We, (Tony & Rhonda James), live on the Central Coast of NSW and in May 2002 decided to go to Perth to celebrate Christmas / New Year 2002 with family. Originally planning to fly both ways and use some frequent flyer points, we thought we might take the "Indian Pacific" (IP) over to Perth and fly back in early January.

Many of our work colleagues asked why would we want to pay 4 times as much and take 18 times as long to get there. 

Our reply: "It's one of the world's longest trips, on one of the world's greatest "luxury" trains. You only live once, and it looks like a lot of fun!"

When I was growing up, my father worked for the Victorian Railways and my Grandfather for South Maitland Railways. My brother was a "train-spotter" of sorts, so I guess I got a fair exposure to the mystique and romance of the railways. Not really a train-spotter myself, I still know how the class of locomotives works in Victoria and NSW and know most of the old trains.

In childhood I traveled on most of the Victoria and NSW "name" trains:

• The Southern Aurora (we used to call it the "Silver Snorer")

• Spirit of Progress (both sitting up all night and in sleeper cars)

• Intercapital Daylight

• Newcastle Flyer

• The Vinelander

I was about 10 or 11 when the standard gauge line opened all the way to Perth and knew about the IP back in the 70's. I remember seeing it on platform one at Central Station, Sydney.......clean and glistening silver ready for another journey across the country. For some reason my brother Paul and I were captivated by the streamlining of the cars. The silver paneling didn't stop at platform level like it did on the Southern Aurora, it went down almost to the rails! You could only see the carriage wheels.....when you are 10 or so........wow!

Doesn't bother us in the slightest.... 3 days to be bored with no work, no phones, no email, just relax! 

We did a lot of research on the IP before booking it. Here's some of our research below:

We were originally going to get a Twinette cabin, but when we looked through the booklet sent to us by Great Southern Railways (GSR) we decided to try and upgrade.

The Twinette looked pretty small, especially for a big fella like me - we probably would have lived in the club car and the dining car and just used the room to sleep and shower, and maybe read.

So, just before we booked, Rhonda and I were looking through the GSR book for about the millionth time and thought the deluxe cabin looked pretty good, we should ask about it.

Right through the Christmas / New Year Holiday period the Deluxe room was booked - all except one time - 19th - 22nd December!

We put the cash down there and then!

I was suffering from "Buyer's Remorse" not long after we booked the train, thinking it was a pretty high price to pay - $1500 each PLUS $390 extra a night for the Deluxe Cabin.

In July, we attended some marketing conferences at Darling Harbour in Sydney. We had a couple of hours to spare, so we rang GSR to see if we could have a tour through the train - see the cabin, the restaurant, the club car etc.

After the tour? All I can say is "wow". The room looks a lot bigger in real life than it does in the photos, the restaurant looks "classy" and the lounge car even has a sealed "smoker's" section.

We only ever planned to do the IP "once", so we're going to do it in style.

Restaurant Car

Lounge Car

Layout of the Carriages:

Single Sleepers

Double Sleepers - with Deluxe Cabin (only one per train)

Lounge Car

Restaurant Car

So that's the train, what about the trip from Sydney to Perth?

Click Here to for general details on the trip from Sydney to Perth.