Next door to nowhere There’s only two people who live in Cook, a lonely ghost town straddling the train tracks in the middle of the Nullarbor, next door to nowhere and no-one: Jan and Ivor Holberton. Apart from a twice weekly gaggle of tourists who have rolled off the Indian Pacific to stretch their legs with a few laps of the deserted township, the only people who come to stay are the train drivers. Cook is a driver changeover point on the 4352 km run across Australia.
So you’d think, when the drivers spend the night in Cook, it would be a good excuse for a knees-up get-together. Think again.
According to Jan, the rivalry between the West Australian and South Aussie drivers is so intense that the ‘town’ operates on a dual time zone. When you drop in to the WA driver’s place for a cuppa, you’re in Western Standard time. Across the way, his collegue, like the rest of Cook, is on Central Standard Time.
“I have to be really careful I don’t get the times mixed up,” says Jan with a rueful grin, “or I’ll end up cooking dinner two hours early.”
Jan has lived in deserted Cook for the past two years, but before that was here for five years between 1975 and 1980.
“The town has changed so much,” says Jan. “There used to be 120 people living here. We had a school, a hospital, post office and stores. But when the railways changed the way they operated the gangs for line maintenance, the town just died. We had been living in Port Augusta when this job came up. We had loved it out here, so we thought, ‘let’s do it’. At least there was no competition for the job.
“I find it sad sometimes though,” she says. “I can’t bear to go into the hospital. It’s just too depressing, when I think of how alive it all used to be.”
Jan’s nearest neighbours are a four-hour drive away on rough bush-bashing tracks. It’s nine hours to the closest shops. 1100km from Adelaide, 1500km from Perth. And except when the train drivers are in town, there’s no-one else but her husband Ivor to talk to. But it seems living next to no-one does have its advantages. “We won the Cook Christmas lighting display last year!”
There are no roads to Cook. The only way to get here is by train. The Indian Pacific stops at Cook four times a week to change crews and take on water.
There are much quicker ways to travel Sydney to Perth than by train. It’s less than five hours by air, and if you buy your ticket on the net during sale time, probably much cheaper. But flying’s not nearly as much fun as the Indian Pacific. Three days and three nights across Australia, coast to coast. Three days with not much else to do but relax, catch up on some reading or chat to fellow travellers in the lounge. Think of it as a cruise – but across a calm sea of spinifex rather than rolling grey waves.
There are two ways you can ride the rails on the IP – you can join the backpackers in the daynighter seats, which are a bit like over-sized airliner seats that recline at night, or opt for a sleeper cabin.
Within the sleeper class you also have two options: Red or Gold Kangaroo Service. Red Kangaroo gives you a snug twin cabin with a hand basin and shared toilet and shower facilities at the end of each carriage. There is also a lounge car to escape cabin fever and a canteen-style dining car where you can purchase meals and drinks.
If you can afford it however, Gold Kangaroo is the way to go. Sleeper cabins include their own (tiny) ensuites, journey commentary, 24-hour music and full steward service: while you’re at dinner enjoying a three-course meal (all part of the fare), your three-seater lounge will be transformed into two freshly made-up bunk beds. After a morning wake-up cup of tea delivered to your cabin, your beds will be converted back into a lounge while you’re at breakfast. The lounge car tends to be the social hub, with room for up to 30 people to sit on comfortable couches, complimentary tea and coffee and full bar service.
Off-train tours are available at the longer stops of Broken Hill, Adelaide, Kalgoorlie and Perth. You can also take a self-guided walking tour of Cook.
How much:
One-way fares, Sydney to Perth, start at $513 for a daynighter seat, $1250 for a Red Kangaroo Service sleeper cabin, or $1560 for Gold Kangaroo Service sleeper cabin, which includes all meals. If you buy two Gold Kangaroo Service tickets you can take your car with you on the motorail for $99, otherwise Sydney to Perth (or vice versa) motorail costs $705 per vehicle.
More information: www.trainways.com.au or call 13 21 47.
Story and photo by Lee Atkinson.
4WD
