Advertisement
Published: June 18th 2009
There is something magical and almost mystical about great train journeys.Iconic associations spring to mind…..The Oriental Express,The Trans Siberian Express,our own Blue Train and of course some of those Inspector Hercule Poirot murder movies,one of which was set on a train.When planning our travels through Australia there was no real connect with their World class train journeys until Sue’s brother,Rory Lynsky,traveled on The Indian Pacific from Perth to Sydney during 2008.A bit of research and there it was…The Ghan,a 2900km train journey from Darwin to Adelaide.Not only would it get us to a jump off point to access Tasmania but the added opportunity of experiencing one of the World’s top train journeys and seeing a huge slice of this enormous country was irresistible.Train travel is not a hurried affair……after all we had roughly fifty two hours to thread our way to Adelaide.This laid back “let’s not rush things” approach kicked in at the Darwin terminal where a number of announcements informed passengers that boarding would take place in “fifteen minutes”.Scheduled departure time was 09h00 and these boarding updates were still rolling at 09h45.So what better than to just chill and sit back….and use the time to run the eye over our
fellow passengers,none of whom appeared even slightly edgy that we were running late.For starters there are three classes of travel….Platinum Class for the well heeled,Gold Class for those slightly less well heeled but aspiring to Platinum and the Red Sleeper Class,for those who do know what the word “budget” generally means and who continually hope for an upgrade(no surprise…this was our niche).The age range of Platinum and Gold was very much the older,retired brigade whilst the Red Sleeper crew were a spread of young back packers and aspiring youngsters like ourselves.A number of overseas tourists with many heading for Alice Springs where they would hop off and jump back on again when the south bound train goes through next Wednesday(assuming Alice Springs “fever” doesn’t zap them and cause them to never want to leave).At 10h00 we boarded and without too much fuss or fanfare,The Ghan slipped out of Darwin.Seating in Red Sleeper was very comfortable and the seats are able to recline further back than economy class airline seats.Our hostess duly announced all the “do’s and dont’s” and other journey details.Importantly,the dining saloon was one carriage from where we were and reportedly well stocked with food and grog to keep
the Red Sleeper mob well fed and watered.Now….a little bit of history on The Ghan.When large parts of Australia were still being explored in the mid 1800’s,the mode of transport into the Outback and beyond was the camel,mostly brought in and tendered by Afghanistani’s.In August 1929 the first train journey from Adelaide to Alice Springs took place…a journey of 2000 miles.However,the real story about rail travel lies behind construction of the lines.These were laid by rugged railway crewmen who would set out on railway trolleys armed with spades and their manual strength.Back breaking work in harsh countryside having to cope with extreme heat.These guys got thirsty and there is a story about three of them who needed a beer quite badly……so they adapted their railway trolley by fitting a sail and setting off down the line to the nearest pub.Trouble was they quickly hit regatta speed,the trolley jumped track and they,sadly,lost their lives and are today buried at “Dead Man’s Hill”.Construction of the line was heavily influenced by the boom and bust economic cycles at the time and progress was slow.The fortunes of The Ghan in the years after that inaugural journey in 1929 ebbed and flowed and it is
remarkable that it was only in 2001 that work commenced to extend the line to Darwin.And thus the first Adelaide-Darwin run of The Ghan took place as recently as February 2004.Roughly three hours after leaving Darwin,The Ghan slipped into Katherine station for a three hour stop.Various tour packages were on offer, including helicopter flights to the Katherine Gorge(snapped up mainly by the Platinum and Gold clan as prices are high).We chose to hop on to the shuttle bus and explore Katherine on foot.Not much to see except to mention that this is where The School of the Air is situated which educates children by radio across the vast adjacent Outback.We did visit the Springvale Homestead which was the first building erected on the banks of the Katherine River in 1879.A number of the very earliest settlers invested their life’s savings in sheep and cattle farming often with disastrous consequences.Cattle died in numbers from tick infestation whilst the sheep did not take kindly to the long spear grass whose seeds would eventually penetrate their skins and then their vital organs.Those must have been tough days!The buses delivered the flock back to The Ghan which was involved in some intricate shunting maneuvers.So
it became a case of sit,wait and chill……no hurry,except this was starting to impinge on sundowner time.The romance of train travel is definitely enhanced by a glass of chilled white wine whilst gazing into a glorious sunset from the saloon car.On a “brownie point scorecard” with one’s better half this setting must be a top five contender.At the end of a long,leisurely day it was then time to push back the recliner and drift off into slumberland.Sleep somehow,on a gently rocking and rolling train,came easily.On those odd occasions when one woke up to readjust position there was a cacophony of snoring sounds of various pitches and intensity from many of the Red Sleeper brigade.The early morning sky was just showing it’s first blush of light as The Ghan gently rolled on southwards the next morning.The countryside remained flat with sparse shrubs and creamy colored clumps of sunburned grass in all directions.The soil was now distinctly reddish and there was no doubt that we were moving further into the Outback and center of the country.There is much similarity with the Karoo in SA with one major exception…very little sign of bird life and no sightings of ‘roo’s or anything else hopping
or scurrying for that matter.The announcement ahead of arriving in Alice Springs carried two surprises…firstly,they had had a shower of rain which was hard to believe as there were few clouds around and,secondly,the temperature was around 19 deg C(chilly for a town which sizzles at 45 deg C for most of the summer).The Ghan trundled into Alice Springs at 11h00 and it was clear this was no small event in the town’s existence.Loads of buses and tour operators lined up to whisk passengers in all directions on an array of different tours(Ulura/Ayres Rock is about 400kms away).We chose the shuttle bus into town so that we could do the Heritage Tour of old sites of historical importance.An observation……the cost of tours throughout our stay in Oz thus far appeared to us to be a bit over the top.By way of example…a four km round trip into town and back to The Ghan sets you back AU$14.00 pp.(R90).A 70 minute “hop on hop off” tour of Alice Springs costs AU$45.00 pp.(R290).Seems that many Australians are not all that happy with some of these tour costs either…we had heard a number of complaints at different points on our journey.Alice Springs was a compete revelation….not the small,dusty town lost in the Outback but fairly modern and buzzing with tourists.I guess it would have looked very different a decade or two back but there is no doubt that the attractions of the region are bringing in tourists in numbers.There are more art galleries(selling mainly Aboriginal art)per capita in Alice Springs than anywhere else on Earth.This kind of shattered the small town image we had built in our minds and for my money I would rather have seen it as it was 20-30 years ago.It must have been far more charming and representative of the Outback then than it is now.That’s the price of progress!We explored a number of the historical sites including the original Governor’s residence which was visited a few years ago by none other than Prince Charles who developed a case of “gypo” guts whilst there…that’s according to the information board displayed outside(that was it….no other information about his visit).One hears that the Ozzies don’t treat their politicians with too much respect…..looks as though the Royal family gets the gears as well.After a four hour break it was time to board The Ghan again and continue the journey southwards.Late afternoon with golden sunlight blazing out of the biggest blue sky imaginable and a 360 deg view of endless,flat and desperately dry countryside.It doesn’t get much better than that and with this wonderful vista before us it seemed right and proper to sample the saloon’s cure for dry throats.Food is served in the saloon and there was a very good selection of different meals available throughout the day.We had dinner on both evenings and enjoyed really good tucker at reasonable prices.A train journey of this nature is incredibly relaxing.There is simply nowhere to go and you need to kick your shoes off,grab a book and read or gaze out the window.When that gets a bit strenuous,stretch back and snooze…..when that gets a bit boring stumble to the saloon and see what you can get up to there.When that’s all done…repeat the cycle.All the while The Ghan team were on hand offering superb service and friendly advice.And then just to put the seal on a second memorable day on board The Ghan,another of those stunning,blood red Outback sunsets peeked across from a distant western horizon bringing a myriad of different colors to the shadowy plains.A bit of sprucing up before dinner just to keep one refreshed and squeaky clean,the showers provided a handy solution.The third morning dawned dull and grey which was a dramatic change from the previous six weeks of clear,sunny skies.With that all important,early morning cappuccino in hand,it was time for window gazing and a few more mountain ranges shrouded in low,misty cloud came into view on both sides of the train and then there they were…….those fluffy things called sheep which Australia has in abundance.These were the first seen since leaving Perth(perhaps due to our poor spotting in WA?).Vegetation had also changed to low scrubby bushes with a much greener tinge to them and similar to the countryside seen on the West Coast outside Cape Town.Orientation to the map of Oz confirmed that we had,during the night,managed to find the coastline at Port Augusta and we were now some 400km’s from Adelaide.We had also entered South Australia meaning we had visited three of the seven states thus far.On our journey through WA and the NT we had searched long and hard to locate farmhouses(not a common sighting due probably to pastoral farming in those areas).As we gazed out there was increasing evidence of substantial and well organized crop growing and red roofed farm buildings started appearing surrounded by ever present eucalyptus trees(consider this…there are some 900 types of eucalyptus trees in Australia).It was evident that this area had experienced good rain showers in recent days which must have been a blessing as the region was in the grip of a serious drought.A number of small farming towns located in close proximity to the railway line all had a common feature one sees in just about very town across Australia regardless of size………a lush,green oval serving as a footie field.A town bereft of one those could be staring down the barrel!South Australia produces wonderful wines and we had our first sightings of vineyeards dressed up in their winter livery.And then…..without any fanfare or bands playing,The Ghan moved quietly and elegantly into Adelaide’s main rail terminal.The end of a memorable train journey
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 34; dbt: 0.032s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jacques
non-member comment
Hey there
What up mate see you are getting some fish there, what's the price per kg. Looks like you having some fun. If you get to Cairns give a shout will get Marcel to take you fishing.