[James]

... should consider booking one of these rail holidays.  I was just on the Great Southern, and it was as good as a European River Cruise: https://www.journeybeyondrail.com.au/

[susanb]

... should consider booking one of these rail holidays.  I was just on the Great Southern, and it was as good as a European River Cruise: https://www.journeybeyondrail.com.au/

tempting....... but not this year

[enchantmentadm]

I hadn't planned on it. I would be a fun trip sometime but not this year for me either. But thanks for the info.

[English Rose]

I would love to travel to Australia and see the kangaroos hopping about.

[James]

I would love to travel to Australia and see the kangaroos hopping about.

Well, organise one of those tours! You'll likely see more than kangaroos, depending upon which trip you choose.

I can't recommend the one I was on highly enough, and there were people who had done one or more of the others, so they must have had good prior experiences.

[English Rose]

Did you sleep on the train? Did you have the opportunity to get off the train and experience Aussie life and wildlife?

[James]

Did you sleep on the train?  Did you have the opportunity to get off the train and experience Aussie life and wildlife?

Yes, usually quite well.  There were a number of off-train experiences available. Mine involved wine tasting at three wineries, two in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, and one in Victoria.  The Hunter Valley vines were imported from France in either the late 18th or early 19th Century.  They thus are descended from vines that had been in Gaul since time immemorial.  There was a gentleman from England in our group!

[English Rose]

It sounds a safe way to travel round Australia. I will look into it.

[James]

Here is the video by a New Zealand lady who I think must be in the travel industry, Chloe, that convinced me to go on it. And, Gold Class uses the old Southern Aurora first class cars with a difference - the restaurant car is, on the Great Southern, a level above the standard on the old Southern Aurora - which was still very good.  I think the lounge car on the GS is better. But then, if you want a bit more, there's two classes above that!  This means there's no first class seating car, and no Economy (which was seating only, no access to the restaurant or lounge cars, but use of a buffet car). Anyway, here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5gVpa3lhOY&t=1744s

[James]

Actually, there's a class above the three described above, private butler service, etc., but they are prohibitively expensive (for my budget) and only only constitute two extremely luxurious cabins, but I think it's rather private and isolated. One of the points of this is to mix with other passengers in the lounge and restaurant carriages, and swap stories, etc., so Gold Class really is good enough, as far as I'm concerned.