Going on The Ghan

We boarded The Ghan train in Adelaide at midday on Sunday and found our allocated berth – number 5 in N carriage.  It was small but adequate, with an ensuite, a bench seat, and a good sized window.  Definitely no extra room for cat swinging.  We were pleased to find we were travelling forward as requested.  There are 36 carriages and the train is almost one kilometre long (902 metres), with an average speed of 85 km/h.

A lounge had comfortable seating and drinks available at all hours with meals served in the adjacent Queen Adelaide Restaurant.  These two cars serviced four carriages (80 people) with similar lounges and restaurants scattered all along the train.  While we had dinner our beds were made up.  Being more agile than Stephen I took the upper bunk and climbed the firm ladder to get there.  The bunks were actually longer than those in the ‘Murray Princess’, a relief for Stephen, and both had a bedlight and a little shelf for glasses and MP3 player.  The light was only just adequate for reading. I’ve been in a sleeper berth with a toilet and basin before, but never one with a shower as well.  This worked fine, but had no indication which way was hot and which way cold.  Consequently my shower was warmer than I needed.

We were already up when our early morning call came at 6am at Marla.  Most people trooped off the train, and followed a lantern-lit path to an area with picnic tables and seats, beside a bonfire.  We were served juice and coffee, plus a picnic breakfast, and able to watch the desert sunrise.  The red earth was different, and the sky clear, but I have to say the sunrise was not as spectacular as many we get in Christchurch.

Bonfire at Marla

Sunrise at Marla

Afterwards we returned to our cabin, where beds had now been stowed away, to pass through miles of flat red desert sparsely sprinkled with trees and bushes, occasionally a rocky mound in the distance.  Very occasionally we saw a few cattle.

Outback desert

More desert

Carriage N on The Ghan – note red soil

The growth was tropical as we neared Darwin

 

Tuesday morning there was more vegetation as we neared Darwin. Along the way there were hundreds of red termite hills.  Unfortunately my photo from the moving train isn’t very clear.

Termite hills

These mounds were all kinds of shapes, some at least a metre high.  Some were cone shaped, others like sculptures of people, or indeed the Venus of Willendorf.  I suggested they might be Goddesses.  Stephen said some looked phallic.  Towards Katherine the growth looked green and the soil very red.  Occasionally there were Brahman cattle, pale as though they’d been bleached by the sun.  During the whole journey Stephen saw just one kangaroo, but I didn’t see any.

The whole trip was an amazing experience, with lavish meals.  More to come about Alice Springs and the Nitmiluk Gorge at Katherine.