Go West (To Go East)

My five hour flight today from Sydney to Perth went off without a hitch.

Landing in Perth I kept thinking how much it reminded me of Southern California 25 years ago -- spread-out, relatively flat and mostly brown.

The city itself is very charming. It certainly feels like "Western" Australia.

By the way, I learned last night they don't have "downtowns" in Australia. They have "City Centres." Nor do they have "gas stations." They have "Servies" which is short for "Service Station." The Australians love shortening words, like "Uni" for "University."

Sometimes someone will talk to me and I'll sit there thinking, "I know we're speaking the same language, but I don't understand you."

Tomorrow I board the Indian Pacific Railroad for the three day trip back to Sydney (crossing Australia's Outback) and via Adelaide.

One of the world's longest regularly scheduled rail routes, it includes the single longest perfectly straight stretch of railroad track -- 478 kilometers over the stark Nullarbor Plain.

I'll arrive back in Sydney on Wednesday. I'll blog along the way if I can, but I don't really expect internet access on the train as we trundle through the desolate landscape. So we may have radio silence until Wednesday.

But I wouldn't leave you without my annual Oscar predictions. (Since I'll be on the train I don't expect to see the show and may not even know the results for a day or two afterwards. Not my best example of travel planning!)

BEST ACTOR
Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland"

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Eddie Murphy in "Dreamgirls"

BEST ACTRESS
Helen Mirren in "The Queen"

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jennifer Hudson in "Dreamgirls"

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
"Cars"

BEST ART DIRECTION
"Dreamgirls"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
"Children of Men"

BEST COSTUMES
"Dreamgirls"

BEST DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese for "The Departed"

BEST DOCUMENTARY
"An Inconvenient Truth"

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
"The Blood of Yingzhou District"

BEST FILM EDITING
"The Departed"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"Pan's Labyrinth"

BEST MAKE-UP
"Pan's Labyrinth"

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
"Babel"

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Listen" from "Dreamgirls"

BEST MOTION PICTURE
"The Departed"

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
"Lifted"

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
"West Bank Story"

BEST SOUND EDITING
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

BEST SOUND MIXING
"Dreamgirls"

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"The Departed"

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Little Miss Sunshine"

At least if my predictions tank I won't know it while it actually happens.