All the way to WA - Down the main drag of Broken Hill

July 27, 2023

Day 4 July 27, 2023

It was an early start this morning, after a rough and sleepless night, as the tap on the door heralded our imminent arrival in Broken Hill at 6am. This caused a hustle to get dressed and down to the lounge for the first coffee of the day, prior to disembarking for a walking tour of the city.

Our ‘Main Drag Walking Tour’ (aptly named when you saw our tour guide, Shelita Buffet) was an interesting and informative look at the historical buildings and those who had been instrumental in developing the city. As the home of Pro Hart, there were also many of his sculptures dotted around, themed on the mining history of the area.

Back on board, it was time for breakfast, followed by coffee in the lounge and a relaxing session of reading, chatting and watching the world go by. There were kangaroo sightings, emus and plenty of sheep, many of which were freshly shorn and looking nice and white. The unshorn sheep were decidedly red in colour, a reflection of the soil colour, evident between the saltbush and straggling shrubs that dotted the landscape as we left Broken Hill and headed towards Adelaide.

As we travelled south the landscape gradually became greener and the foothills of the Flinders Ranges could be seen in the distance. Farmlands and small settlements became the norm as we returned to civilisation. It was after 3pm before we reached the Adelaide Parklands Terminal and prepared to disembark for yet another off-train experience.

Knowing Adelaide and surrounds as well as we do, we had struggled to find an experience that grabbed our imagination and had finally settled on gin tasting in Hahndorf followed by a German dining experience at the Haus Restaurant. This involved a rather protracted bus trip via Mount Lofty for a view that wasn’t there, thanks to the low cloud and drizzle – the first rain we have seen for the week.

On arriving at the gin distillery, Ambleside, in Hahndorf, we settled in for a tasting of their three signature gins. I had to decline the third, as it contained capsicum and chilli botanicals – lucky they mentioned that!

After an hour there, we moved on to the Haus in the centre of the village, for a huge German-themed meal and slightly questionable entertainment by a German Oom-Pa-Pa band (none of the members were of German heritage). I found it a little corny, but many of my fellow travellers seemed to genuinely enjoy the entertainment. Relieved to be leaving the Haus, feeling rather over-fed, but grateful for their meticulous attention to dietary requirements, we navigated our way through the puddles back to the bus, believing we had to be on board the train by 9pm in readiness for a 9:15 departure.

The tour guide had received information however, that departure was to be delayed, so the bus driver, who seemed to have a desire to roast his passengers by continually turning the floor heating up, embarked on a long-winded journey around the city of Adelaide by night, accompanied by an equally long-winded commentary (perhaps I was just tired and over it!) The train was still not ready for boarding when we finally arrived back at Adelaide Parklands Terminal, so we joined the waiting throngs.

It was 10pm before we finally pulled away from Adelaide and headed for our bunks.