Now this blog will cover the days on the train.

Day 1 - We had both been looking forward to today, a chance to put our feet up and watch the scenery go by...it was train day! We took a taxi from the hostel to the station and checked in our larger rucksacks. After a small wait we were asked to proceed to our carriage where we would be shown our cabin. Brody was our carriage supervisor and she showed us the cabin and said they would prepare the beds at dinner and put them away during breakfast. After she left we put our things away and relaxed in our tiny but comfortable space.

I really liked our little cabin with its tiny cubbyholes, although the bathroom was slightly ridiculous but you had to appreciate the innovation to fit it all in. After a few hours of watching the changing scenery we decided to take a stroll to the lower class (red). Seeing the reclining chairs, shared bathroom and canteen food we knew we had made the right choice with gold service. After our short walk it was time for lunch, we had to proceed to the lounge car for a drink before being seated in the dining car by Joel. Very quickly we realised we were the youngest people in gold class, having received plenty of questioning stares. They must have thought we had snuck out of red for a decent meal!

We were taken through to the dining carriage for lunch and sat with two Australian ladies both traveling individually. We all introduced ourselves and soon started chatting, it turned out one lady had grown up in a town we were about to pass. Her brother still lived by the track and was going to try and wave to her, and sure enough he saw her. His casual wave became much more urgent when we spotted him so we are fairly sure he saw her, lucky she was on the right side of the track! The second lady we sat with was a secretary of a classic car club, she was only sitting across from another member from her town (small world). For lunch itself we enjoyed a 3 course meal, the beef was delicious, best train food I ever had and a reasonable amount of choice (beats noodle pots on the China train).

After lunch we returned to our cabin and relaxed until dinner...which was also 3 courses, but we did get to have kangaroo steak which was delicious. This time we were sat with Maria and David from the UK, who were retired and on a 6 week tour of Australia to see family and friends. They were both lovely and we shared stories of our various trips. Their daughter had traveled so they shared her stories too, my favourite being a parcel she sent home. They were both so excited to open it only to find her walking boots inside! After returning from dinner our room was transformed in to 2 bunk beds, proper bedding (unlike China), chocolate on the pillow and a proper ladder (unlike China).

At around 11:30pm it was time for our tour to Kalgoorlie, a town in the middle of no where. Kalgoorlie is gold mining town, they are still mining for gold today. We were taken on to tour buses and shown the town before stopping at the famous Super pit. The pit is 3.6 km long, 1.6km wide and 512m deep and it mines 24/7. Although at that time of night it was a dark shadowy hole with noisy mining machines busy digging away. The weather was freezing so we quickly returned to the bus, we then went to a museum about mining and the precious stones found in Australia. It was very interesting, and we had not realised the number of precious stones and metals avalible in Australia. Although we did not see alot as it was time to get back on the bus. We got back to the train at 1:30am but it was time to put 'train time' forward an hour due to a time zone we had gone through so bed at 2:30am. Well that was the plan except I stupidly locked open our safe, in our wardrobe meaning the doors banged when the train moved! Due to re-fueling the train the attendent could not help fix it until 3am...so bed at 3am!

Day 2 - After only a few hours sleep it was time for our next 3 course meal...breakfast. This time we were sat with an Australian couple, they lived on the outskirts of Perth and this was their longest trip together. All 4 of us declined the extra courses, knowing lunch and dinner would be just as large! There was again a surprising selection from Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon to full English. During breakfast we spotted two wild kangaroos hopping away from the train track. Something I had been looking for since we got on the train.

After a nap and a few relaxing hours watching the Nullarbor (flat treeless plain) we arrived at Cook, a mostly deserted town on the longest stretch of straight railway track in the world (297 miles). The town had previously been occupied by about 200 people, they use to service and re-fuel the trains but when the trains were privatised they did not feel the need of a supporting town. So now 4 train managers stay there to help re-fuel the Inidian Pacific. The town has a deserted school, hospital, swimming pool and houses. Overall it was a bit of a ghost town. The tour of Cook consisted of a self guided map to see the deserted buildings, it did however give us the chance to take a photo of the train from the front as there was no platform. Having been set free for 20 mins the train siren begins to inform everyone to return to the train.

So we returned to the train for lunch, once again we had the same 3 course meal choices as the previous day. This time we were sat with an English couple who seemed to have traveled the world and lived in various places. We then returned to our room until dinner, as much as we were enjoying the train we could not imagine continuing for another 2 days to get to Sydney. I was the first to show signs of cabin fever, when I started tapping on the window and calling to the Kangaroos in the hope I would see some more. Ant wanted to go for a walk to break up the time between meals but the only option we to walk to the dining car then return to our room.

When dinner time arrived we ended being sat with Maria and David again which was nice as we had gotten on with them the night before. Then it was time to return to our cabin and pack for our early arrival in to Adelaide the following morning.