East Meets West Wonderland

As the gleaming Indian Pacific pulls out of Sydney, the towers of Australia’s largest city soon fade into the silvery gums and serrated rock formations of the Blue Mountains. Talk about starting on a high. All you have to do is become acquainted with your cabin and staff, meet fellow guests over a cocktail or two in the Outback Explorer Lounge, and enjoy the scenery. Because boy does it dazzle.  

Just about as far west as you can travel in NSW, Broken Hill is your backdrop when you wake to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. This frontier mining town enjoys a colourful creative scene and cast of quirky characters, not to mention galleries and museums that re-tell the region’s heritage. Back onboard the Indian Pacific, breakfast is served as you pull out of the station and ease into South Australia. The state dials up the natural drama as you chug through the Flinders Ranges, all rocky peaks and weathered gorges. It’s a fitting entrée to lunch and then Adelaide, where yet more indulgences await. Scour the city’s Central Market for tasty treats, or sip your way around the Barossa, McLaren Vale or Adelaide Hills. The choice is yours.

The Nullarbor Plain breaks records. For starters, it’s enormous – around four times the size of Belgium. It’s also home to the longest strait stretch of rail in the world, as you discover as you make your way west. It’s hauntingly beautiful, in a way that only deserts are. Quiet, endless, meditative. The tiny town of Rawlinna is in the middle of nowhere. Free from light pollution, the stars here appear like glitter dousing the sky, as you’ll discover when you step of the train for an alfresco dinner under the milky Way.

Your rail journey comes to an end on arrival into the Western Australian capital of Perth after lunch. Make your own way to the Rendezvous Hotel, where tonight's accommodation and breakfast tomorrow morning is included. Meet your Travel Director tomorrow afternoon for the start of your Western Wonderland tour.

Perth may be the West Australian capital, but it’s home to a remarkable amount of green space. Spend your day here exploring inner-city Kings Park, perhaps, to witness more than 3,000 floral species in the Botanic Gardens, overlooking the Swan River. It’s hard to believe how far you’ve come already – and what’s yet to come. Get the low-down with your Travel Director over dinner.

Wave Rock deserves its name – the cliff resembles an enormous surf wave about to crash into the bush. Stretching 110 metres, the rainbow-hued granite swell was formed more than three million years ago. It’s a short walk from another imaginatively named rock formation: Hippo’s Yawn. You can actually climb through the hippo’s ‘neck’ to grab a happy snap. Wave Rock locals are a friendly bunch, and they’re truly passionate about the place they call home. But don’t take our word for it. Meet Sheenagh, who will proudly show you around her farm and discuss life on the land. Which can be harsh, but also extremely healing, in a way unique to the wide open spaces of the Aussie outback. You even get to feed her cattle and glimpse her collection of vintage cars.

Get your bearings on a Kalgoorlie town tour, with vistas over the staggering ‘Super Pit’ open-cut gold mine. Today’s outings continue to gleam as you visit Hannans North Mine; nothing puts life into perspective like standing next to enormous U-Haul trucks and loaders.

More than 31,000 hectares of sweeping heathlands, rugged coastal peaks and white sandy beaches… it’s no wonder Cape Le Grand National Park is voted among the most alluring of its kind in Australia. Just when you thought WA couldn’t get any prettier, you arrive at Thistle Cove – sun, sand, sea and sculpted rock formations that ‘whistle’ with the sounds of the wind and waves – and Lucky Bay, a postcard-worthy cove where kangaroos sunbake on the sand.

Today’s journey takes you through Fitzgerald River National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, then Stirling Range National Park, blanketed with 1,500 species of wildflowers, some of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Enjoy perspective from the Bluff Knoll Lookout, one of WA’s highest peaks.

Nature, history, food and wine… there’s not much that Albany can’t do. The hardest thing you have to decide is which direction to wander. Perhaps opt for a tour to the last port of call for ANZAC troopships departing Australia in WWI. Maybe explore Torndirrup National Park, where steep cliffs give way to dramatic rock formations and whales are a common sight. Or get a taste for the region on a culinary excursion. The choice is yours.

Suspended 40 metres above the forest floor, the Tree Top Walk gives you a bird’s-eye view of the soaring tingle trees that stand large through the Valley of the Giants. More lofty attractions await at the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, the tallest of its kind in Australia, set at the tip of a peninsula where the Indian and Southern oceans meet. Standing here, the wind in your hair, you’ll feel like you’re on the edge of the Earth. Being amid nature makes you thirsty. It’s a good thing the Margaret River wine region is on the horizon.  

The Margaret River’s 200 vineyards produce 25 per cent of Australia’s premium wines. And then there are the gourmet purveyors in between… you’re in for a tasty day. Vasse Virgin makes olive oil that’s sweet enough to drink. We recommend you savour it with bread, however, while learning how it’s made and browsing other products it’s used in – like delicately scented soaps. Lunch is leisurely, at a vineyard with plenty of time to sip and savour local drops, many of chich take home global awards. If you still have room for dinner, ask us for recommendations. 

The Margaret River is one of the only wine regions in the world where grapes are grown just metres from the sand. The coastal backdrop follows you all the way to  Busselton, home to the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. Tip your cap to those who built this 1.8-kilometre structure out into Geographe Bay. The afternoon is all yours in Freo. Hot tip: The city’s markets feature 150 stalls under one roof, and there are hip new lifestyle precincts to while away the evening in.  

Sometimes, the most memorable travel days are those where you lose yourself wandering the foreshore, lingering over lunch or a cool ale. We highly recommend you spend this day of leisure doing just that (Freo’s Little Creatures Brewery is legendary). Of course, having a local show you around also has its benefits, with a Fremantle tour revealing those hidden haunts most visitors pass right on by. If you’re catching the ferry for a Rottnest Island tour, make sure you have your phone ready to capture selfies with the island’s smiley quokkas, not to mention the blindingly turquoise water.

Yanchep National Park is staggeringly beautiful. It’s also incredibly spiritual, as you’ll discover on an Aboriginal cultural experience revealing First Nations history through Dreamtime stories and didgeridoo sessions. It’s a hands-on experience – don’t worry if you can’t make the didg hum; there are traditional tools to play with. We’ve left some of the best to last: entering Nambung National Park you’re greeted by an ethereal moonscape. Your Pinnacles tour meanders around this collection of head-scratching limestone formations. This afternoon, Geraldton’s moving HMAS Sydney Memorial beckons. 

The colours of UNESCO World Heritage-listed Shark Bay are so vivid, you’ll think they’re painted on, a patchwork of blues fading into powdery sand so white you’ll need your sunglasses. This is what awaits in Monkey Mia. We wouldn’t blame you wandering barefoot along the beach, ordering sundowners as the day disappears in a blaze of glory. Other than a cruise to spot all sea creatures great and small, perhaps the best way to gain perspective of the vast coastline is on an optional scenic flight over Shark Bay Marine Park. 

Bring your stamina – today’s adventures begin early. But if there’s anything worth getting out of bed for, it’s Monkey Mia’s wild dolphins, which swim close to shore to greet visitors every morning. Keep your sunnies handy at Shell Beach, a powder-white cove formed from billions of coquina bivalve shells up to 10 metres deep, and Hamelin Pool, the world’s best-known colony of stromatolites. Believe it or not, these rock-like formations are alive. Arriving at Kalbarri National Park you’ll take in the Murchison River Gorge from the Hawks Head Lookour. If you’re here during wildflower season, expect acacia, banksia and caladenia in full bloom. 

Just when you thought WA couldn’t get any more colourful, Hutt Lagoon appears on the horizon – just one of the state’s bubblegum pink lakes. Arriving back in Perth you have a Farewell Dinner to swap contact details with your new friends and reminisce about the last two weeks.

Bid farewell to your fellow travellers when your trip concludes after breakfast.