are “shore excursions” to Kangaroo Island and the frontier mining town of Coober Pedy, 850 kilometres north of Adelaide.

This is the second half of a journey titled The Coastal Epic which began in Brisbane and headed down the east coast through the Great Dividing Range through Sydney, before we picked the Southern Spirit up in Melbourne for the second half of the itinerary. Great Southern Rail is the company that operates the Southern Spirit (they also run the Indian Pacific and the Ghan), and what makes this so special is the fact that it sets out on just two epic journeys every year. 

Our first night on the rail cruise was actually spent 18 floors above track level in the sumptuous surrounds of Melbourne’s Crown Towers with views over the Yarra River and the city, as plush hotels are included in some overnights in the major cities. The next day it’s time to board the train proper and we’re shown to our Platinum Service Suite. 

The Suite Life 

The carriages, and the suites, underwent a major refurbishment last year and they have a traditional design with a fresh feel, and the new wood panelling for example is now a lighter colour, the fittings and furnishings are also brighter but it still has the feeling of a rail journey from years of old, with a few modern contemporary touches.

For a train compartment it’s quite spacious, and there’s enough storage space created to ensure that most clothes and other personal items can be stored away without leaving a clutter. The platinum compartments have a modern en-suite bathroom (no bath) with a shower, and more importantly a comfortable double bed which does fold away to be replaced by a comfortable seat, but we left the bed down for most of the journey to be able to stretch out fully and watch the Australian outback.

The service onboard becomes highly personalised even after just a day or so, with the cabin attendants, wait and bar staff remembering names and preferences, and it seems like nothing is too much trouble.

After getting settled in on board, our first day was the perfect opportunity to gain a feel for life on board the train. This is when you’re forced into relaxing into the journey and it can be a bit of a shock for the “type A’s” as there’s no television, mobile phone service or internet.

Outside, and after the Victorian countryside, we cross the Murray River on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and spot water skiiers and paddles steamers in the distance. It's a relaxing and slightly hypnotic introduction to this train journey and the only thing we have to do is get to the Explorer Lounge in time for a pre-dinner drink as we make our way up through the Adelaide Hills at sunset.

We’re actually overnighting in the hills at Mt Lofty Station on board the train and this is where we experience our first dinner service on board in the Queen Adelaide Restaurant. It’s an elegant affair with three courses and wine included and is as good as any land-based restaurant - no microwave meals here and the lunches are also a three course sitting with wine.

Early the the next morning, the Southern Spirit trundles down to Adelaide’s Keswick Terminal and we’re woken at the unsociable hour of 5am with a continental breakfast for our first excursion to Kangaroo Island, south east of Adelaide, for two days of solid touring by bus.

On the one and a half bus ride through the Fleurieu Peninsula to the Kangaroo Island ferry, you can see the thought running through most people’s minds: “This better be worth it.” 

Time to Explore 

By 11am we're on Kangaroo Island and on our way to the first of four stops, Parndana Wildlife Park, which began as a refuge for injured animals and now has become something of an attraction in its own right. It's a great way to get up close and personal with Australian wildlife and for overseas visitors it's a great way to get acquainted with some local icons.

After that it was off to the Island Pure Sheep Dairy, which produces yoghurts and cheeses, and then to Cliffords Honey Farm and finally Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Oil Distillery before heading to Kingscote, where we stay for the night in a comfortable hotel. Dinner at the local pub, the Ozone Aurora Hotel, is excellent and it's been a long, long day.

After our overnight at the Ozone Aurora Hotel, it's an early start (not as early as yesterday) and we’re off to the Flinders Chase National Park for the landmarks and wildlife that make this place famous.

First stop is Remarkable Rocks which are a cluster of granite boulders sculptured by the weather and perched on a granite dome rising steeply from the ocean. The rocks have been shaped into all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes.

On the way to Admirals Arch, Cape du Couedic Lighthouse (built in 1906) stands out against the azure blue sky and a short distance away is Admirals Arch, which is a natural arch formed by erosion from the pounding sea. It can be reached by a boardwalk which wraps around a headland and underneath it to reveal the amazing formation. New Zealand fur seals have made this place their home and they have a natural and protected swimming hole which keeps them safe from their number one predator, the great white shark.

The wildlife show continues as we head to lunch. On the final bend into Vivonne Bay, our driver spots a koala in a tree and most people pile out of the bus to get his photo, and the koala doesn’t seem to mind one bit.

The highlight of the day though is Seal Bay with its colony of sea lions and this is the third largest breeding colony in Australia. With a National Parks officer as a guide, groups can watch the seals from a distance of about eight metres as they bask in the sun, swim and jostle for position on the beach.

From here it's back on the ferry to the mainland and we're not done for the day yet. It's off to dinner at the Kitchen Door restaurant at Pennys Hill Winery in McLaren Vale for a degustation menu, with fine wines of course, before heading back to the train in Adelaide. 

Bound for Coober 

The two days of touring on Kangaroo Island is one of the highlights of this leg of the journey, and thankfully we have most of the next day to relax on board as we make the 850 kilometre journey to Coober Pedy. Our progress is slowed by a goods train that’s broken down and we arrive in this remote outpost a few hours late.

A fleet of four wheel drives is on hand to greet us, as the train line is about 40 kilometres from town and we form a convoy to whisk us around and show us the sights. So remote is this part of Australia that the sightseeing focusses on God's creations.

Our driver and tour guide is an ebullient Italian-Australian who tells us his name is “Vadge”. I ask him to repeat that in case I’ve heard it wrong, and he confirms his name. After a bit of sniggering in the back of the 4WD, I ask him how he came to have a name like that. “My real name is Angelo, and there are already too many Angelo’s in town.”

Coober Pedy is an wild and remote place with eccentric people.

Anyway, our first stop is at the Breakaways, a rock formation that creates a surreal and almost Mars-like landscape. It also appears to change colour the longer you look at it. It's no wonder that film makers go there. It's desolate, eerie yet geographically stunning. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Pitch Black, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Red Planet have all been filmed here.

We also stop alongside the famous Dog Fence, designed to keep dingoes out of South Australia, and after a quick spin through the town of Coober Pedy itself, famous for cave houses and opals, it’s time to make our way to a working opal mine for a gala dinner.

A long table accommodating everyone from the train has been laid, and we are treated to a lovely dinner of several courses and wine, including a delicious steak. A group of local Aboriginal ladies pay us a visit part way through and perform a very special song from the Dreamtime, and later it’s our turn to join in and sing along to some traditional Aussie folk songs. 

Full Moon-itis 

The drive back to the train takes us through some flat, desert-like terrain and Vadge tells us that on a full moon on a clear night you can drive without headlights because it’s so bright out in the desert.

He’s also asked by one of our group if he had seen anything "he couldn't explain", and he confirms that strange things do happen out here and tells us the legend of Min Min Lights which have a place in Aboriginal folklore. He tells us he’s experienced the lights following his car late at night, and from the look on his face he’s not joking. 

As the train looms in the distance, we’re sad to be leaving such an unusual place and back on board we enjoy a nightcap before dusting ourselves off and heading to bed for a last night, and an arrival into Alice Springs the next afternoon.

Alice is primarily a jumping-off point for visiting several major attractions in the Northern Territory, including Uluru and Kings Canyon. For us it’s the end of a journey which was part train experience, and part destination based which makes it a fascinating and rewarding trip.