The train has stopped at Port Augusta, (or Port Agutter for anyone who has been there) to pick up passengers and dump our rubbish. We are about five hours into the 2979km (2 nights and 3 days) journey on The Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin. We have travelled this particular piece of track before when we caught The Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth.

A train trip like this is a great way to start a holiday as it is enforced relaxation. In that sense it is the journey rather than the destination that is important. We have a small cabin with its own en suite (essentially a cupboard with a drain in the bottom and a basin and toilet which fold out from the wall).

Service in our carriage is being provided by Meg and Errol. Meg is in her mid 30s and is very chatty and friendly. Errol on the other hand looks like Jeeves the butler and confuses aloof arrogance with professionalism. The informative commentary over the PA has been replaced by music suitable for the clientele of the train. The average age of passenger is 103 and much of the music comes from the time when Vera Lynn was rocketing up the charts. If nothing else it takes us back to the golden age of railway travel. I wouldn’t be surprised if Noël Coward was tinkling the ivories in the lounge car.

The sun is starting to set so as we leave the coast and enter the red centre the darkness will envelope the landscapeand we will have to wait till morning to glimpse the desert. (Having already glimpsed and consumed the dessert at lunch).

Airports are a little like the holiday equivalent of limbo, that place between earth and heaven where you are in neither. You have left home, but you haven’t actually gone anywhere.

Living so close to the airport means that we can afford to leave our departure fairly late. By the time we checked in our bags it was time to board. We boarded 20 minutes before the advertised departure time and took off 45 late due to an extended “engineering check”. Personally, if they are making sure the plane is safe I don’t care how long they take.

We are flying Virgin Blue, so althouh the fare is relatively cheap, everything on board is extra, food, entertainment, seats etc. “In the event of loss of cabin pressure, masks will drop from the ceiling. Please swipe your credit card to receive the oxygen.”

Ooh, here comes lunch.