Well over the past few days since we left Sydney I have learned that the hardest thing about backpacking is ... backpacking!! Seriously, how can people carry those things about with them for days on end! The furthest we had to go with ours was about 800 yards from the hostel to the train station and believe me it was a bit of a struggle!! And it took me a long time to work out where all the straps etc went and what fastened to what! Dad - the guy in the shop may have been helpful but he obviously didn't teach me well enough! So we arrived safely to Perth around 9am this morning after 3 and a half days on the Indian Pacific train! You would think that a train that went that far would be luxury (and I am sure it is in the Gold carriages which are way over $1000) however our Red Kangaroo service was a bit pants! We weren't even given a blanket for sleeping - so we slept with towels over us! The first day was worst as it was a bit of a let down to see where would be spending the next 66 hours and then by the time I had had a quick snooze it was dark so couldn't even see anything out the window! It did get a bit better though as the time went by! Some of the scenery was amazing and I saw some kangaroos, a dingo, an emu, a camel and some eagles from the window! We stopped in a few places - Broken Hill, an old miners town; Adelaide, where we had 3 hours to shop; Cook, a tiny town in the middle of the desert which has a population of 4 - only 2 of which are permanent residents(!!); and finally Kalgoorlie, which has a massive gold mine 3km wide and 330 metres deep!! We took a bus tour in Kalgoorlie which was good even though it was dark! The only other places of interest which the town had to offer us on our tour were pubs with Skimpies (girls who wear very little and will apparently do whatever you ask), and 3 brothels! No need to ask what the miners do on their days off then, eh! ;0) Our hostel in Perth seems to be fine so far. It seems to be a lot bigger than the last one and has more to do - pool tables, exercise equipment (which doesn't work), etc! The main difference here though is that we are in a mixed dorm with 2 guys, aagh!! We were a bit worried about it first - you know how disgusting and smelly guys can be (although Michelle can be a like that at times anyway, hee, hee - just messin Mico!!) They seem to be nice though and both of them have been here for ages and have jobs so hopefully won't be around too much! There is a night out tonight to some pub with a live band but I don't think we are gonna go as we are really boring! Ha, just kidding - we are really looking forward to our proper bed tonight and we are up early for a day trip tomorrow so we can go to the next one which is on Wednesday! On our last night in Sydney the 3 of us went to a bar in Kings Cross and ended up getting free drink all night from some American Navy sailors! Nice one, eh!! It's not what it sounds though, there was no funny business or anything - the guys were just looking for some new people to talk to as they were "sick of the sight of each other from being stuck on that ship!" Like that would ever happen in Glasgow, eh! Us poor backpackers weren't complaining though - cheap night out! :0) I am very pleased that the weather in Perth seems to be much better just now than what it was in Sydney! We even had no jackets on today, wow! I hear its been warm in sunny Scotland - how typical! Never mind, soon we will be in much, much warmer places and can wear all our summery gear! We are not sure how long we are going to stay in Perth for. Christine is leaving on Wednesday and getting the train back down to Melbourne to stay with some friends. Mico and I are booked in the hostel for a week but we are thinking of maybe leaving on Friday and hiring a camper van to go a bit further up the West coast for a few days! Can you picture us driving around in that ... ROAD TRIP!!!!! Ha, ha!! :0) Tomorrow we are off to Fremantle and then who knows after that, so will fill you in later! And hopefully we will find somewhere to download our photos soon! Bye xxxxxxxx