I leave Australia with wonderful memories and very strong urge to come back. Here is a summary of the journey from arrival on 27th February, to departure on 19th March.
Feb 27th Puccini’s Turandot at the Sydney Opera House. (Overnight on board Cunard’s Queen Victoria)
Feb 28th Train to Coffs Harbour
March 1st Train to Casino, bus to Brisbane. (My 70th birthday)
March 2nd “The Spirit of Queensland” overnight train journey from Brisbane to Cairns.
March 3rd Arrive Cairns
March 4th Sky Rail (cable car) to Kuranda for return by train.
March5th Fly to Darwin
March 6th 7th 8th and 9th The Ghan Expedition Train to Adelaide.
Visit to Katherine, Ayers Rock, Coober Pedy
10th Fly to Melbourne
11th Puffing Billy narrow gauge steam railway from Belgrave to Gembrook and back. From and back to Melbourne by Metro and rail replacement bus service.
12th “The Overland” rail service to Adelaide from Melbourne.
13th National Railway Museum at Port Adelaide.
14th Return to National Railway Museum for a second visit. Board the Indian Pacific for Perth, after a welcome dinner courtesy of Great Southern Rail.
15th On board the Indian Pacific. This was a somewhat different experience to The Ghan. Most of the journey from Darwin to Adelaide on The Ghan was overnight, each day being taken up with a choice of off train excursions. The Indian Pacific journeys westwards from Adelaide, offering merely a half hour break at Cook, where the locomotive is fuelled and watered, and the train supplies replenished. This was a more relaxed journey, not arriving at Perth until 3pm, the following day.
16th Arrive Perth. Pre-transfer sightseeing tour of Perth and surrounding area. Cottesloe Beach
17th Red Bus to Kings Park and downtown. Boat lunch cruise towards Guildford and Swan Valley. Blue CAT bus ride around Perth before heading back to the hotel.
18th By ferry to Rottnest Island. Blue CAT bus ride around Fremantle. TransPerth from Burswood (nearest station to hotel) to Perth, then to Fremantle. (both ways).
I dined for a second time at an eatery in the very nearby Casino, part of the Crown complex, almost opposite my hotel, The Crown Promenade. I chose an over rich Linguine with bits of chicken and a small representative of vegetables! The Casino is as big as any I remember, a cathedral of slots, roulette, and other digital electronic wizardry designed to entice you, with the promise of huge wins, or a new car, to extract the contents of one’s superannuation. I am not averse to a modest flutter, but I did find this environment slightly daunting. To further entice the spending public, a super live band plays each evening in a mini concert/dance venue. These were all excellent musicians covering music I was both familiar and unfamiliar with. I stayed around for quite a while and enjoyed “being young again” on the penultimate night of my Aussie trip, St. Patrick’s Day.
19th Taxi to Airport for afternoon flight to Singapore.
Souvenirs (not many) which I purchased along the way, I have not posted to the U.K. But still, I have managed to stay within my weight and baggage limits at the airport. Security was stringent. Toothpaste, sun-block and deodorant were trashed as the contents of my carry-on baggage was “examined with a fine toothcomb”. (What, exactly is a toothcomb? – according to Google, some mammals have them as an aid to self grooming….) I should have known better than to include my bathroom items in my “carry-on” luggage. Then came the “trace of explosives test”. I am now, most reassured that my flight is “terrorist proof”.
I look back on my second Australian visit with a degree of satisfaction, and a great deal of pleasure. I have not, as I might have expected, ended up at Perth International Airport, tired out as a result of “living out of several suitcases” for 19 days. I have enjoyed the string of back-to-back experiences which, thankfully, this blog, and numerous photographs, will help me to recall individually.
Australia comes accross as a very welcoming country, vibrant, young, full of life and tastefully futuristic. However, while at Rottnest Island, I ambled into a very interesting and informative museum of local artefacts and history. It wasn’t massive, but one needed a full afternoon to do this wonderful collection justice. In one room, a video was playing, charting the unbelievably cruel circumstances the indigenous population found themselves in through no fault of their own, a graphic and hard-hitting piece of documentary. I didn’t watch it all; my ferry back to Fremantle was at 15.30hrs. But I did find it all very thought provoking.
We are up in the air now, on our way to Singapore. Two idiots in front have reclined their seats, one into my face; I promptly moved to a window seat one row back, making this my second, and hopefully final change. The upgrade of around £600 to Business Class wasn’t really worth it for a flight of under five hours. I’m comfortable now, with nobody next to me. All around, I am surrounded by bewildering Economy Class technology. Already, the exuberance of Australia is fading as long faced passengers grimace their way to the Orient. This’ll be fun! The aircraft, a Boeing A330/300 is quite nice, despite being typically cramped. Seat configuration is 3 + 4 + 3. I hope my upgrade to Premium Economy comes through for the longer flight to Dubai. My travel agent was not able to book this at the time. And I found checking in on-line impossible and time consuming. The flight is smooth and “routine”. The attendants are immaculate, and approachable. The stewardesses are turned out beautifully in oriental costume, and the stewards, impeccable in dark suits. Indeed, Singapore Airlines do set a very high standard throughout the aircraft. At 30 something thousand feet above sea level, I continue to wonder at this mass produced, taken-for granted miracle. Arrival at Singapore is estimated at 19.15hrs, precisely 5 hours after departure from Perth. There was some turbulence but so far, nothing to diminish my new found confidence in flying. They have run out of immigration forms, and we have been warned of severe penalties for drunkenness!
Below, a few final pictures taken in Fremantle and sunset from near my hotel, late afternoon and early evening, yesterday.
Thanks for reading,
David.
David's Cruise 