Wikipedia: Gold fields water supply
A dump truck used in the mines, now retired. Each tyre costs $40,000! It is impressively big. This was in the Mining Museum, photo taken from a front loader of comparable size.
A forlorn sign of past days.
This tower was used in a microwave link across the Nullarbor in about the 1970s. It had some issues from the turbulent air caused by the summer heat. I doubt that the link still works. There is a fibre cable running adjacent to the train line. This tower also has a 3G cell antenna. There is very little mobile coverage along the journey, sometimes from a nearby (small) town.
It really is the Nullarbor, which is approximately 1,100km east to west, across Western Australia and South Australia.
The train also carries supplies to small towns along the way, in this instance for a farmer.
Cook was a service centre for railway workers. Facilities included a school and hospital. It is now a smaller facility for rail workers, including shift changes of train crews. The buildings in the background are accommodation for rail personnel.
The wording on the white box:
Right side:
COOK: Queen City of the Nullarbor
Left side:
Our Hospital needs your Help. Get Sick!
Typical Aussie humour.
Adelaide is the headquarters of Journey Beyond, the operator of the 2 trains. We had breakfast at the Adelaide Oval after a quick bus tour of the city.
Broken Hill's Palace Hotel which is featured in the movie "Priscilla Queen of the Desert"
The room where the show happens. It was quite entertaining with the audience having a great time, singing along.
Some of the decorated walls outside the "theatre" room. Not that any scenery around Broken Hill looks like that - it's mostly arid and flat.
The fog started west of Lithgow - the start of the climb to the Blue Mountains.
The next generation of inter city trains are undergoing trials before their introduction. This train is stabled in the Lithgow train precinct.
A salute from the
Lithgow Zig Zag Railway,
which uses the original descent
tracks down the western side of the Blue Mountains. The zig zag soon
became a choke point, so a route with 10+ tunnels was created, and
is still used today.
The zig zag is now a tourist attraction.
On top of the Blue Mountains, and fog in the valley.
Morning fog as we cross the Nepean River, meaning less than 2 hours before the journey ends.
The night setup in my train compartment.
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Broome to Perth