Epic rail: Going slow on Australia’s Great Southern train line

Ianthe Butt embarks on her first long-distance rail journey, exploring southeastern Australia aboard the country’s newest luxury train experience

The Great Southern train (Freedom Destinations)

I have a great affection for train journeys. My oldest school friends are the result of eight-minute-long South West Trains services between Woking and Guildford, unbreakable bonds forged over homework swaps and who-fancies-who chats. Travelling Bangkok to Chiang Mai on rickety trains as a backpacker in my twenties taught me the thrill of unhurried passage. A decade later, I enjoyed seeing London’s skyscrapers melt into the soft pistachio-greens of Oxfordshire through carriage windows on weekend escapes. But, despite this fondness, I’d never taken a ‘bucket list’ train trip.

Australia has form when it comes to legendary, lengthy rail journeys – indeed, pre-pandemic, both the BBC and ITV aired TV shows (fronted by rail nuts Michael Portillo and Griff Rhys Jones respectively) about the joy of Australian train travel. Most famous are two trans-continental trains – the 90-year-old Ghan, an outback adventure which covers the 1,851 miles between Darwin and Adelaide, and the 50-year-old Indian Pacific, a 2,704-mile coast-to-coast journey bookended by Sydney and Perth which cuts across the Mars-like Nullarbor Plain. The news that the operator behind them, Journey Beyond, were making it a hat-trick in 2019 with the launch of the Great Southern – a 1,800-mile luxury train journey running between Brisbane and Adelaide, with off-train excursions along the way – finally tempted me to take my first ever epic rail adventure.

Passengers can grab a drink in the bar onboard (Freedom Destinations)

On a bright Brisbane morning in early 2020, pre-coronavirus pandemic, I joined 203 guests and 39 crew for a three-night, four-day jaunt aboard the sleek, 30-carriage and 711m-long Great Southern. Following a meandering U-shaped course from Brisbane, Queensland to South Australia’s Adelaide, we were to first head south to Sydney, cut into the NSW suburbs, whizz through Canberra, ACT, then wiggle through Melbourne and the state of Victoria before reaching our final destination.

Impeccably mannered staff sporting Akubra hats ushered me to my sleeper cabin – a ‘gold’ twin, which I was occupying solo. Compact and chic, it was decked out with wood-panelled walls and a forest green sofa (which transforms into a single bed, while a second pulls down above it if required), alongside a small wet room featuring toilet, shower and basin. Platinum cabins are larger, ritzier and have double beds.

At welcome drinks in the Outback Explorer lounge, I was nervous, aware that, at 34, I was bringing the average passenger age – 72 – down somewhat. The crowd was majority retirees-and-older Australian couples – a flurry of white hair and comfortable shoes – alongside a few younger faces. After a genial greeting from train manager Mario Gleeson, the old-timers quickly shared stories of rail journeys past, from the Trans-Siberian to the Rocky Mountaineer, and I soon felt like part of the gang as we clinked glasses of pink Dal Zotto prosecco and relaxed into the gentle sway of the carriages.

What’s special about rail journeys like this is the people; I’ve made many life-long friends aboard trains

Lunch was served in the Queen Adelaide dining car, a grand, retro space – all dark woods, golden walls, frilly tie-back curtains and fleur-de-lys ceiling adornments. Tables set for four encouraged mingling, and food – spinach and black bean quesadilla with quandong relish, followed by strawberry gum panna cotta with Riesling jelly – was sublime, showcasing local ingredients.

The hills of NSW’s Border Ranges National Park flew past in the distance. The scenery was an ever-changing beast: violet-wildflower-filled banks, grazing piebald horses, clothes lines heavy with laundry. Later, forests of slender silver and bronze eucalyptus trees. Some were charcoal-blurs; midnight-black trunks evidenced previous years’ wildfires, a sobering reminder of those that were still devastating parts of Australia during our journey.

Hours of window-gazing later, we disembarked at Coffs Harbour, a coastal city best known for blueberry production. Buses ferried us to picturesque Charlesworth Bay, where platters heaving with oysters, cheese and seafood were served at tables underneath criss-crossing ribbons of bare bulbs. The atmosphere was low-key bacchanal; many couples were travelling to mark wedding anniversaries – 48th, 50th, 52nd – and held hands under the table as they reminisced about how they first met. Wine flowed, well-worn laughter lines crinkled and an impromptu dance floor formed when the band played Twist and Shout.

Coffs Harbour in New South Wales (Getty/iStock)

Nightcap stories back on board – tales of the Indian Pacific’s ‘square wheels’, coupled with the knowledge that our route featured predominantly freight (and therefore bumpy) tracks – left me anticipating a sleepless night, and I turned in early to compensate.

Yet despite rocking and an occasional judder I woke well-rested. Breakfasting on chai Bircher muesli and perfectly-poached eggs (challenging, the chef says, due to the always-wobbly cooking conditions), no one had their mobile phones out, and it was as acceptable to quietly watch kangaroos lollop across leafy paddocks outside as it was to natter.

Daily excursions followed; the oenophiles headed for winery-hopping in the Hunter Valley, the culture fiends to arty Newcastle, and I opted for a boat cruise in Nelson Bay. In waters just east of popular seaside town Port Douglas, I marvelled at pods of bottlenose dolphins from a 30m-Supercat. Afterwards came a low-octane 4WD jaunt to nearby Stockton Sand Dunes, the largest moving coastal dunes in the southern hemisphere. While most of the group sipped sparkling wine atop the gargantuan golden dunes, Tom Davis, 81, beamed as he hurtled down a 20m-mound on a sandboard.

I marvelled at pods of bottlenose dolphins from a 30m-Supercat

That evening, as the train route passed over the Hawkesbury River, sunset reflected in its pale grey waters, Swansea-born Tom, and wife Migs, 79, told me about his time in the air force, her career as a physiotherapist, and why they enjoy trains. “It brings home the vastness of Australia and its varied scenery,” they said. Tom, grinning, added that “off-train experiences help keep things lively”.

A peachy NSW sunrise heralded in day three, followed by late-morning apricot French toast as we headed into Victoria. At Broadmeadows, coaches transferred us to the Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles. These towering limestone stacks – formerly undersea cliffs – date back 20-25 million years, and resemble rocky giant’s fingertips bursting from the sapphire Southern Ocean. Previously known as the Sow and Piglets, the geological wonders were rebranded by marketing bods in 1922 with the new biblical-inspired moniker, a curious choice given there have only ever been nine stacks, not 12.

Later, a final-night feast with live jazz, pinot noir and plenty of laughter took place in the grounds of historic homestead Coragulac House. Drifting off in my cabin later, we hit the bumpiest section of track so far. Full shake, rattle and roll, it felt like napping on a rumbling washing machine. The disturbed sleep was worth it though, for the kick I got comparing sleep notes with my companions the next morning.

The famous Twelve Apostles (Getty/iStock)

According to 67-year-old Erla Russell, a seasoned train traveller and bohemian soul with a wicked laugh, “really what’s special about rail journeys like this is the people; I’ve made many life-long friends aboard trains”. As we pootled through the lush Adelaide Hills and disembarked with “goodbyes”, “come visits”, hugs and well-wishes, I was inclined to agree.

As well as the go-slow pace and stunning panoramas, train travel’s enduring appeal lies in the fact that the guests are often just as compelling as the scenery.

Travel essentials

A four-day trip aboard the Great Southern from Brisbane to Adelaide with Freedom Destinations costs from £2,115pp (based on two travelling) including three nights’ accommodation in a gold twin cabin aboard the Great Southern, drinks and meals onboard and most off-train excursions. Travellers can add nights in Brisbane and/or Adelaide to bookend the trip. The Great Southern runs for two months each year, December and January, with departures from Brisbane every Monday.