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I Put Indian Pacific Train's Platinum "First Class" To The Test
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Jun 26, 2024
The Indian Pacific is one of the famous and costliest train journeys in the world travelling 2,700 miles (4,352 kilometres) between Sydney and Perth Australia. So, I had very high expectations, but before we even got on board, I started to have concerns as things were going wrong which would have been fine if it was just me and my partner travelling, but we had booked two cabins in the premium Platinum class carriages to take my mother-in-law on a special once-in-a-lifetime trip for her 80th birthday. Adding even more pressure for this to be perfect. Join me as I share our experience on this famous train over the 3 nights and 4 days it takes, and if I thought it was worth it all by the end. For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
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The inner Pacific is one of the famous and costliest train journeys in the world
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traveling 2,700 miles, that's 4,300 kilometres between Sydney and Perth in Australia
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So I had incredibly high expectations. But before we even got on board, I started to have real concerns because things were starting to go wrong
0:18
which would have been fine if it was just me and my partner traveling with, has shrugged it off. We'd have booked two cabins in the premium sort of first class platinum class carriages
0:26
to take my mother-in-law on a special once-in-a-lifetime trip, for her 80th birthday, adding even more pressure for this to be a perfect trip
0:36
Welcome aboard. I'm Gary Bemmage, and this is my experience on this famous train
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over the three nights and four days it takes, and also, if I thought it was all worth it
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first, we were told a week before departure that we would no longer leave from Sydney Station
0:50
due to work in the station, and we'd be bus to join it in Lithgow, which looking online
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I saw was a few hours' drive away, missing our first afternoon on the train
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Then as we were in platinum, we had transfers that are included in the fair from where we were staying to the station
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But I really struggled to contact the company doing that. The train company was closed
1:11
It was the weekend. And when I eventually did get hold of them at the transfer company, they had no record of us at all
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After a lot of stress and a lot of tune-froying, I eventually got it sorted and we finally hit it off on the Wednesday on our pickup towards Sydney train station
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A little bit apprehensive. Once at the station, there were two check-in areas, one for gold and another for platinum
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The Indian Pacific has two classes. Gold have kind of double and single cabins, and platinum have much larger spacious cabins
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and these were the ones that we're booked. Now, there are rules around luggage, and we could only take a carry-on bag
1:50
plus maybe another item like a rucksack, onto the train. And so our larger cases had to be checked in, and we're only going to be accessible
1:58
at the very end of the trip in Perth. So we had to make sure that we had enough clothes and toiletries and so on in our carry-on bags
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After checking in, we then headed into a restaurant on the platform that would have been taken over by the Indian Pacific for their guests
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It had a pretty decent buffet lunch laid on. There were drinks, coffees, teas, hot chocolates, all available
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And over the next hour or so, they kept briefing us on what was going to be happening
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with our transfer. Around about 2 o'clock, which was the original train departure time
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who were then taken out to the buses which set off for Lithgow. About two and a half hours later, we eventually arrived at Lithgow Station
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just as the Indian Pacific train was coming in to greet us. The train itself was a fairly familiar site because I've been on the GAN
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which is run by the same company, Journey Beyond Rail, and the carriages certainly from the outside looked the same
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Anyway, we excitedly headed and jumped on board, and we were starting to forget that kind of inconvenient, kind of messy beginning
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and we saw our platinum carriages for the very first time. Now we'd booked two double carriages, one for Sally and one for us next door
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Now our first thoughts were that it was a good-sized cabin. It had double seats, which when you get turned into a bed at night, a double bed
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it had a cozy bathroom with a shower and had premium toiletries at Peles
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I think that's how he pronounced it. One thing we only realized later was there was only one electric socket in the cabin
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so we have to do things like charge our phones on rotation. There was a nice plate of cheese and biscuits waiting for us
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Now they attended, she came around introducing herself and offering us sparkling wine
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Now, when we told her that none of us drink alcohol, she went away and brought back a non-alcoholic sparkling wine alternative
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which actually was rather nice. And more on non-alcoholic wines and drinks a little bit later
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Quite soon afterwards, we set off, we settled in, got a little bit unpacked
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and then it was dinner time. This was to be the only dinner that we ate on the train over those three nights because the next two nights of the trip, dinners are actually off the train
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Now, let me explain the dining setup. Platinum guests use a combined lounge and dining carriage
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Now, each of these carriages can hold 30 people. Now, on our trip, there were a total 47 Platinum passengers
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So one set of platinum carriages that ate in one of those dining carriages
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Now, that was full because it had 30 people. but our set of platinum carriages only had 70 people
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So we had way more space in the lounge and in the dining area because basically it was kind of half full
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Now as we sat down to dinner, we got some glimpses out of the windows at just how huge this train is
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because we were twisting and turning around quarters and sort of see the back of the train
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So I asked and was told that our train was over 800 meters long
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That twice around a running track It had 29 carriages was carrying 233 guests and 48 crew Now I found the dinner had a pretty decent amount of choice and it was definitely delicious
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I also found out that gold and platinum have the same menu, and it doesn't change much over time
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So you're likely to have the same menu as we did if you actually ever go on this train
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There was a smaller appetizer of cod, then a choice of three starters, including kangaroo loin
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which we basically felt we had to have, you know, being in Australia. It was okay, but I probably wouldn't hurry back to have it
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I then had grilled Pacific Ocean swordfish from a main course because I've seen people recommend it on various YouTube videos
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I'd watched about the train. I could have had a beef fillet or I could have had vegetable musaka
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For dessert, we all had the cherry apple and blueberry galette, not the bonafi pie
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It was absolutely delicious. We were pretty tired after our travel, so we headed off to bed
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returning to our cabin, it had been turned down, and the double beds had been made
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there was all chocolates and there was bathrobes left out for us. Now, we had to set our clocks back 30 minutes to be on Adelaide time
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Now, Perth is three hours behind Sydney, and this was the first of several time changes over the next few days
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I slept pretty well on the train. However, most people, including Mark and Sally
6:03
and even the crew, did not sleep well at all, because the leg between Sydney and Adelaide has pretty bumpy tracks
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as it winds up through the mountains. The average train speed is 52 miles an hour
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is at 82 kilometers now. So it does kind of bounce along quite a lot
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Now, we had to wake up really early around 6 a.m. for our first stop in the mining town of Broken Hill
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because all of the one and a half hour off-train tours ran before breakfast
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Now, in all the grades, the fair includes all off-train experiences and guests get to choose from a selection of five in the towns that we called on
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Now, we decided although Broken Hill is a major mining town, and there were various mining and, in fact, art-related tours as well, we decided to take the Shalita Buffet Drag Queen Walking Tour of Broken Hill
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Now, the reason for having a drag queen tour is Broken Hill is one of the key locations in the famous Priscilla Queen of the Desert film, which tells the adventures and stories of drag queens traveling from Sydney to Alice Springs
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It was a fascinating tour because as we discovered, the town has a really rich and at times dramatic history
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combining mining, train travel and the Australian labour movement. After the tour, we jumped back onto the train for our very first breakfast
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Again, it was another pretty good menu. Sally had scrambled eggs and trout, and Mark and I, as we discovered, we would have for all the breakfast on the trip
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had the full cooked breakfast. It was also, by the way, a fresh berries and seasonal fruit with granola option
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spent the rest of the morning relaxing, as in addition to that early start, we knew it was going
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to be a pretty busy afternoon and evening in Adelaide. So we eventually headed to lunch about
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two hours before we arrived into Adelaide. Around about one o'clock, we went for lunch. By the way
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all the meals and all the drinks are included for all classes. And one thing I noticed at lunch was
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just how large the wine list is on board, reflecting both that the Adelaide region is a key
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wine district, but of course, Australia itself is just so famous for wines. They interestingly
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even had four non-alcoholic wines, white, red, rosé, and that's sparkling wine. So we decided
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to try the rosé at lunch, but we were less keen on that, to be honest. I had the Great Pickers lunch
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which is a bit like a kind of plumber salad back in the UK. The other options were chicken salad
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and a spinach cassidia. Mark and Sally had the coconut ice cream with Oreo cookie for dessert
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and I had red delicious hazelnut chocolate tart. Now the train stopped briefly just outside Adelaide to drop
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Everybody was heading off on the two wine tours that were offered, one to the McLaren Valley and the other to the Barossa Valley
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We pulled into the station around on schedule in Adelaide around about 3 o'clock in the afternoon
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The Journey Beyond Rail Company, by the way, has a dedicated and purpose-built train station here
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because it's used by all their trains, including the GAN, which runs between Darwin and Adelaide
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the Great Southern running between Brisbane and Adelaide, and the Overland running between Adelaide and Melbourne
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In fact, when we came in, some of the gang carriages were also already in the station
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We'd booked the tour to the Adelaide Central Market. We got off the train and went to join the tour buses
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Here was another platinum perk because there were allocated seats for platinum guests
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in the front of the bus. The Adelaide Central Market Tour was fascinating
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And it was one of the best markets I think I been to anyway There were loads of food and drink stores We got to sample many different products across loads of different stores We spent time exploring that with our guide who was fantastic
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and we then had some free time before we all had to head outside
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because the market was then closing. So we headed out, we had some drinks, some snacks, some entertainment outside the market
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before we headed back inside where one of the stores had a whole series of tables
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laid out for our dinner. There were tables specifically set aside for platinum guests
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and we actually got an extra course in the dinner of lobster tails
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versus what the gold passengers got. Now, when we went in there
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there was a wine tasting set up at each place setting, which I thought was a little bit strange
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because I found very few people actually did the wine tasting that was in front of us
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And I assume that most people had chosen this tour like we had over wine estate tours
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because they actually didn't want to drink wine, weren't perhaps into wine. There was a lot of food, a really lot of food, and it was actually a great
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chance to meet and chat to fellow platinum travellers, and it made it a really good, fun evening
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We headed back to the train around 8.30 at night, so we spent about five and a half hours
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altogether than Adelaide. Now, I had planned to buy loads of train merchandise in the shop
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that I knew was in the station, but the shop itself was a little bit disappointing, didn't have a lot
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to offer, and I ended up buying no merchandise at all, which is very unlikely
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me. We boarded the train and we soon hit it to dinner after what, as you can see, it was a long
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and tiring day. Our cabins, of course, haven't been set up ready to go to bed. Now, the good
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news, though, was there was a one and a half hour time change, meaning way more sleep because we
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put our clocks back by an hour and a half, and there was a one hour time change that we did
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the next day as well. Everybody slept way better because the tracks are much smoother on this leg
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Also, what's interesting to note is after we left Adelaide, we only had one end
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engine pulling the train. There were two engines between Sydney and Adelaide because it's a
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mountainous area and basically the train needs way more pulling power. I woke up relatively early
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and sat in bed watching the fascinating scenery going past with a delicious cup of tea. Now at the end
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of the carriage was a coffee and tea making facility. So that's where I'd actually convinced Mark
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to get up early and get me a cup from. We then, after relaxing a bit, we got up, headed off for breakfast
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which had a way larger menu than yesterday. So I had the Wildberry Riverment Natural Yogurt
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As a starter, Mark, had a selection of cereals for a very long list of cereals
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We then, all of us, followed that with the full cooked breakfast, which is delicious
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The other options were a smoked hand for tartar or a baked banana slice
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Now, after that, we then basically relaxed for a couple of hours and just watch the scenery
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Although on this leg of the train, there was a musician on board
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And he moved between each of the lounge cars and ran a trivia session in each and played some music
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So we played trivia when he came to our carriage. We did really badly. So we missed out on those merchandise prizes that the winners got
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We then decided to explore the gold carriages and the gold lounge
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The gold lounge we headed to was really, really packed and busy. And looking at the various gold carriages on the way, they looked kind of a little bit dated, a little bit cramped
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But I discovered in an article in the onboard magazine when I headed back to the cabin that all of the
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those gold cabins are being redone and phased in the lounge as well. And I think they did need that
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so to be way improved. Relaxed a bit more. And then, of course, it was time to eat again, time for lunch
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I had the plowman's plate, so a very similar meal to yesterday. We also discovered, by the way
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that you can go a bit off menu. Sally didn't really want a full meal, so she was able to order
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just a toasted cheese sandwich. Mark decided to be way bolder than both of us and had the camel
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curry, which she didn't really like. The choice none of us had was the Hulumi
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roasted vegetable salad. Now, just as we were finishing our main course
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we pulled into the town of Cook, which is now a deserted ghost town
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It was built back in 1917, as a kind of small town, where people maintaining the train tracks lived
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Now, our stop here was only around 40 minutes. So like many guests, I really wanted to go and see the front of the train
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and the engine. So we walked, we walked in, walked and walked
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at the length of this huge, big, long train to get to the front. There, once we were there
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we took some pictures, but by then it was time to turn around and walk all the way back to
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carriage. This time was running out. So I didn't actually get to explore the ghost town of cook
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which is really unfortunate because I would love to have a bit more of that. I'd love to have more
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time there. We re-border the train. We decided not to have dessert, which if you're interested
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was baked apple pie and ice cream or salted caramel macadamia nut ice cream
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We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing including trying another of the non wines this time the white We didn really like that much either to be honest So while we were actually doing that little tasting we asked our attendant to put the bed down
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and then we had a lovely nap, waking up in time for arrival into Rowelina
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Raulina is so remote, it's five hours drive from the nearest town, which is Kalgoorri
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And the station of Raleena borders the largest sheep station in the world with 80,000 sheep
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across a staggering 2.5 million acres. Now, this was another off-train experience
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which is dinner next to the train at the station. When we got off, rows of tables had been laid out
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and again, there were dedicated ones for platinum guests. We had a great meal outside chatting to a whole bunch of other platinum guests
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that we'd not met, a musician played, music all through dinner. And I found out that the food is cooked on the train
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in a specific restaurant carriage that's allocated for the task. In the cold months between April to September
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guests only have drinks outside and eat their dinner back on the train
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So in winter, you do actually have two dinners, not just the one on the train like we did
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Another interesting fact about today is that we've been traveling on the longest stretch
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of straight railway lines in the world as the train heads through the Nullabal plane
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This line runs in a straight line for a staggering 297 miles
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that's 478 kilometres. Once back on board, we were pretty tired, and we had our third and final night sleeping on the train
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I again had a pretty good night's sleep, which everybody else did again because the tracks are less bumpy
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and I guess people are getting used to sleeping on a moving train. I was up again early, had a nice cup of tea in the bed
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that this time I had to fracture myself because I was unable to use my powers of persuasion to get Mark to do the honours
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After a bit of relaxing, getting ready, we headed off to breakfast, and there was a different menu
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I had the chai birch to start. Mark had cereal again. Mark and I, of course, went for the full-cooked breakfast, which again was delicious. The other options were avocado on sweet potato toast or crock madame. We then decided to relax for most of the morning. We watched the scenery go by, and as it started to change from being incredibly remote to slowly, slowly getting more built up as we headed towards Perth. But of course, with all that relaxing, it was time for yet another meal before
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we arrived into Perth. Another really great range of choice, we all had the grilled Fremantle
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dewfish fillet against something that I'd seen recommended as one of their best known
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iconic dishes. The other options were we could have had chicken Caesar salad or a roasted cauliflower
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salad. We all had the baked chocolate brownie rather than the healthier fruit platter, of course
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We pulled into Perth mid-afternoon. We got off the train, picked up our waiting large suitcases
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on the platform, met our driver for our included transfer to the hotel that we booked in
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Perth and off we went. Now let me give you a couple of final thoughts about this iconic but really
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expensive trip. Now going in Platinum, which is kind of their first class as I mentioned
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cost us $8,300 US dollars per cabin. That's about £6,600. That's about $2,000 per day per
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cabin. So it's a crazy expensive trip. The train is great and I like the look of it. Those
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you've probably seen. It's probably not as plush as I've expected for the price, but it's comfortable
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it's cozy, it feels special. The food was great. The crew were really helpful and really friendly
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I found the platinum experience good overall. The cabins are big enough to relax in versus the more
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confined gold, and the less busy lounge and the less kind of busy, crowded dining. I think add a lot
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because we use both of them a lot as you heard because there's a lot of time to relax and chill
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The other thing I want to talk about, by the way, is a dress code. It's very informal. It's a very relaxed dress code, unlike when I've been on other sort of fancy trains like
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Roversra and South Africa, which was definitely way smarter. There was a little bit of Wi-Fi included
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We had about 500 megabytes, but the signal was very erratic, so even on our phones, it was very erratic
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Also, smoking is not allowed on board. So when we got to any place, the first people to shoot off the train were the smokers
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So no smoking or vaping was allowed on the train. considering the price and consider the experience
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would I go on another experience on one of these journey beyond rail trips
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Absolutely, because once we forgot the hiccups at the start, it was an incredible experience
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It felt like something really special. However, to do that, I need to start saving for that now
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It's crazy expensive. Why not join me over in this video where I talk about the best train trips in the world
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to be on before, after, and even during a cruise, including how many cruise lines own some of the iconic trains I talk about
19:04
Join me over there, see you there
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