o6asan's soliloquy.

when i got up in the morning, the train was passing into the area of Blue Mountains. the scenery from the window had completely changed: mountains, valleys, streams like japan. but they all are so huge, which are very different from sceneries in japan.

the last breakfast on the indian pacific started around 8:00a.m. this time, we, my companion and i, were alone.
we arrived at the sydney central a little earlier than the scheduled time(10:15a.m.).

at the platform, bill came all the way to say good-bye. where were sylvia and others? we couldn’t see them at all.

i got some information of the hotel at the IC in the station. it takes about 5 minutes on foot. so we went to the hotel and asked to keep our luggages until the check-in time.

after that, we returned to the station again to obtain the free map and went to see the downtown area. i found the sushi-shop and bought makizushi. we had lunch on the bench at the hyde park. finishing lunch, we went to window shopping at downtown.

we were back to the hotel just before 2:00p.m. and asked if we were able to check-in or not. they answered ‘no problem’ to us. so we checked in.

after 3:00p.m., i decided to go to a movie. because my companion said that she was very tired and sleepy. i saw ‘die hard 4.0’. John McClane completely became one of an american comic hero through this series. the movie made us laugh by its incredible lucky-going.

after getting two pieces of pizza, i was back to the hotel just before 7:00p.m. my companion felt refreshed. i was in sydney and my cell phone were working, so i checked my e-mails. one of my acquaintance had sent the mail. it arrived yesterday afternoon. i sent the reply to her. she might not think my mail sent from australia.

around 6:30a.m. a cabin attendant got us two-breakfast box. the train recovered the delay for last night and we arrived at adelaide nearly on time.

we got off the train and joined the adelaide optional tour by bus. we had a lot of good views. but i suffered carsickness and my companion dozed off during the latter half of tour. great grief!

when we returned to the station and i bought souvenirs, una talked to my companion. she said her family took the rest instead of joining neither the bus tour nor the sightseeing on foot.

at 10:00a.m., we left from adelaide. staffs and our carrige had changed. after about noon, we could see mountains outside the window for first time in 2 days.

at 1:30p.m. we had lunch. at this time we shared a table with another couple who were from melbourne. they would return to their home by plane from sydney. i saw sylvia alone at a table. where’s bill? we passed through a short tunnel at the first time while this trip. the scenes from a train window changed fairly, after we left from adelaide. i realized that the name of nullarbor plain represent its true nature.

we arrived at broken hill around 4:45p.m.(CST). we went to the city tour. i could understand nothing about the driver’s announcement. this driver’s aussie accent is very thick than adelaide driver’s. for example, when they pronounce 1998, it sounds to us as if naneteen nanety aight. his pronunciation had all this conditioning. i gave up. the train left at 6:30p.m. just on time and i adjusted my watch to est. so, 7:00p.m. at this moment.

all told, our dinner was around 9:00p.m. but we could sit down earlier than we expected because some passengers got off in adelaide. we shared a table with the same couple at lunch again. when we visited Royal Flying Doctor Service at Broken Hill, this wife didn’t come to the bus though returning time. she walked to the other side of the building away to take the photograph. i want to know whether she took a good picture or not, so i asked. but her husband explained about RFDS system because they didn’t understand my talk.

the train shook up and down. we had a bumpy ride during dinner. why?

last night, i felt hotter and thirstier than usual, probably because of the upper sleeping berth.

our breakfast started at 8:30a.m.. today’s couple looked older than yesterday’s. i guess 80% of the passengers were elderly couples.
as the married couple at yesterday’s dinner said to show us pictures which they had taken in japan, i was looking for them around the dining car and just said hello.

before we came to our cabin, we promised them to see at the lounge room around 10:00a.m..

at the lounge, we met. but there’s no electric outlet, so we went to their cabin to see pictures. we had a nice time until about 11a.m.. wife’s name is sylvia, hasband’s bill. and their companions are una rauens croft (sylvia’s mother, 85years old), hellen (sylvia’s elder sister).

una, sylvia’s mother, was a very energetic person. she showed us pictures which she had took by herself in japan where she had visited with sylvia and bill. at that time she was 83 years old.

btw, train delayed. it would arrive at cook at 2:00p.m. so, we had lunch before we reached cook.

arriving at Cook. stopover of 20 minutes. i bought three picture postcards.(3A$) and we got on the train again.

after that, i was sleeping until dinner because of being very tired. when i slept, cabin attendant woke me and told me about carry-on luggages during stopping in adelaide.

dinner started at 7:30a.m.. we took about one hour for it. when we finished, i adjusted my watch to cst. so it’s already 10:00p.m.. bill and sylvia said to leave early and go to bed.

before we came to our cabin, we took a picture with carly who was one of dining car staffs. she would change off at adelaide.

for off-train in adelaide, we packed our stuffs to two luggages and fastened a blue tag to each.

first thing in the morning, i called 08-8213-4592 by my cellular phone.
the person in charge told me the starting time of the train not to change, to come the east perth station by one hour before, and the carry-on luggage is 20 kg to each.

as i looked for something to need, i went to the nearest convenience store. but they didn’t have. they told that i would find out it at downtown, so i checked out around 9 o’clock and headed to downtown.

i found the information center, and i had an information for that. i went around the city central while my companion waiting at the information center. at last i could buy it. but it took for a long time.

though companion and i went to the perth central station and wanted to head to the east perth station by train, we found the next leaving from here at 11:00 a.m. so, we changed our mind and took a taxi.

at the east perth station, we made to board on the indian pacific. while we waited to the departure time, we took some pictures: the old train, the wall relief that is a model of steam locomotive, the train we were bording on, and so on.

the train was leaving the east perth just on time. after we got on, we were served lunch at once. the married couple we shared a table with were 77 year-old husband and 73 year-old wife. i heard they were returning to sydney.

i was not able to understand the announcement on the train as ever. i got in a bind about this.

at 8:00 p.m., we had dinner. at this time the married couple we shared a table with were around 50’s. they had been to japan by yacht, and stayed there for a few years in around 2003. they asked us to join or not the night tour at kalgoorlie. i said we were not going to this because of being very tired but we were going to attend the other whistle stop tours.

we went to bed around 10:00 p.m. early. upper sleeping berth for me, lower for companion.

in the morning on the other side of the road of our hotel’s entrance, we were waiting the tour bus for the day-tour i had booked yesterday. let’s go the trip, pinnacles desert 4wd adventure. look at the pictures.

we returned to the hotel around 7:40p.m. the day-tour takes about 12 hours. we were very tired but had a nice time.

before coming up our room, we went to have dinner at the chinese restaurant near the hotel.

when we came to our room, i fussed over because i thought i lost some important papers.
thinking after it settles down, i am mortal shame and i could sink into the floor. i’m sorry for the hotel employees.

we arrived at the sydney international airport at shortly after 7:00a.m. we passed through the customs clearance and went to the domestic for the connection to perth.

our plane to perth was delayed about 45 minutes. but it recovered the delay for its travel. we got at perth, just after 3p.m.
the time difference between sydney and perth is two hours.

btw, i quit a plan to rent a car and to go sightseeing by it. because there is no car return place near the east perth station. i booked a day-tour of the next day.

we made for the hotel using the shuttle bus.

we left home for australia at 8:00a.m.
at 9:30a.m., we arrived at the t-parking and went to the mall for arrangements of things left behind : cellular phone’s setting, combination lock. parking staff drove us to the airport around 10:30a.m.
our plane flew to narita on time. waiting time in the narita airport is too long for me, indeed.

we took off the narita for the sydney at 8:20p.m.