Surging oil prices have boosted the popularity of train holidays in Australia. People who’ve been looking forward to exploring the country by car in their retirement years have suddenly found that soaring petrol prices make such trips too expensive. Many are turning instead to train travel and train-air combinations. Pensioner concessions and discounts for off-season travel are making coast-to-coast trips on The Ghan and Indian Pacific tourist trains more affordable. And fierce competition between budget airlines is producing cheap connecting air travel.

A popular rail holiday combination sees holidaymakers flying from east coast cities to Darwin to join The Ghan for the two-night trip to Adelaide, and flying home from there. Others are travelling one way on the Indian Pacific between Sydney and Perth, and flying the other.