Slumming it in style-train travel IS the way forward

I very recently travelled from one side of Australia to the other on a journey that saw me cross 2,698 miles across barren landscape and desert, and I did this by train! You see I recently moved to Perth the most isolated city in the world, the closest city is Jakarta Indonesia, gone are the days of nipping across to Paris from London or having a choice of amazing city after amazing destination all within about a three hour flight, Rome, Venice, Greek Islands, Budapest, Amsterdam, Norway ... you get the gist. You see, I wanted to get a feel for this huge country which I now live get a sense of the place experience the isolation. One cannot do this on foot, would not make it for more than a few hours out on the Nullabor Plains it would be very foolish and idiotic to say the very least bar impossible (although I have heard it has been done, if this is you please get in touch). Firstly it would be a logistical nightmare how would one carry enough sunblock and water? Anyway travelling by plane does not give any real sense of perspective and space so I decided to travel on the Indian Pacific train crossing from one great ocean over land to another over three long days and three long nights in a reclining chair with nothing but views. Superficially and materialistically I was worried I wouldn't have somewhere to plug my laptop in to watch films (turns out I did), seems ridiculous now as I didn't plug my laptop in once. I settled back in to 'train time' and I simply can not stress enough how much I enjoyed myself. The train was quite old fashioned, I'm talking lime green dining cart and garish carpets but this just added to the charm. I met loads of super interesting people from an eccentric English man to a couple of guys who seemingly hitched a lift in the middle of a 2000km desert and appeared in the middle of no-where. I made friends who I now realise live near me and ones who I will stay in touch with. I called them my train family as we ate, slept and passed the time together. From the Blue Mountains outside Sydney to the Red Centre and vast Nullabor Plain I came to appreciate Australia for its natural beauty and amazingness of the country, to be honest I fell in love. Waking up to a sunrise over the red centre was awe inspiring. The colours are so strong the earth as red as blood with the green trees painting a beautiful picture. You might think such harsh environments where temperatures regularly exceed 50 degrees nothing would live but we saw all sorts from Kangaroo's to wild Camels and Wedge Tailed Eagles hunting rabbits, it really was astonishing. Kangaroo's are very well adapted at keeping cool in the deserts and lick themselves to stay cool. Camels where bought to Australia by Afghans from the Middle East and they thrive here, amazingly camels are able to withstand changes in body temperatures and go without water for periods of time that would certainly kill other animals. To see these creatures rise up like a mirage on the desert is quite something. We also got of at several stops along the way one of these being Cook. Cook is a tiny place in the Nullabor Plain, a vast expanse crossing 2000km with nothing but shrubland for mile upon endless mile. Western Australia is so huge the Nullabor took one whole day to cross then a further night to get to Perth. Cook is a widely isolated place featuring just four lonely residents, one dog, one cat, no swimming pool, a few buildings and temperatures that soar about 50 degrees, how one can live here I do not know. On meeting one of the locals I asked him, his response was that he loved the silence. I bet he does! This is a place if you drive half a mile away you lose sight of the small buildings Cook has (I think about five  in total), getting lost in incredibly easy as every direction looks the same, I know I would go mad here. The train that comes through twice a week is their lifeline and I can only but wonder what the hell happens if the train ever breaks down out here in the middle of this harsh environment. The Australian outback is so big that planes have gone down and crashed never to be found. Amongst others, we also got to go to Kalgoorlie a hick outback mining town which was worth seeing and not for the faint hearted cosmopolitan city loving girl like myself. Don't get me wrong I love the country side its peacefulness and beauty astounds me but being as isolated as this with no sea nearby would send me crazy much like I rabid dog I imagine. One of the coolest things about this train is that you can take your car on the back. I mean who in their right mind could face driving across Australia and I'm only saying this after having the luxury of being taken across in the comfort of an air conditioned train with booze and friends but driving send shudders down my spine...we did see many a crashed car...I'm not surprised the boredom would be too much. To conclude this was an experience of a lifetime an awesome way to really see the Australian outback and the sense of overwhelming space. In fact I loved it so much I'm planning to do the train journey from Adelaide to Darwin and literally can not wait..!