The distance from home makes visiting this Great Southern Land seem impossible; its size makes meaningful exploration daunting. But a coast-to-coast transcontinental Indian Pacific rail journey gives a snapshot of the continent in just four days. The Indian Pacific departs from Sydney on the east coast and travels through the Blue Mountains, Central New South Wales goldfields, the outback, and the vast Nullarbor Plain. The 4,352-km journey ends in Perth and includes the world’s longest straight stretch of rail—477 km without a single curve.

On-Train Menu

All meals feature modern multicultural Australian cuisine and include native ingredients. The grilled Pacific Ocean swordfish in a green lemon myrtle curry sauce, Asian greens, pickled daikon and cucumber salad with jasmine rice is one example. A nod to the Afghan cameleers who came to the outback (1860s to 1930s), the mildly spiced camel curry with Afghani rice pilaf, minted yoghurt and pappadum is another.
Must Try Between meals, the lounge carriage is the social hub of the train, great for relaxing, chatting with fellow passengers, playing board games or reading.

Cheese After Dark

It’s just as well that the Adelaide Central Market off-train experience involves walking because it also involves eating. A sliver of three-week aged salmon here, a piece of Turkish delight there and swirling all around, fragrances of Indigenous herbs. Vendors from 40 cultures operate 72 stalls brimming with local produce, flowers, chocolate and cultural delicacies like native foods, artisan baked goods and the only seafood provedore that knows where each fish was farmed. Once a month, when the hordes have gone, there is a cheese and wine tasting workshop—blindfolded, followed by dinner made from local ingredients sourced from the market.
Must Try Flanking the main market, Saudade (a Portuguese word meaning melancholy yearning for absent things) bakes traditional Portuguese custard tarts.