The Nullabor & Western Australia

The Nullabor Plain is part of the area of flat, treeless, arid country of southern Australia. located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Victoria desert to its north. It is the world's largest single piece of limestone and occupies an area of about 200,000 square kilometres (77,000 sq mi). At its widest point, it stretches about 1,100 kilometres (684 mi) from east to west between South Australia & Western Australia.
I got that bit above from Wikipedia........and on this route, it has the longest straight stretch of railway track....478klms......no bends, no curves, just straight track. I find that amazing....someone obviously had a very accurate ruler!!

From that description, you'd think it would be boring.....flat, treeless etc. I reckon there's always something of interest anywhere if you care to look for it. 

Just inside the South Australian border is the town (?) of Cook. It used to have about 50 inhabitants, not bad for the Nullabor, and all had something to do with the railway, but since it was privatised in 1997, all but 5 people have moved away and the town is abandoned. Now the train stops there twice a week to refuel and to offer accomodation to the train drivers. We stopped there for about 1/2 an hour, long enough to have a wander around the abandoned buildings. One of the women who lives there said she grew up there as a child, said she doesn't get lonely, has her husband & child and her parents. The child does her education by the School of the Air, as do a lot of isolated kids in outback Australia. They'd want to have good generators, it gets to about 48 deg,in the summer, but being in the desert, it drops 15 or 20 deg in the evening !! Not my cup of tea, but I guess someone has to do the job and good on them.

 Cook swimming pool.....

abandoned buildings......I think some of these used to be the school, hospital & pub

 the old jail cells

 Cook

Then we headed off again toward Kalgoorlie in WA, passing through lots of interesting little sidings, all with a story to tell. The train does a commentary when we are approaching something of interest, be it a siding, a marker or an outback station and generally slows so we can see what they are talking about. One such place is Forrest just over the WA border. It boasts the largest runways outside of any Australian capital city and was originally an overnight stop on the first scheduled flights from Perth to Adelaide. They're still used today, for the RAAF, the Flying Doctor any any light aircraft that want to use them.

Next up is Rawlinna. The town no longer exists but the sheep station is one of those gobsmacking outback Australia stations, the size of which is mind blowing. It's located 400km east of Kalgoorlie and joins the railway line and the Eyre Highway with a total area of approximately 2.5 million acres. Apparently it can take up to 8 hours to locate and muster the sheep with the aid of motorbikes and light aircraft and that's just ONE paddock!!!!

Next stop Kalgoorlie........it was late when we arrived here, so again a brisk walk in the fresh air was in order. Kalgoorlie is the centre of WA's gold mining industry, it's situated on the western border of the Nullabor Plain and is a typical mining town. It has about 27,000 residents and is about 570 klms north east of Perth. A lot of mining towns in Australia have "fly in- fly out" workers, but Kalgoorlie doesn't allow that, which is good for the towns diversity and economy. In the early days it was known for it's red light district as much as its mining.....the mining's still there, not sure about the red lights!!

Next stop Perth.........

Broken Hill to Adelaide

Had a bit of a stroll around the train today....didn't want to tempt DVT after all !! also did a bit of stitching and reading Johnny Cash's biography, very interesting book detailing his music, early childhood & his descent into drug addiction hell and his battle with it all his life. I enjoyed the book, I like his music too.

Nothing eventful happened on this leg until we were on the outskirts of Adelaide when some contractors working near the line accidentally cut the signals cable, sending the system into shutdown mode. Not just us, but all the trains on that line. Happy engineers, not. So a bit of a wait to enter the station which was a let down for those wanting to do a whistle stop tour of Adelaide, but didn't bother us. 

I wanted to take some simple stitching with me, so delved into the deep dark pile of  "things I will do one day" and discovered a bag pattern with a band of naive stitchery across the panel. It had already been cut out and drawn on....see how organised I can be.....and with a couple of threads I was off and running. I figured the rocking and rolling of the train wasn't conducive to the finer aspects of embroidery so chose the simplest one I could find. And in the deep dark pile of "things I will do one day", there were plenty of choices, I can assure you!!

Left Adelaide early evening heading for the Nullabor Plain.

Train Travel tales

Back home from our recent train trip and holiday to Western Australia, so it's time for some pics.
I didn't visit even one craft shop while I was away......how good am I.....but I did manage to have a little look at a bit of textile work in a couple of exhibitions I caught a glimpse of.
Dale Rollerson from The Thread Studio was away on her annual holiday while I was in Perth.....blessing in disguise really as I probably would have broken the budget...... but I would have loved to visit her shop....ah well, another time.

So as I said, the train was a great experience. The food was sensational, the staff were very friendly and it was wonderful to while away the hours doing nothing other than stitching, reading and watching the scenery, and beautiful scenery it was, always changing.

I have to tell you about the time changes going through 3 states. Australia has different time zones depending on what state you're in at any given time, but from October until April, some states have daylight saving time. So we live in Queensland which doesn't have DST, travelled to Sydney (NSW) which does, so the clocks went forward an hour. First stop, Broken Hill which even though is in western NSW, runs on South Australian time, which is 1/2 an hour behind Sydney, so the clocks went back 1/2 an hour. Confused yet, well hang on to your hat because the train then introduces "train time" which meant we had to put our clocks back an hour.....who knows why!!!! 
So we travel on train time while we cross the Nullabor Plain before arriving in Kaloorglie in Western Australia where we change time again. Western Australia also doesn't have DST, so the clocks went back 2 hours.......in the finish, I refused to look at a clock and just waited for the "ding dong" meal bell, which told me to head to the dining car!!!


For those who like statistics;- the trip takes 3 days & nights over 4352 klms, the length of the train is about 711 metres & weighs about 1375 tonnes. It's called the Indian Pacific because it travels from the Indian ocean on the west coast to the Pacific ocean on the east coast and it's so long, it won't fit on the platforms in one piece, so it's split in two and takes up two platforms in Sydney. The passengers in one lot of carriages  board and then it moves out and backs up to attach to the other carriages. This exercise stops the traffic on four platforms, so it's important it gets done with minimum delay. 

So we started out from Sydney and travelled through the beautiful Blue Mountains on our way to Broken Hill called the "Silver City" because of its rich mining history. A brisk walk through the early morning fresh air was all we could achieve as we were limited for time due to the fact that train had a run in with some native animals on our way into Broken Hill which resulted in a bit of a delay. There are some magnificent old buildings in Broken Hill and town and the desert surrounding it are a drawcard for artists. Nearby is Silverton, known for the Mad Max movies. Broken Hill is in far western NSW, very close to the South Australian border, is closer to Adelaide (the capital of SA) than Sydney and as such runs on SA time.

The beautiful Blue Mountains

Inside the train

 Our Cabin

 Dining Car

 Lounge Car

 Bar

 Beds made up

Chocolates on the pillow

half of the train on platform at Sydney

Here I am

I'm sorry I haven't posted for a while, but I haven't had internet service since we left Sydney last week for our train trip.
I've now got limited access, so just a quick word to say I'm still in the land of the living & having a great time. The train trip was terrific, we really enjoyed it......the meals were fabulous & the scenery was wonderful. The trip took 3 days but it seemed to go really fast.
Now we've been travelling on the West Australian south coast for the last few days.......truly beautiful part of the world. We went to a place called Cape Leeuwin, the furthermost south westerly part of Australia where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. There's a lighthouse & beautiful wild grounds and a wonderful story attached to it.
I'll post some photos as soon as I can.
But for now I have to go as my internet is about to cut out.

Oh, What a beautiful morning

Yesterday afternoon my daughter, (Rebecca or Bec) had a linen party with a few of her friends. It was a great afternoon, we had a ball, played a few silly games that had us laughing, enjoyed  a beautiful afternoon tea & managed to buy some new linen too !! Actually I bought a stand alone bag that doubles as a laundry bag, beach bag, storage bag......a versatile bag that I thought would be good in our caravan. It's lime green & I'll post a pic when I take delivery. Anyway, after everyone left & we did a clean up, I decided to stay the night & this morning was the most beautiful morning & I have to share the view from my room. I woke up at about 6.30, the birds were talking to each other, there was a gentle breeze, but the overall atmosphere was one of stillness. It was just lovely to sit in bed & admire the view. It's mornings like these that lead me gently into the day & remind me to give thanks for the beauty that surrounds me & to be grateful I can see it.

When I looked at this photo I thought the big old dead tree in her neighbours yard spoiled the view, but then I realised that big old tree was once a beautiful live statuesque specimen rising high above those around it, giving pleasure to all who enjoyed it & I wondered how long it had been there. But, as with the cycle of life & nature, its time is up. It will have to come down, it's becoming brittle.....one branch has already broken off and crashed into the yard, thus creating a safety issue. The purple tree to the left is a Jacaranda tree....Queensland is known for its Jacarandas and the tree in front of it is a Poinciana....it will bloom soon with masses of red flowers.

Nothing Much

I haven't been doing much lately apart from the usual "around the house" stuff. But I did start a small quilt each for two of my grandsons. I've had this "glow in the dark" fabric for sometime and it's time to do something with it. I'm not a quilter, but have made a couple of quilts in classes before today, so I thought simple squares bordered with plain fabric couldn't be too hard........and it wasn't. I finished one top and am half way through the second one, so shouldn't be too long before they're finished and I can mark them off my "to do" list !!!
I finished 3 fabric postcards for the November birthday girls in the group on Stitchin' Fingers, but can't post photos here until they receive them. That's been great fun to do this year & I'll definitely join up again next year.

And on Wednesday, my husband & I are off to Perth on the Indian Pacific train. It runs from Sydney on the east coast of Australia to Perth on the west coast and takes 3 days, so I'm very excited about the trip. I love train travel and have been nagging Richard to do this trip for a while, so now we're off. We'll stay with friends in Perth & have a good old time !!
For my international friends, Perth is the capital of Western Australia and Sydney is the capital of New South Wales. So hopefully, lots of photos on the blog. 

My quilt efforts........

This is the true colour of the material.....the other photos are a bit dull......

I think the boys will love them........

ATASDA Exhibition

Yesterday I went to the ATASDA exhibition at Robyn Bauer's Gallery 54 at Paddington. The exhibition titled "Beyond the Surface" celebrates 5 years of ATASDA in Queensland. It runs until 13th October. If you live in Brisbane or surrounds, do try and see it.....it's a wonderful exhibition with some very talented artists showing their work. ATASDA stands for "Australian Textile Arts and Surface Design Association Inc."

"Gallery 54" , 54 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington Queensland.

Lena Tisdall's "Book of Joy".......

Karoline Cumming's silk paper purse........

Lena Tisdall's "Book of Joy"........canvas pages using sun colour dyes.....

Sally Westcott's "Summer Breezes".........

I loved this piece by Joanne Jayne......beautiful story and a wonderful way to honour her Grandmother....

"Pick of the crop" by Sharyn Hall

"Beyond the Horizon" by Sandra Tessmann

Isn't this jacket fantastic.....by Denise Lithgow

Beautiful handmade gifts and wearable art for sale by the members........