Boarding the mighty Ghan

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Geo: -23.6975, 133.884

A public holiday today and another cloudy day, in-fact its been cloudy since the beginning of our holiday. We have organised a late checkout today as we don't have much to do before boarding the Ghan at 5.00 pm tonight. We decide to take up the offer on a discounted breakfast then I need to drop my hire car off at Double Tree on Hilton. There was no rep there so I just did a key drop then caught a taxi back to the hotel.

After watching a few movies we checked out and decided to go back into town so we could visit the Royal Flying Doctor Service but it was closed so we caught a taxi to Lasseters Casino to fill in a couple of hours before the Ghan baggage check was open.

Having lost some money we caught another Taxi to the Alice Springs Station and there it was The mighty Ghan stretching out in all its glory. We were both getting excited now as this part of the journey was what we had been waiting for ever since we booked it. The Ghan staff welcomed us with a cold drink then organised our dinner sitting and tour preferences and it wasn't long before we boarded and got the first glimpse of out cabin (it was very nice with a large window and all the amenities you could ask for including a 240V outlet.

We made our way down to the Queen Victoria saloon bar and snagged a table and two chairs before the other passengers started to pour in. I got us both a cold drink and we began to relax as we waved Alice Springs goodbye. I doubt we will return to Alice it was less than impressive and our two day visit was more than enough.

As day turned into night we were escorted to a table in the dining car and were seated next a lovely retired couple from Melbourne. We had a great time exchanging stories over a very nice three course dinner with matching wines.

After dinner we headed back to the saloon car for a nightcap before returning to our cabin at 9.30 pm where our beds had been made up and chocolates placed on our pillows. Its not long before we get to sleep, apparently the train stopped twice and Deb didn't sleep all that well but I sure did.

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