Train to Table
Journey Beyond’s three trains – the Indian Pacific, The Ghan, and the Great Southern – take you to some of Australia’s most remote... and delicious reaches.
WORDS Natasha Dragun
There’s nothing more enthralling than the ever-changing views of long-distance Australian train travel. The tiny towns and enormous cattle stations; the emptiness of far-flung landscapes; the blurring of scenery and time. Journeys on the Indian Pacific, The Ghan, and the Great Southern are not for those in a hurry – especially when it comes to mealtimes, whether you’re dining in the train’s restaurant carriage, or enjoying an exclusive setting off the tracks. From Coober Pedy (Umoona) to Adelaide (Tarntanya), Coffs Harbour (Gumbaynggirr Country) to Rawlinna, here are some of the mesmerising dining experiences you can look forward to on your next train adventure.
Explore the east of Australia on the Great Southern where a bounty of seasonal produce awaits, like here in Coffs Harbour where mealtimes happen by the Pacific Ocean.
GREAT SOUTHERN
The train tracks of the Great Southern hug the east coast of Australia, taking you on a scenic adventure from Brisbane (Meanjin) to Adelaide (three nights) or Adelaide to Brisbane (two nights). The Great Southern embraces the very best of the east coast and takes you along for the ride. With swathes of time spent off-train you’ll be able to explore the small pocket of Australia you find yourself in, punctuated by unique experiences you didn’t know existed. And if you’re a foodie, you’ll be happy to hear these stops include the produce-blessed Coffs Coast and the Hunter Valley (Wonnarua).
The coastal town of Coffs Harbour is not only blessed with a string of idyllic beaches, backed by a hinterland laced with World Heritage-listed rainforest. This laidback town is all about the great outdoors, and that’s what awaits when you pull into Coffs Harbour Station. Arriving early in the evening, you’ll be greeted by hosts who whisk you off to an exclusive seaside location. Your dinner setting couldn’t get any more magical – think tables festooned with starched white tablecloths and enormous bouquets of native flowers, all set under the glow of fairy lights strung between trees. As the sun dips towards the horizon, live music strikes up; you’re so close to the water that your other soundtrack is the gentle lapping of the Pacific Ocean.
Your hosts will tell you this overlooks the Solitary Islands Marine Park, home to abundant wildlife, seasonal whales, and coral reefs. Before the day disappears, you may even glimpse Muttonbird Island (Giidany Miirlarl), a sacred Indigenous site where wedge-tailed shearwaters nest. This jaw-dropping nature reserve is home to thousands of these beautiful birds, and their presence here defines the region as a twitchers’ paradise.
“Every mouthful is matched with local wines – perhaps a grilled prawn with a pinot gris, or fire-cooked local lamb with pinot noir.”
It’s also a paradise for seafood lovers, with the bounty plucked straight from the ocean including snapper, salmon, flathead, yellowfin tuna and prawns, not to mention snow crabs and blue swimmer crabs, oysters and abalone. Much of this will be on your plate as you sit down to dinner, with chefs skilfully preparing produce to showcase the best of the region. Every mouthful is matched with local wines – perhaps a grilled prawn with a pinot gris, or fire-cooked local lamb with pinot noir.
It’s around 400 kilometres south from Coffs Harbour to historic Maitland Station (1880), the gateway to the fabled Hunter Valley. This is Australia’s oldest wine region, known for its stellar Semillon and shiraz, produced at more than 150 vineyards. The verdant valley is dotted with atmospheric country towns laced with neat rows of grape vines. But the bucolic setting isn’t the reason you’ve come here – sheer decadence is. The Hunter is one big gourmet fest: fine wine, upscale restaurants, boutique beer, chocolate, cheese, olives, pecans and macadamias… you name it.
Bring your stamina for a day of visiting cellar doors, from slick big-name producers to small-scale boutique bottlers; from historic establishments making wines for more than a century to contemporary makers with design-driven spaces to sip their wares. There is an endless parade of postcard-perfect places to while away the day. And you’ll be escorted to one such location, where a long table is set up outside to maximise your lunchtime views over the vines. To say the setting is dreamy is an understatement. While more Hunter wines are poured, waiters deliver plates that hero the region. Perhaps grass-fed beef with red wine jus; smoked fish on a bed of microgreens; platters of hard and soft cheeses; briny olives and decadent fruit platters. Birds dance amid olive trees, laughter rolls over the vines, glasses clink, and passengers become friends. This is the kind of lunch that lingers well after you return home.
THE GHAN
You don’t sign up for the 2979-kilometre, four-day Ghan train journey just to get from Darwin to Adelaide. This is an experience in the slow lane, a chance to unpeel the contradictions the landscapes have to offer: hostile and welcoming; at times bucolic then barren. Too often, we fly right over the top of the country, rather than seeing what’s in the middle. We hop from capital city to tourist destination only looking out plane windows to view the sun-scorched land beneath. But there’s something to be said for seeing the in-between – unfiltered – at ground level.
Along your journey, there are diversions at Katherine to visit Nitmiluk Gorge. You’ll wake up to the sight of the MacDonnell Ranges (Tjoritja), the mountains covering a staggering four million hectares of red earth blanched by dusty greens, all framed by endless blue skies. After breakfast, the train eases into Alice Springs (Mparntwe), a city of 33,000 people that partly owes its beginnings to the railway line. As the last of the day disappears, you’ll reunite with fellow passengers at Alice’s Telegraph Station, a couple of kilometres out of town.
You’re not here for a history lesson (though that can be part of the experience too) – you’re here to feast. There are bonfires and barbecues, and the smell of grilled barramundi perfumes the air. Musicians greet you, and dapper waiters hand out flutes of chilled champagne. There’s time to explore the beautifully maintained buildings before the sun sets, and even head out on a camel ride. Then it’s time to dine. As you choose your table, you’ll notice a poncho provided should the night turn cool – while days are warm here, when the moon comes out, the evening can get brisk.
The decadent spread of food changes seasonally, but it might include bountiful salads, baked vegetables, flame-grilled beef, desserts that are almost too pretty to eat, and bottles of South Australian wine that never seem to go empty.
You’re far from anything here. There are no streetlights, no high-rise buildings, no cars. In the absence of light pollution, when you look skyward, you’ll be greeted with a mass of twinkling stars. Nothing beats dancing under the bedazzlement of an outback sky – when the band pauses, your host will entertain you with an impromptu comedy session, followed by a talk on the Milky Way above.
After you reboard The Ghan, it’s time to slip south again toward Coober Pedy (Umoona). This town in the desert is the kind of place where any familiar sense of perspective quickly evaporates. The vast moonscape of fossilised shells, sandstone and cracked grey clay is pancake flat, save for hundreds of pits and termite-like mounds that pock the surface of the Earth – opal prospectors have been here for quite some time. Rusted-out cars are everywhere, creating the illusion of a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Bundles of buffalo grass are the only foliage, and they spike the ground like tufts of an old man’s beard.
Coober Pedy is officially one of the hottest places on the planet, with daytime temperatures in summer rarely dropping below 35°C. Water doesn’t last long above ground. Nor do humans for that matter, which is why most of the town’s residents live underground. You’ll descend into one such dugout: the Umoona Opal Mine and Museum, the largest of its kind in the town. It offers fascinating insights into life below the surface, which you’ll get to experience as you sit down to lunch in a very special subterranean dining room. Waiters deliver shared plates of fish and roast beef, salads are passed around, bread is broken, icy beers are opened. It’s a reminder that hundreds of people live this way, although perhaps not with a feast quite like this at their disposal.
“You’re not here for a history lesson (though that can be part of the experience too) – you’re here to feast.”
THE INDIAN PACIFIC
The Indian Pacific breaks records as one of the longest rail journeys on the planet; with the lengthiest single stretch of straight track; it’s also among only a handful of transcontinental routes globally. The mammoth 4352-kilometre connection links the west-coast Indian and east-coast Pacific oceans, via Adelaide. But this is a train journey for the soul, not the salutations. One that lulls you into relaxation as you click-clack through vast stretches of nothingness; one that encourages you to slow down.
You’ll relax as you take to the tracks – and when you step off them onto the sandy soil of the Nullarbor (Oondiri) in towns like Western Australia’s Rawlinna, an old railway siding 378 kilometres west of Kalgoorlie, with a population of around 30. This place may be small, but it will leave a big impact. During the warmer months (October through to March) guests dine under the stars at longs tables with a deserted post office on one side, and the Indian Pacific’s carriages on the other, the silver railcars shining in the moonlight.
On the fringes of Australia’s biggest sheep station, this little outpost on the Nullarbor is pure jackaroo territory. It’s this country swagger that sets the tone for your evening out, dining on rustic timber tables aged by decades of sun. There are hurricane lamps to light your meal, fairy lights strung overhead and a full bedazzlement of stars gleaming in the jet-black sky. Glowing fire pits add to the fairytale atmosphere. A performer stands at one end, strumming his guitar and singing Aussie favourites, while Indian Pacific staff offer drinks and escort you to your seats.
Dinner is served: generous shared platters of barbecued lamb, pork and roasted vegetables come with every condiment imaginable; there are steaming chocolate puddings for dessert. It won’t be long before you’ll find yourself singing along with the musician, a congenial party atmosphere spreading through the night like the stars. During the cooler months, guests gather around a bonfire while canapes roam. As the outback air begins to chill, dinner is served on train where you can spot shooting stars through the carriage windows.
From this moment on, you won’t go hungry. When you’re not in the train’s restaurant car, you might find yourself enjoying a progressive breakfast at Adelaide’s Central Market. The largest undercover market in the Southern Hemisphere, this mammoth food mecca of 70-plus stalls has been drawing locals and visitors for more than 150 years. The colours, aromas and atmosphere is bewitching, and you’ll soon fall under the spell of the friendly traders as you browse the stalls packed with the freshest produce and gourmet goodies.
Your guide will lead you along the colourful, stall-lined passageways, introducing you to charismatic local legends and pointing out specialties – as you wander, expect to be fed everything from lipstick-red strawberries to gooey praline chocolates and wedges of cheese. In between, there’s aromatic coffee (because every day should start this way), muffins and still-warm bread. It’s impossible not to pick up a few delicacies to take home. Thankfully, your Indian Pacific chariot has plenty of space for purchases.
The Indian Pacific is one of the longest rail journeys on the planet, a transcontinental adventure of epic proportions.
NEED TO KNOW
TOUR
Explore Australia by train on an unforgettable journey across contrasting landscapes on The Ghan, Indian Pacific and Great Southern. Each rail journey showcases unique and unforgettable experiences from one side of the country to the other.
OFF-TRAIN
Learn about each destination through food and wine with spectacular Off Train experiences for every mood, taste and traveller. From a beachside lunch in Coffs Harbour to desert dining in Alice Springs.