The Indian Pacific railway journey does just that-it links the Pacific and Indian Oceans via Sydney in the east and Perth in the far west. We boarded the train in Sydney, and were enchanted with our cabin, the largest on the train-a decent sized bed, sitting area (2 chairs and a table), extremely efficient shower/loo arrangement, mini bar with champagne and automatic hot water for tea and coffee. Two wide windows ensured we would have splendid views of the scener...

We stopped in Adelaide on day 2 of our train journey for a 2 hour bus tour while the train was victualing. We discovered it is a charming Victorian city with very advanced planning ideas. Wide avenues with large houses are all facing outwards from the centre, towards the parks. The proposal to build the city was sanctioned by the Duke of Wellington when he was Prime Minister and interestingly South Australia was the only colony that didn't accept transported conv...