Sydney

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Advance Australia Fair: Crossing Australia by train

Today, 26 January, is Australia Day, commemorating the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships in 1788.   It’s hard to comprehend the vastness of Australia but a trip on the Indian Pacific is a good way to start.

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From Sydney to Perth on the Indian Pacific

“I don’t think I could eat our national emblem,” Lisa comments as I lift my fork to my mouth. I pause, think for a while and then pop my piece of kangaroo steak in. It has a delicious smokiness to it. As I chew I think briefly of the unfortunate kangaroo the train hit during the night. Earlier that day, while rattling across the endlessly flat landscape, there’d been an announcement explaining the huge thump which had woken me, and conveying the disturbing information that our brakes have been damaged. Hopefully that’s not as bad as it sounds.

It’s the second day in our journey from Sydney to Perth in the sleek silver lines of the Indian Pacific; a journey which will take us three days and nights across this vast continent. As we speed along and the solitude of the Australian landscape is reinforced kilometre by kilometre, the sense of adventure heightens. OK this isn’t breaking new ground, roughing it or high thrills adventure, but nonetheless being on this train emits a whiff of Hercule Poirot and an echo of a bygone way of travel. “Won’t it be boring?” ask friends. Quite the contrary.

After leaving the greenness of Sydney and the Blue Mountains we enter the typical Australian bush of gum trees and barrenness seeming to stretch forever. The lush green of Adelaide follows and then the redness of the Nullarbor Plain. We go to sleep one night and wake up the next morning to an outlook which is completely unchanged. The extent and barrenness of the Nullarbor (which in Latin means no trees) is awe inspiring.

Nullarbor Plain from the Indian Pacific

Nullarbor Plain from the Indian Pacific

Throughout the journey we see lots of kangaroos hopping along. A line of 12 camels ambling across the Nullarbor disrupts breakfast one morning and dingos stand and watch as the train rolls by. A group of emus look flustered and harassed as they rush past. Sitting, looking out the window, far from being monotonous, has a hypnotic effect and you never know what you might see.

Stops along the way are a fascinating glimpse into the variety of Australian ways of life. Broken Hill is Australia’s oldest mining town and still dominated by the mining industry. We have half a day in nervous little Adelaide, trying to assert itself against its grander sisters Sydney and Melbourne and admire its Victorian buildings and Englishness. Tiny Cook in the heart of the Nullarbor, (population 4) has a feeling of total isolation and a temperature of 30 degrees when we are there at 9.00am. We arrive in Kalgoorlie in the evening, forego the tour and wander around this beautiful old gold town with its wide, tree lined streets and impressive Victorian buildings. We select one of the many two-storied verandahed hotels for a drink and sit watching the world go by before heading back to the train.

Broken Hill, NSW

Broken Hill, NSW

Cook, Nullarbor Plain

Cook, Nullarbor Plain

Life on the train is a little world unto itself and we soon settle into its rituals. A wake up morning cup of tea starts the day, then a shower. Breakfast is a rolling meal, but lunch and dinner are booked. It’s nice to have a drink beforehand and there’s plenty of time to enjoy it.

We enjoy meeting our fellow passengers as much as seeing the country. Most in our area of the train are older Australians and it’s refreshing to see people out enjoying their own, very spectacular, backyard. Our dining guests change daily and they are as varied as the landscape. Mark and Brenda are retired academics from Perth. Mark has a botched knee operation so is confined to a wheelchair much to the disappointment of Brenda who has been looking forward to a retirement of travel. She, Mark and their two children have a ‘country competition’ and she is falling behind the goal of visiting as many as her age.
Lisa and Brendan from South Australia are a complete contrast. Very garrulous Lisa refers to Australia as ‘our land’ and mining as ‘raping our land’ which I find a bit alarming. This is their big trip around Australia before heading off overseas – once they’ve got passports. In contrast to Brenda, Lisa’s never had one.
As we leave the Nullarbor and head towards Perth the landscape changes again and suburbia and greenery are intermingled. Our carriage pulls into Perth railway station and we feel a real sense of having travelled and arrived. But more than that, after three days on the Indian Pacific we have a greater appreciation for this enormous country and all that inhabit her, including her national emblem.

Perth, the end of the line

Perth, the end of the line

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For the term of his natural life : the penal colony of Norfolk Island

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Recently my daughter, Laura,  and I had a few days break in two very different parts of Australia, Sydney and Norfolk Island.  I’d been keen to visit Norfolk Island for a while but didn’t fancy a week there, which is the only alternative from New Zealand,  so decided to have a few days in Sydney first and fly to Norfolk from there which meant we just had three days on the island  – perfect.

Laura at the ruins of the penal colony, Kingston

Laura at the ruins of the penal colony, Kingston

 

Sydney and Norfolk have strong links as they were both established as penal colonies in the early days of Australia’s time as Britain’s far-flung jailhouse.  Although Norfolk was discovered by Captain Cook he didn’t land there, and the first Europeans  on the island were the convicts and militia sent to guard them on their island prison.  It seemed appropriate to visit Norfolk Island after a few days in Sydney, Australia’s first penal colony.

Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney

Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney

We’ve always enjoyed Sydney so had a few days shopping and revisiting some of the sights.  The Hyde Park Barracks have been transformed into an excellent museum and provide a good overview of what convict life was like.  The once notorious slum area, the Rocks, is now full of lovely shops and restaurants but at the Rocks Discovery Museum you can still see what the area was like during Sydney’s early colonisation.  After three very full days in Sydney we caught the two and a half hour flight to Norfolk Island.

Norfolk Island beach

Norfolk Island beach

Norfolk Island had two spells as a British penal colony in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  The British Government then decided to abandon it for this purpose and in 1856  Queen Victoria gave it to the Pitcairn Islanders, who were in need of somewhere larger to live.  Only 8kms by 5kms the island is one of Australia’s self-governing territories.  During Norfolk’s second penal settlement (1825 – 1856)  it was used as a punishment destination for the most hardened of criminals and conditions on Norfolk were extremely harsh.  The treatment meted out belies the beauty of the island which is lush and green with massive Norfolk pine trees everywhere.

Penal colony ruins, Kingston

Penal colony ruins, Kingston

The UNESCO heritage site of Kingston has many solid reminders of the second penal settlement and was built on the location of the first, which had been burnt down when the British left in 1814.   There were very few tourists about so it was easy to get an appreciation of how isolated it must have felt by those who first came here as we wandered around the stone buildings and then continued on down to the wharf.

Graveyard, Kingston

Graveyard, Kingston

The graveyard, which is still in use today, contains the graves of some of those who died here during the two penal settlements and also those of the Pitcairn Islanders and their descendants.  Although a few Islanders returned to Pitcairn in 1859 and 1861 most remained on Norfolk and the graveyard is full of Christians, Quintalls, Nobbs, Buffets and others.

St Barnabas Chapel, Norfolk Island

St Barnabas Chapel, Norfolk Island

In addition to these two fascinating historical threads Norfolk Island was also home to the Melanesian Mission, which was established in 1866.  The beautiful St Barnabas Chapel was built in 1875 as a memorial to Bishop Patterson who was killed in the Solomon Islands.  On Sunday morning I attended a service there and although the congregation was very small the singing was vigorous.

The history of Norfolk Island is fascinating and it’s easy to get around as rental cars are cheap and there’s very little traffic on the roads.  For us three days was just the right amount of time as we managed to see everything, including all the historical locations, and get a good feel for the island itself.  It seemed to be a destination for retired tourists so we did our own thing and didn’t bother with any of the tours.  A nice little slice of the British Empire in the South Pacific.