I was up early and packing for my trip on the Overland to Adelaide. 12 hours on a train is a breeze and I was looking forward to meeting another great lot of people. I really was quite sad to leave Melbourne as I wish I had stayed longer, but as I keep saying, there is always next time..............
The station was about a 15 min walk and as it was only 6.30 it was a nice temperature for a walk so I bid farewell to my little city apartment and trundled off through the streets with my bags. Not a bad walk although my arms did get stretched a bit from my case, I dread to think how much it is all going to weigh. Still, plenty of time to worry about that!
The train was waiting and soon enough we boarded and I took my seat. Would be nice to be able to watch the countryside go by as the whole journey is in daylight, unlike the Ghan to Alice. The trains are run by the same company so the format is similar, but no lounge for me to chill in, just the buffet car. I took my seat and said my hello's to my fellow travellers and then we waited to depart.
I suppose there is not much to say about a train journey other than the scenery was great and the trip was relaxing, chilling, snoozing and chatting to my fellow passengers, but this journey was a little different as a bit of history happened. The Indian Pacific Train that runs from Sydney to Perth (3 nights on board) had made a detour due to the terrible flooding that has been happening in NSW and northern Victoria so the train had made a detour onto our line. So in order for us all to get on the same line and to arrive at a reasonable hour, we towed the Indian Pacific all the way to Adelaide. Now, this is a very rare occurrence as the trains don't usually meet so it created a bit of added excitement in the crew and the passengers (you may be thinking woopy do, but it was quite a sight!) So we spent an hour shunting and hooking up the other carriages and engine and then the train, with probably 16 or more carriages now, trundled on its way. Now some on board were not as enthusiastic about this event as it was going to make us slightly late into Adelaide, but as the staff explained, if the other train had just gone in front of us we would be even more late as it goes far slower than the train we were on. So pipe down and enjoy the ride. (I added that bit in, they didn't actually say it, but I could see it in their eyes......)
I met a real mix of people again on this trip, there were all ages and all sorts of travellers. Many were heading for WOMAD in Adelaide (I had no idea what that was and had to google the girls to look it up for me as I felt a bit of a tit) It turned out that it is some music and dance festival happening in Adelaide this weekend. Its all happening there!
I ended up chatting to 3 lovely girls next to me who were off to the festival. One was a musician. one was and environmental campaigner and the third, Theresa, was a clairvoyant organic farmer from Tasmania! And behind us in our little gang were Carmen from Spain travelling with John (from England) and his wife Josy, also from Spain. What a mix! We sat and put the world to rights all the way into Adelaide (2 hours late but what the hell!)
We all disembarked and managed to get shots of the 2 trains together (history remember) and then swapped details. I now have another place to stay in Tas and Spain too!!
In the taxi I had time to reflect on my last road trip and smiled with the memories. I got back to The Hutsons gorgeous home, got myself semi-sorted and crashed out in bed. Got a hectic weekend coming up, catching up with the gang and making the most of every single second of the sun and fun.
Keep blogging on, it ain't over till the fat lady sings.............
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