Indian Pacific Adventures, with Dick, RET, Dennis & Lyn

[RET]

10.30 this morning, Dick and Dennis had to be at Central Station to load their cars onto the transporter. The blokes at the station couldn't have been more helpful, and arranged the FCs on the top deck (where apparently they get less bulldust), and as the middle two cars, so there are modern cars either end to act as dust collectors.





After a bit of sitting around and waiting, eventually we got underway about 3pm. As I write this (6.30pm) we've just left Lithgow Station, so a fairly slow run out of Sydney, but we expect to pick up a bit of speed overnight, and we'll be in Broken Hill at 7am (Sydney time) tomorrow. We get an hour or two there, and then off we go again.

The Red Class sleeping car - there's only one - is only about half full, so there's plenty of room to spread out in the lounge car.



Right. Time to go get some dinner.

[freddyc]

wow.  that looks awesome.  Have a great time.

[customFC]

I am so envious, and you have just commenced your journey.
Looking forward to the pics and updates.
Regards
Alex

[graham_fuller]

I'm with Alex. Thanks for sharing your journey it helps a little.
Cheers,
Graham

[RET]

We arrived at Broken Hill a little late this morning, due to a signal issue overnight in Parkes. This meant we didn't get to have much of a leg stretch, but long enough to briefly catch up with Zulu and FC_Driver who called into the railway station to greet us, which we really appreciated.


Their vehicle and caravan certainly caught the eye of our fellow travellers.

And then the whistle blew, and it was time to board again and cross over into South Australia, next stop Peterborough, then Adelaide, where we have a 3 hour stop for some passengers and cars to detrain and others to get on board.

Our fellow travellers for the next leg include Team Weddo Racing, which I believe will double the number of Holdens on board. Good times.

[Edit: added photo of Gary's ambulance with Bruce (FC_Driver)]

[DN2168]

Did you get much sleep RET, or were you kept up all night with your new best friend.

Would love to be going over to perth with you guys......oh well, there's always Tassie.

Dean.

[RET]

I can't say it was the best night's sleep I've ever had, but it was OK. We did call it a night early. This fact is not unrelated to what you're referring to...


Somewhere near Peterborough..



On the run into Adelaide. We get to do this particular bit twice. We'll be back this way after a couple of hours in the city of churches.

[RET]

Well, six hours later, we're pretty much back where we last posted - Snowtown, a rather infamous spot.

Here's some proof we went to Glenelg this afternoon...


It wasn't possible to turn around 29 carriages of the Indian Pacific at Glenelg Pier, so we just backed all the way back along the tram tracks to Adelaide. I was surprised how accommodating the peak hour drivers were about it...


They're multiplying!


And we've got a bit of class at last - an FE on board.

Next stop Kalgoorlie.

[RET]

So this topic is rather incorrectly labelled now, as we now have Ray and Jennie with us, and Bill and Judi up front somewhere. Perhaps we'll catch up with them tomorrow sometime...

[graham_fuller]

Thanks for keeping us updated Ret.
Cheers,
Graham

[RET]

So, we arrived safely yesterday morning in Perth. We were delayed slightly by a fault on another train on the same line, but otherwise no dramas. As you may have read in Weddo's posts, the staff at East Perth station couldn't have been more helpful with getting the cars off the train.

We were met at the station by the local welcoming committee of Frank White, from the WA Club. Then we all headed off in different directions:
Dennis and Lyn went off to visit family;
Not sure exactly where Bill & Judy were headed to, but they were very pleased the race car seemed to be OK after the stuff-up at Adelaide;
Ray & Jennie headed off to find Bruce and is family and head for Rockingham;
Dad and I followed Frank on a cruise past the University of WA, along "Millionaire's Row", and eventually out to Fremantle, for a feed.

I'm not sure exactly what happened next, but Dad and I found ourselves in gaol.

Oh that's right, Frank dropped us off there and we enjoyed the "Doing Time" tour of old Fremantle Prison. Then we got picked up again and went down to South Freo beach (see, I can talk the lingo like a local now!), for a beautiful feed and to watch the impressive West Australian sunset.

I rang my family to let them know we'd arrived, and told my daughter Rachael (12) that Poppy and I went to gaol. She said "and so this is your one phone call, is it?" The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, it seems. She's obviously inherited the Thomas piss-take gene

This morning Dennis & Lyn and Dad & I met up again, and we headed off together to York, to check out the famous Motor Museum, which was excellent. Whilst we did that, we can only assume that Lyn's GPS got into the sherry, because the directions it gave us to Mount Barker were completely wack, and we didn't get here until after 7pm. Luckily we still found something to eat in this very quiet town. Our hosts (we're at a B&B) have promised to give us some good directions tomorrow, for our look at Albany.

cheers
RET

PS: HEY WA! WHY U NOT PRONOUNCE PLACES LIKE U SPELL THEM? Just so you can easily pick out the tourists? Avon pronounced Ah-Ven, not Ay-von like proper english. The pronunciation of Albany I can (just) accept, but Toodyay is pronounced Two-Jay? Seriously? WTF?

And Exmouth is X Mouth, not Ex-meth as it would be anywhere else in the english speaking world. Likewise Derby is Derrrrrrby, not Darby. Now you're just taking the piss.

[graham_fuller]

Hey Ret,
Glad you all arrived safely and the cars.
Cheers,
Graham

[RET]

Time to add a few photos.

First up, Fremantle Gaol, from Saturday arvo..



Cafe Bugatti - great coffee and scones, across the road from the York Motor Museum.



I have a bunch of images from the Museum, but I'm not having any luck getting them off the proper camera. I've only got the ones off the phone.



The Natural Bridge at Albany. Awesome, power of nature stuff.



Whale World at Albany. Go. Just go. Apparently we missed some other FE-FC Nationals attendees by hours - our tour guide said to us "we had some people from Queensland here this morning that are here for that".



A white wallaby at the "Walk on the Wild Side" at Whale World. They're so cute. Their larger, darker cousins are very friendly, and love a tickle under the chin...







The view from our cabin's balcony. "How's the serenity?"

[RET]

Today we discovered a number of ways in which you can't get out of Denmark, before eventually rediscovering the Great Southern Highway and heading towards Walpole, where the Valley of the Giants can be found.

Along the way, we came across Denmark Dinosaur World, and decided to stop and have a look. Well, we're very glad we did, because DDW is not just dinosaurs, but reptiles and birds and kangaroos to boot.


Ok, so I'm surrounded by dinosaur skeletons, holding a python and there's a bearded dragon on my head. What's wrong with this picture?


Monty made friends with Dad, too.


One T-Rex, to go.

We also got to be up close and personal with the Kangaroos and some of the various birds. Sorry, don't have any photos of that on the phone, and can't upload the camera pix at the moment.

Then we headed down to Walpole.

My little camera-phone can't do justice to the sheer scale of these trees, but they really are impressive.



One of the Tingle Trees. Apparently fungus, insects and fire can destroy the middle of the tree, but it continues to grow. There are apparently some that you could once drive through, but these aren't accessible any more. Plenty on display that we could walk through.

Once we finished up there, it was into the township of Walpole for a quick feed, and then a leisurely drive through to Pemberton for the night. That's where we are now, and the internet access is not real crash hot. Tomorrow, it's Augusta and Margaret River...

[surferboy]

Hi Dick, RET, Dennis & Lyn

I hope you and all the other FE-FC guys currently cruising through the South West don't arrive late for the Nats.
It's a beautiful part of the world down there and you could stay for weeks to see it all.
Theres some nice tall timber along Caves road between Augusta and Margaret river. And it's only 2 ft away from the edge of the bendy road so you can't miss it
Nice bric a brac shop at Witchcliffe just South of Margaret River

 

[Not Happy Jan]

Looks like your having a real adventure.. Thanks for the updates RET
Nick

[RKT]

From Mum: Loving the pictures. Miss you both but happy you are having such a great time. Keep enjoying xx

[RET]

Today we left Pemberton early. If there was anything worth seeing there, they weren't telling anyone about it.

First stop was the Augusta Bakery, on which we had it on good authority that excellent coffee, sausage rolls and cream doughnuts could be had. The scones are also mighty fine, we can add to that list.

Then it was down to the south-western most tip of the continent, Cape Leeuwin, where the Great Southern and Indian Oceans meet.

Cape Leeuwin


This lighthouse contains 176 steps.


Not all lighthouses have a pirate cow...

Then we headed north, where we called into the Jewel Cave, which is similar to Jenolan Caves in NSW.


It's not easy to get a good photo of the caves on a camera-phone. Visit them yourself! They're pretty impressive.

Then we drove up to Busselton, where we have set up camp at the Peppermint Park Eco Tourist Village. Some of the locals wandered up to see if we had anything good going...



We're going out for some FnC later on. Tomorrow, we'll see what the Busselton Pier is all about, and then work our way north up the coast back to Fremantle and then back to Perth.

[Eaton_FE]

RET,
If your going past Eaton (Greater Bunbury area) tomorrow evening 5:30 ish on your way back to Perth we might even see you on your travels

Les

[surferboy]

Hi RET
just a small note
when we did the Busselton Jetty and underwater viewing we needed to book. They only allow a certain number at a time in the viewing area. and catch the train..its a loooooong walk to the end of the jetty.  Might be worthwhile getting there early. You might  beat the crowds or book for later in the day.