Stopping for Emus on the Coast Road

We have decided to head north from Perth to see some real Australia and I go down to Budget to get a rental car. I take the wheel of the V6 Magna and within a minute I have somehow got myself onto the southbound freeway out of town, and have also managed to lose my [...]

Wake up age 32, on a night train outside Perth

After three nights on the train, we arrive at Perth 9am on 20 July (my birthday). We are feeling a bit crumpled after our journey and head to Governor Robinson’s a small hostel in inner city Northbridge. It’s a great place, very sharp, clean and comfortable, well-priced and run by a friendly guy by the [...]

Indian Pacific: 2 Dimensional Drift

The train pulls up in the middle of the plain. This is in theory a station called Watson. There is nothing but small grassy clumps and red soil. An aboriginal woman and her small child step down from the train together with a steward with their bags. I overhear their conversation at the door. She [...]

Indian Pacific: Plain Talking

The country outside Adelaide is initially greener than I imagined (no drifting sand dunes or camel trains yet.) However the ubiqitous red soil is there; and after some time you realize the landscape is impercetibly changing. The last distant low uplands slide away and the perspective is of a vast surrounding tabletop.
Small scubby plants [...]

Indian Pacific: Ice on the tracks

It’s a strange sensation to wake up in a train carriage, especially when you are on the outskirts of Broken Hill. The previous night the train was delayed because of ice on the tracks in the Blue Mountains, not the kind of delay you expect in Australia.
The hills are grey and ghostly in the pre-dawn [...]

Indian Pacific: Red Kangaroo or Gold Kangaroo?

We are travelling out of the endless Sydney suburbs. Out in the West there seems to be little of the flash cosmopolitan city and more of the dusty cramped bungalows and industrial sprawl. We are checking it all from the “Red Kangaroo” cars with the seats, not the bunks (i.e. we are in the cheap [...]

Indian Pacific: What is your favourite choice of weapon?

On Saturday 17 July, we embarked on our overland train trip from Sydney to Perth. The journey really begins at Circular Quay station, where Julie breaks her tooth on a candy bar. Luckily it doesn’t seem to cause too much pain but is not a good omen for our 63 hour transcontinental journey that is [...]

The International

First offshore blog posting from Glebe Point Road, Sydney. Arrived last night and I suffered from minor acculturation difficulties (after dark large city rush hour arrival freakout syndrome) but quickly resolved by some kind words from a pair of locals on the bus.
Glebe is comfortable and upmarket/trendy. Similar to Ponsonby – Grey Lynn in Auckland [...]

Lucky country :: wild book :: mammon’s people

After recovering from a dose of the midwinter flu and blues I’m looking forward to going on holiday.
Heading across the ditch and doing a slightly unusual trip on the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth. I’m fascinated by Australia especially the natural environment, and I realized I hadn’t been there for over twenty years. Good [...]

Games People Play

Some interesting sounds have appeared on my desk lately.
I discovered a copy of Roy Budd’s fantastic soundtrack to Get Carter and have been enjoying it a lot. It’s a great movie, starring Michael Caine in a career highlight, and the book it was adapted from (Jacks Return Home, by Ted Lewis) is a cracking read.
The [...]