Outback Update - Day #3

Oh shame on you unimaginative souls who thought nothing exciting would happen aboard a train in the middle of nowhere!

A few bumpy moments at Breakfast and some Camels running into the distance provided a small distraction.... but I'll get back to that in just a moment.

Stopping in Adelaide yesterday afternoon was a g0d send after the first 24 hours. We had just under 3 hours to 'de-train' and when everyone else stepped onto the tour bus i stepped straight into a pub. I didn't end up seeing much of Adelaide but the part that i did see.....A beer Garden mixed with Coopers Pale Ale.....i will always look back upon fondly.

Dashed back onto the train just as they were blowing the whistle. My old mate Dale who is in the cabin across from me got back on board absolutely beaming. He had caught up with an ex girlfriend whom he hadn't seen in 17 years. He told me practically nothing had changed and that they had such a wonderful time just talking for hours (um excuse me i just have something in my eye)

He even followed up with a phone call to her about an hour after we left the station. He's in for sure. Note, i don't usually make a habit of eavesdropping on elderly peoples soppy conversations, in this case I was just providing encouragement and moral support.

Shortly after 9am we hit the start of the Nullabor. The word Nullabor derives from the latin 'Nullas' meaning none or nothing and 'Abor' meaning tree. Hmmmm No trees. Makes Sense. There isn't much to it after the first hour. Seen one Nullabor you've seen them all. Just kidding. I won't attempt to string together words to try and explain exactly just how huge and empty a place like this is. I think it has a different effect on each person. It's something you have to experience.

Later that morning we arrived in Cook. Population 5. It used to be a little more populated with a fully functioning school and hospital, right up until about 10 years ago. Now it really is ....quite literally, a ghost town. The Nullabor is an eerie place. Mix that with a small decrepit settlement, rickety old signs swaying in the wind and a limestone desert for a back yard and you have the biggest sense of nothingness unlike anything i have felt before. It was probably the second time on this trip i have regretted not bringing a proper camera. As awesome as my iphone is, the pics i took really fail to capture the place. The basket ball and tennis courts were overgrown with shrubs and all that was left of the nets was just a few pieces of string. There is a sign on the outside which welcomes you to the 'Cook Country Club'. I wonder how much that membership cost.

The whole place seems as though everyone just suddenly vanished without a trace. Like the entire town had just stopped what they were doing and left without saying a word. Where are Moulder and Scully when you need them?

I wandered up to the front of the train to take a closer look at the track (read: see if the driver was any cute) when I spotted a few of the staff all gathered around looking at something underneath the first carriage. Probably just tightening some bolts or checking for damage I thought. It had been quite bumpy that morning.

As i got closer I realised that actually, we had done some damage. There was blood spewed all over the front drivers carriage, right up across the window. I thought back to breakfast and at the same time caught the eye of one of the train crew i recognised from working behind the bar in the lounge cart.

He looked at me..... i stared at him. He looked away......... then i looked away. The we both looked at each other .........and we both looked away .....and then i asked. 'Um, did we hit a f@cking Camel?'

He looked at me for about 20 seconds and then said. 'Yup'

'Holy Sh!t' i said. 'Was that what that bump was'. I saw his mates running away and didn't even put 2 and 2 together. Poor unlucky b@astard. Of the thousands of sqaure kilometers in the all of the Nullabor he really was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. The driver later went on to tell us that there were 3 of them on the track and he was the last one to look up. Lousy f@cking mates i thought. Saw a train and didn't even tell him. I wandered a bit closer to the carriage and saw that they were still scraping off the rest of the camel's flesh from underneath. Apologies to anyone who may be eating just now!

It was wicked stuff.

Anywho - again i haven't had any signal since late last night so have no idea when i might be able to send this. It will probably be the last update so thanks again for humouring me through the outback. We get into Kalgoorlie at around 8:30 this evening but i think we are still on some crazy version of Central Australian time. G0d i have no idea what day it is let alone what time it is right now. We do a night tour of Kalgoorlie and then back on board for the last night finally arriving in Perth at around 9:10am tomorrow morning.

That's local time Katie.

I absolutely cannot wait.

Now i just need to work out how i am getting home.

Just kidding Lordy =D

Some old guy who sounds as though he is shouting at everyone when he talks, cause he is deaf, has just accused the staff members of stealing his walking cane.

Love to all

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoox