Perth to Adelaide 'India Pacific'

The Indian Pacific train runs from Perth to Sydney via Adelaide and takes 2 days. I was booked to travel only as far as Adelaide so have two nights on the train …
Having made my reservation several months in advance I arrive at the station to find a line of people waiting to collect tickets for both Gold and Red service (I am red service and so wait in the longer of the two lines!!). Within 30 mins I am checked into bunk 1 in carriage N of a HUGE diesel train - takes me back to being in India where trains are sometimes longer than the platforms!! Next I needed to check my luggage in… DO NOT make the mistake I made by checking it in before taking out what you need for the journey as you will not have access to this bag until you arrive!!!!! Yep, I had to get the conductor to open up the baggage car to get my pack to extract a change of clothes and wash kit as this had not been explained to me during check in (If you have a car it is possible to have this taken as well!! There are two carriages at the back of the train like open top Euro-tunnel transport carriages and this will be cheaper than trying to ship your car to Sydney)… Anyhow - once the bags are on board all the passengers are boarded at 11.30am when I find my cabin it is shared with a splendid Ozzie chap called Greg, but the space we have is minimal. Squeezing into the cabin there is just enough room to sit on a chair facing my fellow passenger. The cabin has a tiny cupboard for a bag and coat (DO NOT expect enough space here for a backpack!!), two pull down bunks, one electrical socket and a pull down sink (This can only be opened if the cabin door is shut - space is that tight!!).
The train pulls away spot on time at 11.55am and smoothly glides along its rails towards the East Coast passing through a landscape of red earth and gum trees. Strange and alien to me, but for Australians the norm - I am told that the landscape will turn into rolling low hills and flat plains as we pass into the grain belts, but hopefully I will get to see some local wildlife, after all I have not seen a kangaroo yet 0_0
The train has a range of facilities on board including a meal car which serves hot breakfast from 7-8.30am and Dinner 6-7.30pm while providing snacks from a bar all day. Due to having a sleeper Red class ticket I also have access to the lounge car which has FREE COFFEE :) (ok its Nescafe pre-pack but hey its free)… Also with comfortable seats, sofas and plug points for laptops and phones. So time to sit back, enjoy a ‘Flat White’ (coffee with milk) and take in the landscape as we sedately pass by on the Indian Pacific. Meals on the train are also good value considering they are from a train resto-car (cooked dinner $12.50 - $13.50 and full cooked breakfast including eggs, bacon, beans, hash brown and toast $8.95)