You will remember my disappointment when I arrived in Australia - the Big Pink Island -to discover that it was not pink as it was on my school wall maps. Well, do you remember gobstoppers that we used to buy as children for one old penny (1d)? When you sucked them for a while they were pink in the middle. Well that is Australia. Pink in the middle.

I got onto the Ghan, the overland train 900 metres long and weighing 2,000 tons to go 1,500 kilometers to Alice Springs. They call it the BBT - Bloody Big Train. When I awoke in the morning everything was pink. The Aussies call it red, but what do they know...