Great Australian Railway Journeys

Michael Portillo ventures Down Under to explore Australia by train. He begins by riding the legendary Ghan Railway, a train almost a kilometre in length and hauled by two locomotives, which covers nearly 2,000 miles across Australia's red centre. Michael traces its route from the southern harbour of Port Augusta to Darwin on the north coast, along the way meeting the indigenous people of Alice Springs, visiting a kangaroo sanctuary and joining Australians to mark the anniversary of Anzac Day, the First Word War battle that defined their nation.

Michael Portillo explores New South Wales by train, travelling 570 miles from Sydney to the mining city of Broken Hill. He explores the origins of Sydney as a penal colony, visiting the Hyde Park barracks where many of the first convicts were housed. He also tours the city's iconic opera house, and volunteers for the lifesaving club at Bondi Beach. In the Blue Mountains, he learns about people's relationship to the land from his indigenous guide, before reaching Katoomba, where he rides the steepest railway in the world.

Michael Portillo embarks on a rail adventure aboard the transcontinental Indian Pacific Railway, from the southern port city of Adelaide, South Australia, 1,700 miles deep into the desert, to the gold rush town of Kalgoorlie, and finishes in Perth, Western Australia.

Armed with his 1913 Bradshaw's Guide, Michael Portillo crosses the south east of Australia from the seat of government in Canberra to the multi-ethnic heart of its second largest city, Melbourne.

From tropical rainforest to the Great Barrier Reef, Michael Portillo navigates his way by rail through Queensland, Australia, with the aid of his 1913 Bradshaw's Guide.

Michael Portillo is on the eastern coast of Australia travelling from the coal mines of Newcastle, New South Wales, to Queensland's modern state capital, Brisbane. Along the way, he crosses the mighty Hawkesbury River to admire magnificent scenery, tends to an injured koala, gets some tips from an Aussie rugby legend and rides a solar-powered train.