Another day of predicted rain, but we have reservations for a dinner cruise on Sydney Harbour! We caught the train into Sydney in the early afternoon and as the train entered Central Station it started pouring down rain! While we got coffees and planned our route around the city the rain let up and we were able to walk from the station through the CBD (“Central Business District”-what we Yankees call “Downtown”) to King Street wharf where we will catch the boat in 2 hours.

Amongst all the modern skyscrapers and historic architecture this building caught our eye!

We passed by the Town Hall, next to an old church and a complex of government buildings from the late 1800’s.

We then made our way to ‘The Rocks‘, an older neighborhood by the Sydney Harbour Bridge with harbour views, museums, shops, restaurants and bars, and lots of history. This is where the first convicts were brought in January 1788 to start the colinization of Australia! per ‘The Rocks Discovery Museum. Unfortunately we only had time for a few pictures before the rain started again!

We got a glimpse of the iconic Sydney Opera House between buildings, and the view opened up as we approached the harbor! At the end of this arm of the harbor is Circular Quay (pronounced ‘key’ here), where the passing ferry departed from.

A walk to the end of the harbor wall gives you a view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. If you look closely you can see people walking on the arched bridge structure!

We walked through the rain back to King Street Wharf as the sky darkened with clouds, obscuring the sunset. We boarded our boat at 6pm for our 3 hour cruise and it was fully dark now, but lit up with the lights of the city. We were seated, offered wine and menus. The rain had passed and after the boat left the dock and our orders were taken we were free to go on deck and enjoy the views.

The Harbour Bridge was alight!

As we approached and passed the Sydney Opera House we were amazed. In most pictures it looks like white sails on the Harbour, but at night it is aglow with lots of color!

The sail imagery is apparent as we pass to see the side of the buildings.

The night skyline of Sydney is stunning.

We enjoyed our dinners and chatted with our server and other passengers and all too soon we were back at the dock. We walked back through the city, still busy with people going out on the town.

Even Town Hall was lit up for the night!

We stopped for a nightcap at the pub we passed earlier and the 3 wise monkeys will keep the secrets of the rest of the night!

Rain predicted today, but it was sporadic. We had a wonderful slow morning then went for a walk around Glenbrook where we are staying.

Our Airbnb with a great porch, down a long driveway in the trees.

Beautiful flowers are blooming all around town. The white flowers are extremely fragrant!

The quaint train station is only 2 blocks away, convenient for our trip into Sydney tomorrow!

Our last day on the train and the weather has turned. We woke to cloudy skies and the threat of rain. At least the landscape is more lush and green, with rolling hills and big trees! After breakfast the train stopped at Mt. Victoria in the Blue Mountains and we disembarked, saying goodbye to The Indian Pacific train and boarded busses in the rain to our OTE at Scenic World! We had a winding bus tour to the venue at Skyway East Station and boarded the gondola ride across the face of the escarpment of which we saw nothing because we were in the huge cloud engulfing the whole mountain range! We then transferred to the Scenic Cableway and rode it down into the gorge.

The skyway has open barred windows and the moisture from the rain was dripping from the ceiling! The cable car rose from the mists in the depths to the station and we rode it down through the mist.

As we descended, the rainforest rose up to greet us, dripping with the recent rain.

At the base we followed the scenic walkway with our guide who led us through the forest giving us information about the natural history and European history of the area. A separate tour delves into the Aboriginal history, delivered by an Aboriginal guide, part of which can be seen HERE.

A huge coal seam runs along the escarpment and it was exploited starting in 1878 with the Katoomba Coal Mine, and led to the building of a steep railway to ferry the miners and the ore up and down the gorge. The model of the Irish miner and the mine pony are to scale! They were short people & ponies! Young kids, 12 or 13 yrs. old were employed to crawl through ventilation tunnels to open and close baffles and maintain a furnace to keep the air flowing through the tunnels!

We next took the steepest railway in the world, the evolution of that original miner’s railway, a funicular with a 52% grade, from the gorge up to the top! The huge Swiss cow bell must be a gift or symbol of the origin of the cable cars, gondola and funicular, Switzerland!

We all then boarded our busses to the town of Katoomba for our lunch catered by a local restaurant with a balcony overlooking the gorge with a view of the Three Sisters, a rock formation across the gorge. Which, again we could not see because of the clouds!Very interesting, Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains. Am I getting homesick?

After lunch we took a chartered local train into Sydney to collect our luggage and find our local train back towards the Blue Mountains and our Airbnb. We arrived after dark and our host thankfully picked us up to guide us to our place and point out restaurants and other amenities within walking distance.

This morning’s stop is Adelaide and we had a choice of 3 OTE’s – Off Train Experiences. Our choice is the Central Market in downtown Adelaide, perusing the food stalls and enjoying a continental breakfast.

We were bussed to the Market and given a short history of it’s beginnings. Then we walked through the hustle and bustle of workers stocking the produce, cooks preparing meals, butchers, bakers, (no candle-stick makers), and shoppers.

Great sights and smells, and tastes! We had nibbles at several stalls; Turkish delight candies, fresh roasted nuts, wild foraged herbs, and honey, interspersed around a light breakfast and delicious coffee!

We had free time to wander around, pick up a few snack items and meander outside for a few minutes.

The Market is in a beautiful old building which is being expanded with a huge complex being built next to it.

Inside, we found a Lego model of the Market, complete with little Lego workers and shoppers!

We returned to the train for a wonderful lunch and exciting entertainment in the lounge car!

Drag Bingo! A great performance!

…Full of Nothing But Space, and It’s My Happy Place!

We woke up in the Nullabor…

At 6:21am we opened our blinds to the view on the bottom right! At 7:11am we repaired to the lounge car to wait for breakfast service, top right view. At 8:09am we waved to the lone person on the siding at Forrest, which looked like it consisted of a dirt airfield, power lines and no visible housing, maybe behind some trees in the distance, bottom left view. At 10:45am we crossed the WA/SA (Western Australia/South Australia) border.

After lunch at about 2:30 we stopped in the ghost town of Cook. Established in 1917 when the railway was built, it was a major center for track maintenance and locomotive and rolling stock repairs, and it supported a school and hospital. The town was effectively closed in 1997 when the Australian National Railways’ assets were sold to a private railway operating company and has a population of 4 now. Cook is the only scheduled stop on the Nullarbor Plain for our passenger train and has little other than curiosity value for us passengers strolling around while the train is replenished with water. We disembarked and strolled for about 45 minutes, learning the “Australian Wave”, flicking your hand across your face to scatter the flies buzzing around!

The largest building still standing is the old school with the now filled-in swimming pool out front!
A newspaper laying in the shade under the 2nd story deck dated from 1998 and advertised a concert with Elton John & Billy Joel for March 18 in Adelaide!

The railway line has the longest straight section of railway in the world (478 km; 297 mi)!

Robert had time to set up his drone and fly over the townsite to take a picture of the Indian Pacific in it’s entirety, dwarfed by the surrounding flat plain!

We boarded the train when the whistles blew and continued down the track and into the night, enjoying our second gourmet dinner and nightcaps in the lounge car!