Day One

We got on the train without much incident besides Kieran nearly leaving his travelling hat in the departure terminal. Our home for the next three days is two upright red chairs that recline a bit. They are quite comfortable but in that way that will become uncomfortable in the next five hours. Luckily we have a dining car a short walk down the train that we can go and relax in and we are forecast to stop in Kalgoorlie this evening.

This wouldn’t be an Australian train if it wasn’t also a licensed venue so we will be able to purchase beer and wine on board should we feel the need. The advertised food sounds very good but we are pretty sure it will turn out to simply be glorified airline cuisine. The Gold Class carriages have proper chefs (they walk through our carriage to get to their jobs) but we have a very friendly crew manning the canteen so I don’t feel we’ve been wronged.

I did manage to make myself look a bit of an idiot by simply handing the nice man behind the counter my debit card in order to pay for beer and wine. Without any prompting from me he had copied down my passport number, copied my card and opened up a tab for me. I have a nearly paralysing fear of debt and the like so I would have confronted the man about it but he seemed so happy about it that I didn’t have the heart to.

We sat in the dining car and enjoyed a quiet drink while the landscape sped past in an almost hypnotic fashion. I was drinking the classic Carlton Draught and Kieran was sipping at a small bottle of house red. The beer was nothing remarkable but Kieran did insist that I let everyone know just how bad the wine was, comparing it unfavourably to vinegar.

The earlier problem with the account reared its head as we discovered that we couldn’t close our account without spending at least $20 so we ended up with a few cans of coke and some twix bars. The dining car is small considering it serves three carriages but none of the carriages are even close to full yet so we have space to stretch out. More passengers are due to get on in Kalgoorlie tonight.

The current complement of passengers is interesting and we have quite a few ‘characters’ on board. One person in particular seems to think that he is one of the direct descendents of Satan. I haven’t really seen any evidence to support this claim but by the same token there’s none to refute it. Nonetheless we shall be keeping an eye on him and I will keep everyone updated.