Page 560 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Australia

558  SUR VIV AL GUIDE

Travelling by Train and Coach Springs recounts its history
(see p287). The 2,979-km
Australia offers some of the most spectacular train journeys (1,852-mile) trip offers amazing
in the world. The vast and diverse continent offers rail travel scenery and takes two days.
across red deserts as well as through beautiful rainforests and Two different services run
spectacular coastal scenery; often the journey is as much the 1,681 km (1,045 miles)
between Brisbane and Cairns:
about enjoying the view as arriving at a destination. However, the Sunlander and the Tilt Train.
the train network is not comprehensive – with its small Another Queensland journey is
population, Australia has never been able to support an aboard the Gulflander, a 152-km
extensive system of long-haul railways. Train journeys are (95-mile) trip through some of
useful for quick trips away from city centres, and regular Australia’s most remote country.
The Overland (Melbourne–
services link the cities of the east coast. Coaches fill any gaps in Adelaide) and the fast XPT
overland travel, servicing major centres and remote outposts. (express passenger trains)
services (Brisbane–Sydney–
Melboune) offer a more
utilitarian type of train travel.
Travel Classes
There are three types of travel
available on most interstate
trains. Overnight services, such
as Melbourne–Adelaide, offer
first-class sleeper, first-class sit-
up and economy sit-up. The
Indian Pacific, the Ghan and
various Queensland trains also
offer economy sleepers. All long-
distance trains have dining
A railway journey across the Australian desert facilities. First-class travel inc-
ludes meals in the ticket price.
The Australian Rail Speciality Trips Motorail means you can travel
Network The chance to take in some with your car – but the service is
The Australian railway system of the country’s extraordinary expensive, and you are better off
is run by a complex group of landscapes is what makes rail hiring a car at your destination.
several private and state-owned journeys in Australia so special.
companies. The major tourist- Standards are high, often with
orientated operators include a level of luxury reminiscent of Tickets and Bookings
NSW TrainLink, Great Southern the grand old days of rail travel. Bookings for rail travel can be
Rail and Traveltrain. Find The Indian Pacific route takes made with travel agents and
information and book tickets three days to cover the 4,352 at railway stations or via the
via the operators’ websites. km (2,700 miles) from Sydney operators’ websites. Long-haul
Due to the availability of to Perth. The 478-km (300-mile) rail operators offer discounts
inexpensive flights, train travel is crossing of the Nullarbor Plain for trips combining multiple
no longer cheaper than flying, (see p323) is on the world’s journeys and destinations,
and journey times are long. The longest length of straight advance purchase tickets,
Sydney–Brisbane trip takes railway track. The fabled Ghan and pensioners and students
13.5 hours and Sydney– railway runs between Adelaide with valid identification. Great
Melbourne takes 10.5 hours. and Darwin. A museum in Alice Southern Rail offers discounts to
State governments accept
responsibility for providing
access to most areas. Queens-
land has increased its rail
services of late, most of which
are aimed at the tourist market.
Increasingly, however, state-run
coach services have replaced
under-used railway journeys
and, where there is no rail
network, such as in Tasmania,
there will be an efficient, cheap
coach network instead. Mass Transit Railway Station in Perth