Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. I’m pleased to report that, to date, I’ve not been arrested. Let’s uh, hope it stays that way…
I left Melbourne on September 11th (hope that’s not too ominous!). I took the Overland train from Melbourne to Adelaide. The train journey took 10 hours!! Compared to the small trains that we have in Ireland this one was pretty swanky, I was quite impressed. My biggest issue was with the woman behind me who would declare very loudly every 20 minutes that she was hanging for a cigarette. This would have been fine except that there was no smoking on the train, and when we did stop we weren’t allowed off the train. Yes. Exactly. By the time I arrived in Adelaide I was ready to pull out a cigarette and start chewing. Or chewing a limb off. Or simply sit in the middle of the aisle and start shouting obscenities at the top of my lungs. You’ll be relieved to hear that I did none of the above. I grinned, bore it, and chewed off every nail on both hands. Boy was I ever glad to arrive in Adelaide.
The nicotine deprivation was made worse by my fluctuating mood. On one hand, I was very excited to get going, actually do some travelling. On the other, I was, to put it mildly, missing Simon within pretty much the first 5 minutes of getting on the train. I couldn’t decide how I felt so I spent most of the journey staring out the window. There was some pretty scenery (I can’t get over how prehistoric gum trees look - I keep expecting to see a pterodactyl), but mainly there were just towns that looked like frontier towns. Like, American frontier. I suppose it’s all that space. Loughboy it most certainly wasn’t!
From what I’ve seen so far, admittedly in the dark, it’s an odd sort of city, I’m not sure I’ve really taken to it. I guess Melbourne has a lot to answer for! Let’s see what it’s like in daylight.
Well now! In the daylight it’s a little less forlorn than it is at night. I literally slept for nigh on 11 hours and woke in the morning to be greeted by glorious sunshine and actual people on the street (I was beginning to suspect that nobody lives in Adelaide with the exception of the nice Chinese gentleman who fed me). I wandered around and found a shopping district where I bought a note book and ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ - I felt vindicated as I too, am a woman in my 30s (just) who left a fairly daycent job to, well, nothing, just to run away. I also stumbled upon a Malaysian festival where I was suitably rewarded with the mother load of Laksa - YUM!! I am reborn.
Part 2: So, after a whistle-stop tour of Adelaide, I boarded the Indian Pacific train to Perth. The train is actually pretty ok, there’s plenty of leg space in chicken class (what?? You didn’t think I’d shelled out for a fancay schmancay sleeper now did you??). I did however shell out the $15 for a blue paper wristband that, apparently gives me access to a secret super-lounge and unlimited tea and coffee - given the amount of coffee I drink I felt that was a bargain. Because I boarded at 6:30pm it was dark, and I saw absolutely nothing. That said, I had a great time eating biscuits and reading. I was worried about the prospect of needing to be rolled off the train.
I met a very sweet lady called Virginia and had a long chat with her in the lounge car. She is a nurse and was going to go work on an aboriginal community settlement about 500k from the back arse of nowhere. We had a long chat about aboriginal people and the issues they’re facing. I have to say it was food for thought. A very interesting lady, who had married an irish sailor (really, why did nobody warn her, the poor dear), and she recounted a funny story about arriving in Ireland in the mid-60’s and the first thing she saw at the ferry port was a big sign reading “No Contraceptives”. That made me giggle. I assured her that they’re now allowed.
In the morning I woke to miles upon miles of scrub land - it was really quite something. I thought I’d reached the Nulabor plain (it means no trees, because there are well, no trees) and felt quite disgruntled. There bloody well were trees. Nulabor my arse, more like Abor-abuntum. Then I realised that this was just the precursor. Once we hit the plain there was LITERALLY, I’m not kidding, literally nothing for hundreds of miles in every direction - it’s the most mind-boggling thing I’ve ever seen. And not one bungalow built anywhere. Easy known the Irish haven’t got here yet… The urge to start chewing on my vastly underutilized pack of Marlboro Gold was tempered only by the view out the window and the copious amounts of free coffee. That said, I began to pray like crazy that we’d get to Cook, not to see Cook you understand, no, just to have a cigarette. It was *that* bad. Word of warning to any smokers - if you’re intending taking a train trip in Australia (anywhere), I’ve only one word for you - Nicorette. And lots of it. Be warned, your nicotine withdrawal symptoms will most definitely not be helped by the unique experience of Garth Brooks entire back catalogue sans base. Yep. Imagine it. Make sure you get a good mental picture. No really. NICOTINE!!!
Cook really was the epitome of a ghost town. There was some dirt tracks, a couple of small houses and an old school house. It’s really very difficult to imagine anyone being able to survive out there so far from anything. No mobile phone reception, that’s all I’ll say… We didn’t stop long in Cook, only about half an hour, then it was on to Kalgoorlie. The journey in between consisted of reading, reflecting, thinking and eating. Not necessarily in that order.
I decided to book on a guided tour of Kalgoorlie because I figured it would be dark when I got there and wasn’t too keen to go wandering around by myself. I was especially glad that I’d gone with this plan when the train manager announced that the police had had some “trouble” with the locals and that we shouldn’t go wandering around on our own. As it turns out, the locals appear to be hunting tourists for sport. Not with like, shot guns or anything, but still, I think that even I would have been nervous on my own.
The tour was actually quite interesting. I joined up with a girl called Emma who is moving lock stock and barrel out to Perth. I was very glad to have someone my own age - the average age other than us 2 was about 459. The bus drove us around town where we saw some pretty old buildings, very reminiscent of an American film about a wild west town, all with big balcony / veranda things. Next we drove up to the mine - the Super Pit - it was very impressive but definitely I think I would have liked to have seen it in daylight. I thought there were Tonka trucks driving around until I got my head around just how deep that thing is. Sure wouldn’t like to fall down!! Finally, back on the bus, the last part of the tour took in the 2nd most common form of employment in an old wild west mining town - yup, the brothels. Nothing like you’d see in Amsterdam, but that said, they too had that old wild west saloon feel about them. I think the strangest thing I’ve ever seen (now) is a brothel that does guided tours during the day, doubles up as a café selling coffee and cakes (also during the day) and then does what Mama Madam intended at night. Very very odd!
I got talking to this lovely English couple who were at the end of their year and were heading back home soon. They were very upset to be leaving - a premonition methinks for what lies ahead for me! They had some amazing times, including working in a zoo in North Queensland. I met a lovely Scottish couple too, but they, like me were at the beginning of their trip.
At last, back on the train, all smoked out and ready for the last leg. I was very much looking forward to the adventures that lay ahead in Perth.
I’m very glad that I had the opportunity to experience this, the mind boggles at the prospect of crossing almost an entire continent on a train. I promise to post the pics I managed to get before my camera died as soon as I get a good t’internet connection.
Hope all’s well at home. Love you lots, please send me all the news!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
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