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 scenery. Which, for a large part of the trip, was broad flat plains or rolling hills, with generally sparse vegetation, especially on the Nullarbor ("no trees") plain, which has the longest stretch of absolutely straight track in the world—275 miles with nary a curve. We stopped in Adelaide where we took a 2 hour bus tour, of this charming Victorian city with very advanced planning ideas.

The most surprising thing about this trip was how absorbing it was to just sit and watch the scenery fly by. The majestic, mostly barren (of people and buildings) landscape was awe-inspiring, especially to think of the long ago settlers who attempted to cross this vast area, having no idea what was in store. We hardly had time to read, what with watching the scenery and looking out for kangaroos and emus (we saw a number of each on the first day, then none on the Nullarbor plain), and then going to the dining car for our meals, which seemed to come around very quickly. We shared tables with a number of the other travellers, most of whom were Australian, and older than us. Arrived in Perth, and our taxi driver to the car rental place was from Pittsburgh, and more interested in the upcoming super bowl than in the delights of Perth.