The people you meet
WORDS Patricia Maunder
PHOTOGRAPHY Louise Hanson
The Indian Pacific crosses 4,352 kilometres – but the most meaningful part of the journey may be the people you meet along the way.
INDIAN PACIFIC
The Indian Pacific carves a silver line across Australia’s wide and wild heart. Travelling between Australia’s east and west coasts, it’s renowned for taking guests to remote, storied towns and immersing them in diverse landscapes, from the Nullarbor (Oondiri) Plain’s endlessly flat, arid expanse to the Blue Mountains’ (Colomatta) dramatic sandstone formations and eucalypt forests. The Indian Pacific may cover 4,352 kilometres (including the world’s longest straight stretch of railway track), but its true depth lies in the stories shared, the connections made and the characters who bring each stop and every journey to life.
In Kalgoorlie (Kulgooluh), a timber artist speaks through his hands. In the Barossa, fire and oak tell their own flavour story. In Broken Hill (Wilyakali Land), a drag queen walks guests through the streets with pride. Each Off Train Experience introduces a local with a unique voice, not just telling you about a place, but helping you feel it.
On this expanded five-day eastbound journey, there’s time to connect with fellow guests – maybe even finding lifelong friends among strangers – and the Indian Pacific’s crew as well. As professional continent-crossers, they’re not your everyday kind of people, and have many great yarns to share.
Kim ‘Chunky’ Gent KALGOORLIE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
On Kalgoorlie’s outskirts, near the Super Pit mine (which, at around 600 metres, is nearly two Eiffel Towers deep), there’s a big, bearded bloke making beautiful things from unwanted wood. His name is Kim Gent, but he’s always been called ‘Chunky.’ “I used to be a big fella; I’m only 140 kilos now,” he explains.
Visitors to Chunky Timber Co meet the man himself – and his beloved dogs – in his workshop, and behold handcrafted objects including cheese boards, spoons and signature Nullarbor Beads. Like pebbles of smooth wood in myriad shapes, sizes and colours, he creates his goods from off-cuts that rattle around in a tumbler for 90 hours before being soaked in oil.
The beads typify Chunky’s zero-waste approach. “I didn’t even know that was a thing when I started 25 years ago,” he says. “It just made sense to not have waste.” Working with bits of timber and even logs and tree stumps dropped off by locals, Chunky “makes things to fit the wood, not the wood [to] fit [the] things.” He doesn’t cut out faults, because “that’s where most of the colour and character is.”
Finding value in wood otherwise destined for the scrapheap reflects his attitude to people. He’s been shaped by personal experience. “I was dyslexic before they knew what it was, so school never fitted,” he says. After running away from home in Tasmania aged 14, he worked on sideshows around Australia before eventually arriving in Kalgoorlie as a truck driver in 1995. The mines weren’t a good fit either, so Chunky started working with timber – and found his passion.
It makes him happy, as does helping others. Chunky’s charitable endeavours include mentoring and welcoming adults with disabilities into his workshop for fun, hands-on activities. Living in Kalgoorlie makes him happy too: “Everybody is from somewhere else, so they become your family.” Everyone is an individual, doing things their way to make something of themselves and make a difference, he adds. “If it had a beach, it would be perfect.”
“I could have retired 10 years ago, but when you love what you do, it’s not work, it’s a way of life. Every day we create marvellous memories."
- Andrew Young
Andrew Young
BAROSSA VALLEY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
As a lad, Andrew Young would jump in the truck whenever his father delivered grapes to Penfolds winery. He wasn’t interested in wine-making, though. He wanted to be a cooper (barrel maker) so every visit Andrew would “annoy the old cooper there,” he recalls.
“I annoyed him so much he threw his hammer on the bench and said: ‘Be here with your father on Friday at 4 pm to sign a five-year apprenticeship’.” Fifty years later, he still remembers signing the contract that set the course of his life. “I was like a sponge, I learnt as much as I could from the old guys,” says Andrew, adding with pride that the “late, great Max Schubert, the creator of Penfolds Grange,” was among them.
Twenty years ago, Andrew was invited to revive the cooperage at another Barossa Valley (Peramangk, Ngadjuri and Kaurna Land) winery, Seppeltsfield (established in 1851). Here, the Master Cooper is always “chasing the flavour,” so he specialises in taking used barrels infused with vintage upon vintage of wine, and refashioning them as vessels for spirits and fortified wines. Part of the process is charring the reconstructed barrel’s interior. It’s more intense than the ‘toasting’ new barrels require, Andrew explains; the technique mellows a barrel’s contents and enhances their colour and flavour.
‘Firing of the Barrel’ is now a highlight of Seppeltsfield’s Signature Dinner for eastbound Indian Pacific guests, served in one of numerous heritage buildings among vines, manicured lawns and century-old palms.
It’s a magical place, says Andrew, a powerfully built man who is usually responsible for setting the barrel aflame. It’s a fine art, because he must consider everything from relative humidity to the staves’ thickness beforehand to achieve the perfect level of charring.
Andrew says he’s honoured to maintain a traditional trade that almost died out, adding that he’s now one of the old guys, sharing knowledge with the next generation of coopers. “I could have retired 10 years ago, but when you love what you do, it’s not work, it’s a way of life,” he says. “Every day we create marvellous memories.”
Brendan Barlow, aka Shelita Buffet BROKEN HILL, NEW SOUTH WALES
Long known as Silver City, the tough mining town of Broken Hill has also been associated with glitter since The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’s release in 1994. The movie, about three drag queens’ outback road trip, changed lives, including Brendan Barlow’s. “I wouldn’t be doing drag in Broken Hill if it wasn’t for the film,” he says. “I couldn’t see much demand for drag shows, especially walking tours hosted by a drag queen, had it not been for the film. There’s a huge connection for tourism.”
Brendan began stepping out as Shelita Buffet 10 years ago, and before long, the larger-than-life lady he considers “an extension of my personality” was entertaining Indian Pacific guests. Initially putting on shows both in town and aboard the train, tall, colourful, glittery-bearded Shelita now leads walking tours with a twist. She provides a funny, saucy alternative view of local landmarks and legends, and reveals Priscilla locations. As Brendan explains, while only a small part of the film is set in Broken Hill, about half was shot here.
There’s also some friendly teasing and flirting during the tour. “Doing drag gives you a bit more license to push boundaries and push comedy,” says Brendan, who believes his sense of humour is otherwise similar to Shelita’s. In this guise, the Broken Hill native has become an unlikely ambassador for the town, including on television shows Miriam Margolyes: Impossibly Australian and the UK’s Griff Off the Rails. Brendan modestly brushes the title aside, but acknowledges that “occasionally people will stop and say the work you’re doing is really great, it’s important to have that queer representation in a rural town.”
Undoubtedly, Shelita is an ambassador for countless Indian Pacific guests, who give “so much positive feedback” about her Off Train Experience. They often ask how long it takes to get ready, says Brendan, who rises before dawn for a three-hour transformation on days the train is due. “I often joke that I just lay everything out on the counter, smash my face down and hope for the best!”
David King BLUE MOUNTAINS, NEW SOUTH WALES
As a child in the 1930s, Mary King was removed from her traditional lands in the Blue Mountains. Government policy broke her connection to Gundungurra Country and culture, says her son, David King, who was born to the east in Burramatta Country three decades later. Fearful that the authorities would take her children, Mary was reticent about her Aboriginal identity. Nevertheless, through childhood visits to his mother’s homeland, David began to understand his connection to this place and its people.
“I have a history that goes right through this ridgeline for thousands of years,” says the Gundungurra Elder, who immediately “found a sense of peace” walking the ancient landscape of peaks and valleys, eucalypts and waterfalls. There he learnt from his Uncle Harold as a boy, and then from his mum when she finally moved home late in life.
Moving there himself in 1999, David became increasingly active in restoring the landscape that’s integral to his culture, and vocal about the lack of care for it. “People said, ‘Gee, you can talk, you should lead groups,’” he recalls, so that’s what he’s been doing for more than 20 years. “I’m not even close to quiet yet, which reflects all my school reports: this kid never shuts up!”
Three years ago, David began leading cultural tours at Scenic World, which is inside the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains. They include tours for Indian Pacific guests, who enjoy magnificent views from this attraction’s nature trails, funicular, Cableway and Skyway while learning from their guide. He speaks of the area’s five ecosystems, reveals cultural objects, including his Uncle Harold’s basalt axe, and plants such as a tree whose super-soft leaves were traditionally used as toilet paper.
Despite what happened to his family, there’s a remarkable calmness about David’s insights about life for Aboriginal people since colonisation – or “change of management” as he quips. He believes that lately, by and large, there is “acceptance of our culture and our history that’s enabled us to do tours like this.” It’s an honour, says David, “to share our stories on Country.”
Yasmin Hobbs COAST TO COAST ABOARD THE INDIAN PACIFIC
Yasmin Hobbs was rostered on the Indian Pacific when she joined Journey Beyond in 2022. It’s why, among all the trains in the company’s portfolio, she has a special fondness for this one – even after riding the rails between east and west coasts around 70 times. “We do it week-in, week-out, so you forget how amazing this journey is sometimes,” admits Yasmin. “It’s good to step back and remind yourself and your team it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the majority of our guests, and we’re the ones who deliver it.”
As Guest Experience Manager – yes, Yasmin is an absolute GEM – ensuring guests have the best possible experience is her top priority.Being an Indian Pacific GEM is particularly demanding because it’s Journey Beyond’s longest rail route, and nearly all meals are served aboard. Even so, Yasmin says she’s “always up for a good chat.” On one crossing, she got talking to a couple celebrating their 20th anniversary, who told her they met 21 years earlier as single-cabin neighbours on the Indian Pacific.
“It’s incredible how this train can bring people together,” says Yasmin, who has discovered such connections countless times. Recently, while working on The Ghan, she met a group of 10 friends who didn’t know each other when they boarded the Indian Pacific as solo travellers two years before. A keen on-train “friendship matchmaker,” Yasmin has undoubtedly contributed to many such heartwarming stories. She goes above and beyond for her guests, but rarely fails to snatch a moment for herself at sunrise and sunset, marvelling at the fact that she’s traversing the continent.
“I reckon I’ve said 100 times on the journey, this is in my top 10 sunsets,” says Yasmin, who particularly loves the Nullarbor. “I grew up in that part of Australia, so it reminds me of home. The vastness is incredible.” Aboard this legendary train, she’s seen snow, bushfires, desert thunderstorms and the resulting flowers when passing through again days later. “This job is incredible. I don’t think I could go back to nine-to-five."
THE DETAILS
The Indian Pacific's eastbound route travels between Perth (Boorloo) and Sydney (Warrane) across five days and 4,352 unforgettable kilometres. Along the way, guests experience Off Train Experiences in iconic locations that include Kalgoorlie, Cook, Barossa Valley, Broken Hill and the Blue Mountains. Each encounter is enriched by the people who call these places home. 2026 departures are available with Gold Single Cabin Everyday Fare starting from $3,590.