82 Hours on Australia's Longest Overnight Train

For the next 82 hours, we are going to be traveling across Australia from Perth back here to Sydney by overnight train. No sleeping.

It.

Not only is this the longest train journey in all of Australia, but it's the fourth longest in the entire world, stretching over 2,700 miles. During this journey, we'll be sharing a full tour of the train.

I brought my water shoes, so that'll be great.

Your water shoes? Didn't know you traveled with water shoes. The sleeping situation, or lack thereof. The food and the drinks, which are all included. The onboard entertainment, and a couple quick stops along the way, including a stop at the world's steepest railway. This is actually so fun. Join us on this journey to see what it's like spending four days living on a train that barely stops.

We're Kara and Nate and we've been traveling full time for over seven years. This crazy adventure has taken us to over 100 countries and all seven continents. Along the way, we've had the pleasure of riding some of the best overnight trains in the world, including the world's longest train, the Trans Siberian. The world's most expensive train, the Orient Express.

America's most scenic train, the California Zephyr. India's luxurious train, the Maharajas Express. Can I book a cooking class with you?

No, ma'. Am.

And many, many, many more. This train ride has been on our bucket list for years, and we're excited to see how this experience stacks up against our other train journeys. Hey, these are.

Give me a hold.

I love how there's always live music before these train rides start. The stage isn't quite as fancy as the British Coleman and not as extravagant as the Maharajas Express in India. I'd say this is very Australian. Just laid back, good vibes. Great coffee.

Yeah, you're right. Thanks. All right.

Come see home. It's tiny. If this was just a day train or a one night train, I'd be like, well, it's so big. But just knowing we're gonna be on here for four days, this is all.

The space we have.

Nate literally told me at 10 o' clock last night we had a 6am wake up that we couldn't bring our suitcases on board. And so I just threw a bunch of clothes in this tote bag. Now I'm glad I packed light. Probably could have packed lighter. I don't even know where that's gonna go. Oh, you can't be in the middle of the bed. You bent this. Here. I brought all of my shoes, which equals three.

You just never know you know, this is all electronics. This packing cube and this tote bag. All my clothes for the next four days.

We basically checked our bag like we were getting on an airplane and we don't get it back until we get off the track. Look what I just found.

We have a closet.

It also came with some towels and a hair dryer.

This is going to be our home for the next four days. So let me continue showing you around. I believe this is a cell phone holder. I don't really know.

What year is this train built? Cell phones probably didn't even exist.

Pager holder, reading light. This is just another place to put little knickknacks. I assume this means that the train is pretty stable because there's nothing that like holds these things on.

We have a little safe for our valuables which we will not be using. I've used a safe once in my entire life and my passport got stuck in there. My worst nightmare literally came true. This is obviously a seating area. During the day, I believe at night someone will come make it a bed.

Gosh.

Watch your face.

Oh, she's doing it. Okay, she's going for it.

You on top or bottom?

Definitely top.

We'll show you this later.

See the bang coming out of my head? Oh, no.

Oh, this is embarrassing.

Oh, gosh. Got it. I think I pulled a muscle on my shoulder. There are lots of mystery switches.

My more.

Well, it this way.

Oh, turn it on, turn it on. There's a blue light above your head.

Oh, I wonder if that's like unavailable or like what they're like. Do not disturb.

What kind of train do you think this is?

Bathroom tour. The bathroom is a wet bath, obviously. This is our private en suite bathroom, which is really nice. There are some rooms on this train that you have to share a bathroom through.

You sound like the worst.

Listen, I feel like if you look at my life the last month I'm allowed to act like this. I think that's why I'm like embracing it. Cuz literally I slept on the ground with a bag on my face for four nights and then I slipped out of a camper and then I was attacked by flies. I didn't shower for a week. Just let me embrace this lifestyle. Okay. Anyway, it's got this really nice, beautiful top. It is a wet bath. Have I already said that?

Yeah, you pointed that out already.

Don't turn that on. I love our bathroom. I'm very happy to have my own bathroom. It does get wet.

Yeah, it doesn't.

Annoying. I brought my water Shoes. So that'll be great.

Your water shoes.

No, my other shoes are my water shoes.

Didn't know you traveled with water shoes.

I don't think we slept long enough last night.

Moving on. Bloop.

Moving on.

You're a disaster this morning.

We have cute little soaps, shampoo, conditioner and lotion.

It's actually nice in all seriousness because it is a wet bath. This curtain.

Did you say wet bath? Oh, this is actually really nice. And you can even cover up the toilet.

So only this section this sweaty doesn't get wet.

Only half wet.

It's a half wet bath.

Still need your water shoes though.

I don't know what's happening right now. And then right above the bathroom, that's where all of our bedding sits. I don't think we have any temperature control in the room, but thankfully it is winter in Australia so it is quite comfortable in here because there is nothing worse than being stuck on a hot moving train. I'm just sweating. Is that called sound on there too? Yeah.

Hello.

Aussie. Aussie, Aussie.

Oi, oi, oi, oi.

You still got the American slang doing it. This is Doug. Hey guys. Welcome to Aussie. Now on behalf of our crew, Crew E gives me great pleasure to welcome you on board Disney Pacific's journey today. So our 2700 mile journey has officially started. And to put the length of this journey into perspective for our American viewers, since those are the majority, there's actually a website that lets you place countries on top of another. If you place Australia on top of the us it's actually almost the exact same size. So we're basically traveling the same distance that we would if we were riding a train all the way across the U.S. also, the name of this train is the Indian Pacific and that's because we are traveling from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. Hopefully that helps give this journey a little bit of perspective and helps you understand why it's going to take four days.

I kind of forgot when I booked this trains that there are rooms that face forwards and backwards. So I guess we're riding backwards for the next four days.

It does feel kind of funny.

I hope I don't get motion sick. Yeah, believe it or not, we are grateful to be here and we are looking forward to this experience. Also, one of the girls that works on the train told me that this is the most beautiful part of the entire ride and that we should enjoy it. I think from tonight onwards it's just flat until we get to the Blue Mountains right before Sydney.

Oh hey Kara from the future here. This is a little sneak preview of what's to come. I'm just here to tell you about the sponsor of today's video which is AG1. AG1 has been a part of our daily routine for three years now. Time flies, doesn't it? As full time travelers, I do not think there's an easier way to get started. So many nutrients in our diet on a daily basis. AG1 is a daily foundational nutrition supplement that supports whole body health. Just one serving of AG1 is packed with so many high quality ingredients including vitamins and minerals, pre and probiotics and tons of whole food sourced nutrients which support your gut health, your immune system, healthy aging focus and energy and stress. And I think we could all use help in all of those areas. Another reason we love AG1 is because it's science based and since 2010 they've improved the formula 52 times. So it just keeps getting better and better. Kind of like me. Failing to nourish your body with the nutrients it needs is kind of like taking a bath with no water. It doesn't really make sense. So if I've convinced you to try AG1 for yourself, click the link in our description and you will get an entire year supply of D3K2 drops plus five of these travel packs for free with your first purchase. Hope you love it as much as we do. Back to the outback.

Going on an adventure.

You coming?

Alright. Two hours after departing Perth, it is finally time for lunch.

Hi, how are ya? On our lunch menu today, the main course options are grilled Jewish filet, chicken Caesar salads and roasted cauliflower salad. For dessert, there's baked chocolate brownie and a fruit platter. Yes.

When you have your food up.

Fudgy and delicious.

I love this try.

So.

Nap.

Yes.

While sleepy Karen, Nate are napping. Let me quickly fill you in on how the Indian Pacific came to be. So for a long time the east and west coast of Australia weren't connected by train. In order to get to the other side of the country, people had to switch trains a bajillion times. Plus there was a huge gap in the middle where there were no trains at all. Eventually some fed up people took it into their own hands and spent over five years filling in the 2,000 kilometer gap to finally connect the east to the west. Sounds exhausting. And the first unbroken journey of the new Indian Pacific departed Sydney Central station on February 20, 1970, arriving in Perth five days later to a welcoming crowd of 10,000 people. And look at us now. Today, it goes back and forth every single day, single week, like it's no big deal.

Wow. Look at the colors. Oh, my gosh. That was amazing. I'm so full. I'm so happy. I love it here. We actually need to go back this way.

Our bed is made. It looks so nice. We have three fluffy pillows and chocolate from Adelaide.

It is a little before 9pm and we have just stopped in the town of Calgary. There are people, decades, many decades older than us, who are getting off this train to go on a tour that doesn't get back until after midnight. And you're going to sleep also this bed. 10 out of 10. Good night. Good night.

I love you.

Love you too.

Good morning. It was a pretty bumpy ride last night. Not the best night of sleep, but hard to complain when you're on one of the most epic train journeys in the world. We've woken up this morning and it is perfectly flat and there is not a single tree in sight. It's actually what I thought our drive through the outback was going to look like last week, but there were way more trees, way more hills. This just looks like flat nothingness.

Whoa.

There's something.

What?

I don't know. A cell tower, small bush, a road. We're woken up. Sarcastic again. Also, we've learned that we can count on our room attendant, Doug for brutal honesty. And he said it just gets worse from Adelaide to Sydney. So I don't think there's going to be a lot of sleeping going on on this train for the next few days. It really takes skill. Put pokey things near your eyeballs.

I feel like Van Life is preparing for this.

There's a lot of doorstep for breakfast.

It's harder than putting on makeup. We've officially been on board for about 24 hours. Been a very social train ride so far. Pretty sure we're at max capacity. So each meal, every time we sit down, we're with new people, which has been great. We've made some friends. But I wasn't looking forward to making friends at breakfast. I need a couple cups of coffee before I can really.

We're very grateful for these empty seats.

We got lucky.

So I've been doing a little bit of research about this area that we're passing through, and it's called the Nolabar Plain. And the name literally comes from Latin words that means no trees, which makes a lot of sense.

Yum. Oh, yeah. Now that we're alone, I can finally say, holy moly. The food on this Train is so good. I wouldn't say I'm a food connoisseur. Like, I'm really not picky. I will eat anything. Like instant ramen is one of my favorite foods in the world.

But there's just all credibility.

I know it sounds crazy, but I think the food on this train is better than Orient Express. Call me crazy.

Seven years later. I am very proud to share that after my embarrassing reaction to Vegemite the first time we were in Australia.

So bad.

I like. I've actually really come to like it.

Do you actually like that? Yes. Like that much of it? That's so much.

Oh, not that much. It's not even the whole thing. You're just not as refined as I am.

Wow.

25 hours after boarding the train and Perth, we have just arrived in the small town of Cook, where we are getting off the train for the first time. And when I say small town, I believe there is a population of 4.

Are you serious?

It's pretty much a ghost town now. I think the only reason anyone lives here is to help with the train. We're stopping here to refuel with water.

The rocks are hard. It feels so good to be off the train. I just love, love the feeling of the sunshine and fresh air.

And nothing is moving. It's just still. There's not really much to see. Just kind of feels like we're in the middle of the desert with some random empty buildings. But I'm very happy to be here.

Well, I just ate a fly. That was disgusting.

Did you really?

Gross. I don't think he came out.

Oh, no. You wanted.

No sleeping.

It.

Just kidding. They're just moving it forward to put water in another part of the train. But it did scare me for a second.

I think it says, oh, I think.

I'm bringing some flies on with me. Hurry. All right, it's time for lunch.

L, E, N C H Lunch.

This is one of my least favorite parts about being vegetarian. The menu today is very Australian. It. We could try cured kangaroo or camel curry. I feel like we're missing out on a bit of a cultural experience. But I'm sure that this will be amazing because everything that I put in my mouth on this train has been delicious.

I, on the other hand, am pumped about this salad. I'm not sad at all to not be eating the cute little kangaroo and camel.

It's not that I want to eat kangaroo and camel, it's just that I feel like it's a lot more interesting to share what that tastes like. Like where Everybody knows what halloumi and quinoa tastes like, which is delicious.

The landscape has completely changed since leaving cook. Now all I see are trees. There are some rolling hills. This looks a lot more like the outback that we just spent a week driving the truck through. I feel like even after not seeing trees for 12 hours, I now appreciate them more.

So, as if I couldn't love the guys in the kitchen anymore. They caught word that I really liked the brownies on the first day and tonight they gave me this. It's the leftover brownies. They haven't been on the menu since, but I've asked about them.

This is just a dream come true.

What else could a girl want? Brownies in bed. Hey, these are mine.

I thought you said you were so full you couldn't eat anything else.

There's always room for choco brownies.

Brownie.

I'm just joking.

Good morning, everybody. This story is happening in very real time. Our train is about to pull into Adelaide if anyone wants to meet me for a group run. We've never done this before. This could be a horrible idea. So just show up with those expectations, leave the details here and it'll just be. This looks different. There's the new crew. Hi. Now, for all guests doing your own thing here in Adelaide today, please do make sure that you are back at Adelaide Parkland's terminal no later than 11am this morning.

While Nate is running, I've decided that I'm gonna go to the market for some coffee.

Trying to make this a competition.

So if anybody wants to meet me at the market for a coffee, I'm buying.

You are.

Thank you for everything, Doug. It's been a pleasure.

This is our. Goodbye, Doug.

Yeah. Have a good time. Thank you so much. This isn't the end for us. The crew just makes a switch over here. So we'll have all new crew when we get back on the train.

Have fun. Bye.

We have two and a half hours until we start heading east again and we have to be back on the train. There are excursions that are planned by the train that we could have gone on, but we've decided to do our own thing and I think this is going to be pretty fun. There's the rest of the group. We could have gone on a scenic drive, gone to see the Adelaide Oval for a city sightseeing tour. My favorite way to explore New City is by going on a run. And after two days of just eating and drinking on a train, nothing sounds better than a nice long run. But hopefully I Won't be going alone. I've had this idea to plan group runs in different cities that we travel to. So I decided today, why not give it a try for the first time? We'll see if anybody shows up.

I decided to walk to the market because it was a only 30 minutes, but, man, I am sweating. I can't imagine how Nate must feel right now.

You better walk faster. Hey, here's the oval thing. Waterfall Adelaide is beautiful.

We made it. Hello, Carol.

Oh, my gosh.

One person showed up. What's your name?

I'm Aaron.

Oh, nice to meet you. Which way should we go? Let's go that way. All right, let's do it.

I don't know if anybody showed up to run with Nate, but I'd say my meetup is going pretty well. Lots of new friends and some chocolate. Table for eight. After I watch your videos, I leave with, like, a better feeling than when I started.

I'm so glad I did this.

I didn't pick that up. He didn't pay me.

We decided this is the first ever run of the new International Running Club.

What are we called?

The New International Running Club.

I just got word that Nate is not alone, but perhaps only has one friend running with him. The other friend came to join us and four babies. All right, my one question is, I'm, like, quite a homebody. Like, I love things in my house and, like, making it mine. Do you ever have that, like, longing feeling for that?

I think one of the reasons we've stayed away from getting a home base is because I'm scared when we do that, we will start to crave things like that. But right now, because we don't have it, there's nothing to miss.

Nice work. How far did we get?

We did.

What did stra. Say?

15,000Km.

Oh.

I love that.

So the train is leaving, and we're just now leaving the market, going to the train station. Thankfully, I have some friends that are gonna drop me off, but any car to be ready.

Okay. That was so much fun. We will do more of these. And when I say we, I mean I. Because I don't think we're gonna get Kara out here. Almost back.

Get on the train. Don't let it leave without you.

Thank you for the ride. Oh, my gosh. They were amazing. That was the best coffee date of my life.

What? How many coffee dates have we been on together?

All right, we are just pulling out of Adelaide, and it's time to try out the wet bath. So we've got this curtain to keep Everything from getting wet, hopefully. All right, let's give it a try. Oh, nice water pressure. I would say that is the third best shower I've ever had on a train. Number one, the Orient Express. Number two, the Maharajas Express. This one's number three. And it was much better than the fourth and only other shower I've had on train, which was Amtrak. The only difference is there's this button you have to hit every 60 seconds so the water keeps going. The whole wet vest system, I think, worked really well. The toilet's completely dry.

No way.

Things dry. You just get your feet wet if you go to the bathroom. Now, that's the only drawback.

Not a few water shoes. The rest of the day went as usual. As the train continued east, we had another delicious lunch. I was good. Followed by a nice. Then a very special guest came on board to host Bingo Night.

Just realized you're filming. That's fantastic. I've just been here fixing my stockings.

If that finds its way onto the Internet.

All right, we've heard this is supposed to be the roughest night on the train. We'll report back in the morning. So far, it's living up to the hype. Can always trust Dog. To tell you the truth, it.