After dinner that night, we stopped at the remote rail siding of Manguri, around 50km from Coober Pedy. The train’s well-lit windows made a cinematic backdrop to the scene.

Even in the desert, some people seemed only interested in their phones.

A bonfire was ready and waiting, and most passengers gravitated towards it. The 15C or so temperatures was a cool change to the tropics.

Meanwhile, I was more interested in capturing the stars on a clear, desert night.

My attempt was short-lived though. Moments after this, an over-zealous security guard type said I couldn’t step out of the light due to “OH and S considerations”. That just killed the fun out of the desert night experience for me.

One more morning, and by noon the following day we were back in civilisation – Adelaide.