By Rodney Harris

We're back again at Rydges Perth for a one night interval
We walk St Georges' Terrace and stroll through Hay Street Mall.
We pass the WACA oval and check out London Court;
And see the Swan Bell Tower (a very striking one we thought).

So it's back to eat at Simon's for two big T bone steaks.
We've even found our passports!! ….We can't do with such mistakes!
A taxi-man from Liverpool takes us to East Perth Station.
We book in all our baggage with great anticipation!

There beside the platform sits …..the Indian Pacific
The longest train we've ever seen and looking just terrific!
And so we board this mighty train in "Golden Kangaroo"
(Putting this another way, we're going haute choo-choo.)

By dawn we're on the Nullabor…an endless, treeless plain:
A vaste sea of spinafex…a desert in all but name.
By midday we get to Cook, a virtual ghost town.
The engine takes on fuel and water. We're told "The air con's down"!

The temp'rature's over 40. They want to make up time.
We walk round at the double but still get "cooked" just fine.
We soon get under way again. The air con starts to blow.
We're back on schedule thanks to Cook. It's now "all systems go".

Red gums, blue bushes, bright red earth…plants of which we've no conception
All these pass by, and at days end we slowly see the shadows lengthen.
Someone's turning out the light; no foreground…. just sunsets shades.
With red and orange, burning down…very soon it's black as spades.

Back to Done That...

We really like the people who send in their stories and poems. Their views are always worth listening to. Sometimes they might differ from that of Explore, but that's okay because the world is an interesting place and we like to discover and talk about it, even if we don't agree. Just so you know.

For Explore's programme of tours to Australia click here