Alice Springs

Another epic railway journey under my belt. On The Ghan this time , a railway that runs from north to south between Adelaide and Perth.

It wasn't as good as the Indian Pacific, but only because the seats were not as comfortable and didn't fully recline. I spent a fitful night sleeping in shifts and needing to change positions every 30 minutes or so, much as you do on a plane. Still, it's great to wake up with the early morning sun lighting up the barren wasteland of the outback.

I travelled in the Red section, which is the cheap end of the train reserved for backpackers and people on a low budget. Further down the train is the Gold section where luxury and a good night's sleep come at a hefty price.

If you've ever read the excellent 'Down Under' by Bill Bryson you may recall that he travels on the Indian Pacific but in the expensive bit. There comes a point in the train where there is a divide betwween carriages and never the twain shall meet. For Bryson something out of the wild west lies beyond that door. An area of untold mayhem. But I can assure him it's not so. It was quite peaceful, at least with my ear plugs in it was.

I did ask Hayley, one of the very helpful rail staff, if they had much excitement on the trains.

'God, yes, ' she relied. 'Mainly around the mining towns. We get some rough characters getting on board and they do get out of hand. We chuck them off the train, them and the smokers.'

What? I'm not exactly pro-smoking, especially in a confined space like a train, but to be thrown off in the middle of a desert and left to fend for yourself sounds like a harsh punishment for lighting up. Judging by what I saw out of the window even Crocodile Dundee would have trouble making it through the day.

Fortunately Hayley clarifies that they only get thrown off at stations and the police are waiting when they get there.

In a sense that is even more unbelievable. Where I live if you're a victim of crime it takes Plod all their time to send a badly typed letter with the wrong name on to tell you they're doing nothing about it. Imagine a country where a police taskforce is mobilised to deal with 'person smoking in the lavvy'.

I'm only in Australia for another 3 nights but I'm being very careful. I did some jay walking in front of a police car earlier but managed to get off with a nasty glare. Whew!

See you at Uluru.

Live long and prosper.