I’ve been looking forward to writing about an adventure I had in August this year, when my father and I took a trip to Winton in the Queensland outback. We took the Spirit of the Outback, travelling in a first-class sleeper.

Adventure, you ask? It’s just catching a train, after all. But I haven’t been able to do much travelling for a while and so this was a huge thing for me. I’m happy to say that it went well, and I’m now looking forward to my next journey.

I already knew that I liked train travel. Particularly when it’s comfy, and I can’t fault the Spirit of the Outback on that count. So, for the benefit of those wanting to visit Longreach and/or Winton, and wondering, ‘Should I take the train?’, let me give you the low-down.

First off, some people will say, ‘oh, but it’s such a long journey.’ True-ish. If you are making the full journey from Roma Street in Brisbane to the last stop at Longreach, you are looking at approximately 26 hours.

If that’s going to be a problem for you, there are flights or you could drive. For me, though, the train journey was as exciting as the touring once we arrived in the outback.

Train travel offers some benefits, too. You can see some of the landscape along the way, get up and walk around and, if you can afford first class, it's quite comfortable.

Check in

You may know that I live at the northern tip of the Sunshine Coast, so I could have boarded the train at several stops along the coast. However, because my travel partner - my dear dad - was boarding in Brisbane, I also wanted to get on there.

I traveled to Brisbane that morning and had lunch in town with family before heading over to Roma Street Transit Centre.

Arriving on the long-distance platform at Roma Street a good hour prior to departure left me time to think ahead and have a final go-through of my bags. Check-in was easy, but you need to be sure you’ve packed everything you will need on the train in your onboard luggage because, once you’ve checked your bags in, you won’t have access to them again until you reach your destination.

Items such as toothbrush, toothpaste, and other daily toiletries, plus medication, a change of clothing (if needed), phone charging block and cord, books, iPad or puzzles to keep yourself amused through the journey, are examples of what should be placed in your onboard luggage.

You receive a complimentary toiletry pack in first class, but as I couldn’t be sure what was included, I didn’t rely on that.

At the time of writing, the luggage allowances for a sleeper are:

Onboard - One carry-on smaller than 23 x34 x48 cms (with a recommended maximum weight of 7kgs). Note that it needs to be able to fit under your seat or be placed on the luggage racks (which you’ll be able to see in the image below).

Check-in - Two luggage items that don’t exceed 180 linear cms (that is, the sum of length, width and height) and no heavier than 20 kgs.

Getting to know the train

As soon as I got on board and placed my luggage in the cabin, I set about introducing myself to the Spirit of the Outback’s layout.

The first-class sleepers are singles by default but can be converted to doubles. To be clear, not a double bed, but one cabin with two singles. This is what we booked.

The Spirit of the Outback first-class carriage has an interesting design, with a curved hallway. See the video below. I imagine it’s a way to maximise the space, and I think it worked well.

I have a video showing the hall but for the life of me I wasn’t able to add it. So if you’re on Instagram I’ve posted it here in my reels.

One thing I didn’t note down and therefore am drawing on memory of, is that at one end of the carriage is a separate shower and toilet, and at the other end the entrance/exit area which offers a water bubbler where you fill up drink bottles. I hope I’ve recalled that correctly.

Regarding water, I read in a review that someone had found the water on the train murky, so I planned not to drink it just to be sure. However, I tried the bubbler, and it appeared completely clean, and tasted great. It may be that the previous traveller had a one-off issue, or that there was a problem which has now been fixed.

Walking through the carriage towards the front, you come to the Tuckerbox, the first-class restaurant, and then in the next car was the bar where you could buy drinks, tea and coffee and snacks.

The dining room tables set with linens and a bouquet.

My experience of the bathrooms was positive. I’ve travelled economy before on long-distance trains and my experience has been a progressive degradation of quality in terms of cleanliness and smell. Not the case on the Spirit of the Outback, where my fellow travellers and staff kept things clean. It didn’t go unnoticed or unappreciated.

Comfortable and clean, but do hold on while in there as the train is moving most of the time and you don’t want to be caught off-guard.

Be prepared for the flushing system. You close the lid, press the button, and then it’s some seconds before you hear a whooshing sound.

The Spirit of the Outback doesn’t offer WIFI, but I used my phone’s data without issue, other than there being patches where there was no service. To be expected, of course.

Tip: Downloading onto your phone or iPad any books, music, or TV shows/movies that you think you’d like to watch during the journey is a good idea.

Getting to know the cabin

Space onboard is at a premium. I didn’t find it terminally cramped; I was quite happy, but there’s no doubt that some people won’t like the space situation.

The cabins contain:

Seats that are converted to a full single beds at night
a sink with running water
a cupboard that includes shirt-length hanging space
a coat hook on the door
plenty of useful lighting
a nook next to the seat/bed where you can put your book, lip balm, etc
a small bag with soap and other toiletries
electrical plugs for charging your appliances
a key so each time you leave the cabin, you can lock it.

The blinds are handy and you can see the vertical light in the top right.

Here you can see the free zip bag with toiletries, port for plugging in your phone or electric razor, and the thin cupboard you can see contains hanging space, a mini drop down table, and a bin. There are arm rests on the seat which can be lowered if you want them.

There is a speaker system in the cabins that even has a volume dial, however I could barely hear it the whole time and the volume wasn’t working. I managed not to miss anything important, though, and I’m sure this is something that Queensland Rail will look at fixing.

Queensland Rail introduce you to historical figures with these info sheets on the back of the door. Just above that is a hook that can be pulled out to hang a coat, hat or handbag on.

Yes, the sink works! It has running water and when you lift the sink back up into position, the water disappears down the back into the plumbing system. I used the sink to brush my teeth.

The single beds aren’t as wide as the ones at home, but very comfortable.

The pillows were thin but there were two of them. I can only imagine that keeping them thin makes it easier to store them away in the cupboard during the day, or to fold them to rest your head on if you want to read, etc.

Tip: I suggest getting your belongings organised for the night before you ask the staff to set up your bed. Once it’s in bed mode, there isn’t much room to move within the cabin and it’s more difficult to get at anything stored underneath the seat/bed.

Morning after a wonderful nights sleep. No, I’m not exaggerating. I was quite comfortable.

There is a sign for the door that will let the concierge know if you want your bed to be made up. You don’t even have to manage that yourself! I put the sign up before I went to dinner and returned to the cabin to find it ready for sleepy-time.😉😂

Food service

I was impressed with the menu and the service. All main meals are included in the ticket price. Breakfast comes with juice and a choice of tea or coffee, while the other meals came with a choice of a soft drink, juice, or an alcoholic drink, such as wine or a beer.

Staff were helpful and you can see from the images that the meals were a good size and looked nice and fresh.

The first night, our main meal was served with damper on the side, which I thought was a clever touch for a trip to the outback. Damper is an unleavened bread traditionally made in a campfire or camp oven, and it was served with herb butter. Scrumptious.

Not only were the tables beautifully set (complete with floral arrangements), but I was fed so well during the journey there and back that I only bought one food item from the store the whole journey: a lamington (Hello, my coconutty little friend).

I bought two beers, though, so I could enjoy happy hour watching the scenery go by.

Tip: On the first night if you’d like to have a pre-dinner drink in the bar car, get in early. We boarded late in the afternoon and found, perhaps because of everyone’s excitement, the bar car was full. We returned to our cabin with our beers, which wasn’t unpleasant, just not what we’d hoped for. The following day was quieter, though still lively.

Now seems a good time to mention that there are some wonderful conversations to be had while on the Spirit of the Outback. If you want to, you can meet people, chat, share breakfast or a drink, and be social.

Meal service was staggered. The dining car could not cater to all first-class passengers at the same time. It would be a waste of space to have a dining car that large. Your meal times will be written on a personalised print out in your cabin before you board.

On my return journey I’d picked up a cold and, once I realised that, I ate in my cabin instead of the dining room so as not to spread it around. The staff were very accommodating and delivered my meals there.

The meals above are a mix of mine, my travel partners, and the few items that I bought as extras from the onboard bar.

Stops

This graphic from australiarailpass.com shows the stations the Spirit of the Outback will stop on your journey.

Not all stops are for long enough to explore or even warrant getting off the train, but there were a couple of longer stops like Alpha and particularly Barcaldine. It’s worth attempting to get out for a few minutes at Barcaldine because right in front of the station is the Tree of Knowledge. Regardless of politics, it’s a piece of Australia’s history.

The tree was a ghost gum that became an icon of the Labor party after a shearers strike in the late 1800s. Unfortunately, in 2006 someone poisoned the 200-year-old tree, however, the town has now created a quite beautiful, creative structure around the trunk.

Overall

The Spirit of the Outback is not a brand new or luxury train. There is some wear and tear, a few chipped bits of laminate, etc. I’m mentioning this so that readers adjust their expectations. I’d hate for someone to book expecting luxury train and then to be disappointed.

But it was kept tidy and clean and was super comfortable. I texted family from the cabin to say that I wanted to live on board. 😝

The service was almost faultless with helpful staff, and food that was delicious.

If taking the trip again, perhaps to see Longreach this time, I hope to take the train again.

Now a few pictures of the views we passed along the way. Enjoy.

Morgan xx