Therefore, to sleep, yeah, right! The mum with the 3-year-old son having woken him from sleeping to take him on the Superpit tour continued to tell him to sleep, be quiet, and shut up until 3am! The seating arrangement within the carriage allowed you to have decent space in which to rest.
I moved the seats backs of all four seats to their most extended position and placed my backpack between the seats.
This essentially gave me room to lie down comfortably, more so than the ordinary seating arrangements and with the back pack in place, no gap between the two sets of seats.
With out something in the leg space there was about 12-15 inch gap.
Once the noisy individuals, as in mother and child, settled I slept soundly and comfortably.
I woke the next morning to a sunrise that was simply stunning! The type that you see in travel agents advertisements! A brief shower, making sure the door was suitably locked, apparently, there had been occasions that passengers had thought the door locked but alas it was not.
Then it was down to the buffet car to ask for my flask to be refilled with hot water to see me through the day with coffee.
Budget conscious, I carry my own breakfast of cereal and milk.
I had discovered UHT milk in the supermarkets along with trial size packets of cereal.
Perfect for the trains! The passengers settled into the routine that everyone had set himself or herself.
The train travels through the vast Nullabor desert obviously not a good place to break down in either a car or a train.
The endless miles of flat red earth covered with tiny scrubby plants and bushes stretch monotonously as far as the eye can see.
Then out of nowhere are a couple of beef cattle browsing for the almost non-existent food, unbelievable.
The loud music again made our lives miserable in the afternoon fortunately not as long! Perhaps the company does not want economy class passengers to return! The train stopped at Cook, an outpost with population of 5! It was great being able to get off, stretch our legs, and breathe fresh air.
The carriages are warm but I found a little stuffy.
A real ghost town, that used to have a school, store, town lockups and a few houses.
I gather the train drivers stay here for a sleep layover and catch the train when it returns.
There were photo opportunities galore, as long as it included the Indian Pacific, red dirt, rocks, and newfound friends! An interesting stop for the brief time it was there, and surprisingly cold.
I am glad I had bought several books; it certainly helped to pass the time.
A roast dinner on the night's menu was a vast improvement on the previous nights.
The cost for the dinner and yogurt $15.
30.
Everyone settled after dinner, some socializing in the dining car and the carriage was quiet around 10pm.
Apart from an occasional whimper from the little boy I think everyone had a surprisingly good nights sleep, spread out over the seats.
They were indeed an excellent way of sleeping on the cheap! By the time, I had finished my travels they seemed to have removed those cars, as the numbers of passengers dropped off for the summer.
An early arrival into Adelaide was for me the finish of my Indian Pacific train trip.
I loved this trip and would do it again in a heartbeat; the train would continue on to Sydney, its final destination, traveling overnight for the third time.
Now it was time to enjoy Adelaide and the Barossa valley for a few days.
I would then be joining the Ghan for the trip north to Alice Springs and Darwin.