in Australia

The Great South Pacific Express:  This train in Australia also belongs to the Orient-Express group, and is actually the first 5-star hotel on wheels to travel in the southern hemisphere.  This deluxe train first came into service in April 1999 and its original routes included the famous four East coast attractions:  the Great Barrier Reef, the rainforest in northern Queensland, plus Sydney and Brisbane. Its diverse routes include excursions to these various stops, plus a broad range of natural attractions. Spectacular wildlife is to be seen everywhere, including kangaroos, black eagles and swans, koalas, multicolored parrots, emus and cassowaries.

The Great South Pacific Express crosses impressive landscapes as it travels the vast rural regions stretching along the Australia's East coast, taking three days and two nights to get from Brisbane to Kuranda. It passes through Cairns and takes one night to go from Brisbane to Sydney.  Entirely built in Australia, the GSPE maintains the tradition of Australian trains to the most minute detail: walls made of red cedar panels, magnificent myrtle panels, skylight roofs enclosed in delicately painted stained glass.  There are more than twenty cars making up the train, divided into sleeping cars, dining cars, a bar car and a lounge car.  All compartments are private suites with air-conditioning. As with all Orient-Express trains, the service is attentive, discrete and irreproachable.  There is a steward to serve passengers in each car. In the observation car (panorama car) a pianist plays to entertain passengers.

The deluxe train is a joint venture of the Venice Simplon–Orient-Express and Queensland Rail, based in Brisbane.  It was planned for a well-to-do clientele who would enjoy seeing Australia's regions in great style.

The Indian Pacific:  This famous train takes travelers on a 4352 km journey. It takes them cross Australia from one coast to the other, linking Perth to Sydney via Adelaide, and also linking the Pacific and Indian Oceans.  It is said to be the last truly transcontinental train in the world.  Leaving from Sydney, it crosses area that are admirably cultivated, plus mining towns such as Broken Hill, or Kalgoorlie, the elegant capital of the South (Adelaide), a desert, the Nullabor Plain for a distance of 478 km, making it the world's longest straight-line railway.

For two days and half, travelers are suspended in time in a train that is luxurious, roomy and well stocked.  Offering First Class, Holiday Class or Coach Class travel, the train is fully air-conditioned and includes dining cars, a bar car and lounges.

From the green lands in the Blue Mountains to the Nullabor Plain, where the landscape extends to as far as you can see, the Indian Pacific crosses some of the most inhospitable yet spectacular sites in the world. For the most part its route carries you off far from civilization and although wildlife is scattered, you will see dingos, kangaroos and many birds (among them being the Indian Pacific's emblem: the long tailed eagle and its incredibly wide wings spanning out for two meters).

The Ghan:  Unlike its earlier days with its irregular service, the legendary Ghan has now been transformed, allowing it to now be classed among some of the world's most comfortable and impressive.  This train provides a liaison between Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.  It makes a connection between these various points once a week, taking you through old mountain chains made of red earth, to the Simpson Desert and then across sand hills as vast as oceans.

The Ghan follows the route taken by the explorer John McDouall Stuart, and the Afghan camel caravans.  It connects Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide (the picturesque capital of South Australia), with Alice Springs, the point of entry into a most mysterious region:  the majestic Uluru (Ayers Rock), the MacDonnell Ranges, Kings Canyon and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas).

In the twenty hours it takes to go from Adelaide to Alice Springs, the Ghan travels 1555 kilometers. It goes through the "Outback", one of the roughest areas in the country, on to the mysterious Red Centre, the true heart of Australia.

 The train provides First Class or Holiday Class Sleepers or seats in the Coach Class.  The train is fully air-conditioned and includes dining cars, a bar and lounges, making this trip a rare pleasure full of exotic discoveries, all while enjoying its ideal comfort.