Adelaide, Australia

I have just been on a long train journey. No comparisons with the British rail network will be entertained.

I'm here in Adelaide's city centre killing time before I can go to my hostel, but I'll just catch you up with what's happened since I last wrote.

I went to Fremantle again on the Friday, and managed not to skirt around the interesting part of the city, which I'd somehow managed to do on Wednesday. It's an old colonial port complete with colonial buildings, which are conspicuous by their absence in Perth. There's a lively market there filling a large warehouse near the centre - but by "lively" I'm speaking relatively, as compared to Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown market it's like a car boot sale.

Anyway, that occupied Friday, and Saturday was taken up with packing, shopping for the upcoming journey (can't beat Pringles for a long journey) and going to a football match - real football! Perth Glory are top of the Aussie league, but, to be honest, you wouldn't guess it from the quality of play. I never thought I'd say this, but, I forgive you, Reading FC! Still, it was nice to see that some Australians follow real sport, not Aussie Rules which I shall have to catch a game of at some point.

My train left Perth at 1155 on Sunday, whic unfortunately meant I couldn't go to the Scotts' church. I made my way to where the train departs from their local commuter station, and the contrast between the two trains is marked! One is three carriages long with mostly standing room. The other is 20 carriages long, travels for hours and hours with no stops and requires a station with an especially long platform to stop at.

I was slightly disappointed to see that the "Daynighter seats" (otherwise known as cheap seats) on the Indian Pacific service are four across in a carriage, which doesn't leave much space for stretching out. Thankfully, there's plenty of leg room, and also a lounge car where you can, erm, lounge! As expected, the restaurant car was heinously expensive, which made me glad to have brought supplies on board.

The train has only 2 scheduled stops on the 2500km journey between Perth and Adelaide, at the goldrush town of Kalgoorlie (where it stops for 2 hours at 23:00 to refuel and so forth) and the ghost town of Cook (population: 2). I had a brief wander around these places, but really there wasn't much to see.

Speaking of not much to see, allow me to introduce you to the Nullarbor plain, possibly the biggest waste of space since George W Bush's brain cavity. From dawn on Monday at 0630 to mid-afternoon, there was nothing to see. Nothing. It's a completely flat limestone plain with almost no vegetation or habitation, so much so that the railway at one point goes for 450km without a single bend. I attempted to amuse myself in several ways. "I Spy" never really got off the ground, and repeating "This is the furthest east I've ever been" to myself lost its appeal rapidly too. In the end, I read all the books I had with me and listened to music.

I'm glad I've done one of the world's great train journeys, but next time, just take me to the airport, OK?