The Antipodean Express

Inspiring and unexpected, The Antipodean Express is a delightful account of a New Zealand couple’s extraordinary adventures to reach the other side of the globe. -- Kristen Rabe * Foreword Review * “Enjoy travelling vicariously with some quirky companions? How about a journey from New Zealand to Spain undertaken almost entirely by train? Meet amusingly eccentric French horn player Gregory Hill and his German violinist wife Anne. Well-illustrated with maps and photos, this is a fun armchair journey with Gregory and Anne with musical interludes including the Bolshoi Ballet and the Paris Opera. * Gourmet On The Road * “The trip was not about getting to the destination. It was about the journey itself,” * author Greg Hill. * “The Indian Pacific and the Ghan are like luxurious cruise ships on rails * ABC Melbourne Afternoons with Trevor Chapel (Broadcast Statewide in Victoria) * “A railway adventure tracing a journey from the author’s home in New Zealand to its exact antipodes in rural Spain. The narrative recounts 89 consecutive days of travel with 33 trains through 19 countries. It describes most of the great trains of the Eurasian hemisphere, from New Zealand’s Northern Explorer to the Eurostar and everything in between. Full of people, memories, history, and places – anyone interested in travel, trains, food, music, and cultures will love taking this armchair journey.” * Our Generation Magazine * “For lovers of train travel it’s all about the journey. And what a journey Gregory Hill and his wife Anne Loeser took – 89 days of travel, on 33 trains through 19 countries. The journey is chronicled rather beautifully in Gregory’s book The Antipodean Express which is subtitled A Journey by Train from New Zealand to Spain. To my mind this trip is right up there with some of the great rail journeys I have followed involving Michael Portillo, Paul Theroux, Joanna Lumley, and, among others, Michael Palin.” * InReview * “Well written and a thoroughly enjoyable story. Gregory Hill has a most wonderful sense of humour as he describes situations and people's foibles that they met on this epic journey. There were many times that I laughed, smiled or was sitting on the edge of my seat. It certainly is an enjoyable page turner.” * School Days Magazine * “Hill’s book is well illustrated, and he writes in a highly engaging and descriptive style with a wonderful irreverence for which the word flippant might be generously mild, of the numerous towns and villages one would never see any other way” * The Otago Daily Times * “Hill displays an infectious enthusiasm and engaging wide-eyed innocence. The Antipodean Express provides an amiable dollop of armchair travel with a genial companion who ends his long expedition with... what else but a refreshing sangria and victory dinner in Salamanca.” * NZ Listener * “The most interesting book I have read for a long time.” * Flax Roots *