Indian Pacific Rail
Fast facts
- One of the world’s great train trips, from Sydney to Broken Hill and beyond
- Broken Hill is 1,117 km west of Sydney, or 15.5 hours by train
Why go there
As the Indian Pacific draws into Sydney’s Central Station covered in the red dust of the Outback, your heart is sure to flutter. It tells you that out there, beyond the bright lights of the city, there is a whole raw continent to be discovered.
The Indian Pacific is the last remaining trans-continental train journey, traversing Australia from coast to coast, from Sydney to Perth via Broken Hill and Adelaide.
The train chugs out of Sydney during the afternoon and soon you are whizzing past commuter stations and heading to the hills. Slowly you climb up into the Blue Mountains and thunder past pretty towns and villages. Then it’s down onto the plains as the sun starts to set.
After dinner and a relaxing sleep, wake up to find yourself in the heart of the Outback, in historic Broken Hill.
Stop for a short break. It’s a fascinating town, with art galleries, historic buildings and mining history. It’s also the home of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and the School of the Air. This unique classroom uses two-way radios to teach hundreds of children living across the vast expanse of the Outback.
From Broken Hill there are plenty of Outback towns and national parks to discover, and wildlife, from red kangaroos to giant wedge tailed eagles.
Don’t miss
- Pretty country towns and the dramatic escarpments of the famous Blue Mountains
- Dinner as the moon comes out over the inland plains, west of historic Bathurst
- Some of Australia’s most famous Outback towns, such as Silverton and White Cliffs where almost everyone lives underground
- Rock overhangs covered in Aboriginal hand prints reaching back thousands of years at Mutawintji National Park
