Western Australia: Getting there

How do you prepare for a three-day train journey? I had no idea. I would be occupying an economy class chair, the type of which I'd already briefly encountered from Sydney to Melbourne, so I knew this could be a very, very long journey. With a stack of books, magazines and ear plugs I boarded the Indian Pacific. Quickly bored by the reading material, I soon checked out to see what the train had to offer, and was pleasantly surprised by how well-equipped it was; showers, a diner, bar and lounge area. I was tempted to sneak a look into the Gold Kangaroo carriage (first class), but this seemed to be strictly out-of-bounds for the likes of us, and I thought I may be beaten back by the rather abrupt guard. The reason I'd taken the train was to get a better appreciation of the scale of the country, and I certainly did. Leaving Adelaide we soon fell into the bush. Initially fairly tall trees, but as we got closer to the Nullabour Plain, the frequency and size of the vegetation decreased until we were left with rocks, and little else. Apparently there is an old guy living out in the Plain somewhere, and the train brings him food parcels as it travels past. Crazy! We made two scheduled stops along the way, Cook (about 18 hours in) and Kargoorlie (about 36 hours in). Kargoorlie was surprisingly large considering how remote it was from anything. The town is a fairly major gold-mining town. We had just enough time for a quick jar before moving on to Perth. The journey went surprisingly quickly, and as this was economy, there were a load of other backpackers to talk to. I'm glad I did it, but I think next time I'll fly!

My main reason for coming over to the west was to experience a different environment to the east. The west offers an interesting variety of landscapes, Perth (the remotest city in the world), a chance to escape the tourist traps in the east, and, of course, a great opportunity to sample of the finest wines in the world... Woohoo!