Heading South: Far North Queensland to Western Australia by Rail

by Tim Richards

Freelance travel writer and Lonely Planet guidebook contributor Tim Richards decides to shake up his life by taking an epic rail journey across Australia. Jumping aboard iconic trains like the Indian Pacific, Overland and Spirit of Queensland, he covers over 7,000 kilometres, from the tropics to the desert and from big cities to ghost towns. Tim’s journey is one of classic travel highs and lows: floods, cancellations, extraordinary landscapes and forays into personal and public histories – as well as the steady joy of random strangers encountered along the way.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Australia, Trains

256 pages, Paperback

Published November 3, 2021

About the author

Tim Richards is a freelance travel writer whose work has appeared in publications around the world, including Lonely Planet’s guidebooks.

He fell into travel writing after living and teaching in Egypt and Poland, and is especially drawn to the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. He’s a light-packing obsessive, and loves chasing down a story with a historical angle.

Tim lives in Melbourne’s lively central business district with his novelist wife, Narrelle M Harris.

Reviews

[Narrelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining and engaging memoir about travelling across the breadth of Australia - and the characters, landscapes, reflections and mindsets the author encounters on the way.

[Michael Trohear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Trains and Australian History great Read

[Fran Cormack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable read from Tim Richards. Having travelled around Australia it was great getting flashbacks to all the places Tim visits, starting in Far North Queensland.

A great book about travel by train, which I think is the best way to travel.

Crossing the Nullarbor on the Indian Pacific, and visiting Cook, had me right back there, in 2012.

Highly recommend this book for lots of reasons. The history of Australia. The trains. And the serendipitous meetings if the people you meet on long trips.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read about train journeys, Tim Richards’ book tells the story of using Australia’s railway network to cross the country, while providing insight and observant commentary regarding the people and places beyond the tracks. Mixing travel tourism with colonial history and chance encounters, and detailing the circular rise and decline of the commercial rail services, there are plenty of interesting side stories here, as the author shares a broad overview of experiences. Richards’ writing is relaxed and engaging, with a pleasing sense of place that rail fans would appreciate.

[John Citizen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings on this book, as the author comes across as a likeable enough travel companion, but perhaps the tales within are not quite compelling enough for all but the most ardent rail enthusiasts.

As much of the book is set within the carriages themselves, many of the characters encountered are transient bit players that intersperse the authors musings on passing landscapes and rail trivia.

[John Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was reading this book while riding on Sydney's shiny new Metro when the lady sitting next to me asked about it. Apparently she was stealing glances at the back cover. Her accented English suggested she was visiting Australia. I let her take a photo of the front. Hopefully my friendly act sold another copy; who knows, my fellow traveller could be an influencer. I hope so because Tim's book deserves a worldwide readership.

[Lee Belbin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting series of travel stories linked by rail from the gulf country in Queensland to Bunbury in Western Australia. Some of the ‘side trips’ and observations were fun, but not as quirky or inspirational: Maybe due to the author’s repeated uncertainty about his career. Light and educational, more so if you aren’t Australian.

[Ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a travel journal along the second-longest rail journey in Australia, from Queensland to Western Australia. (Fun* fact, the longest is from Queensland to the Northern Territory just due to the inefficient route, but that’s not as exciting)