The Big Cram

Queensland has the Big Pineapple, New South Wales has the Big Banana and I had the, 'Big Cram!'
Four holidays of sorts crammed into two weeks and one holiday yet to come.  Just like the song, it sounded like a good idea at the time!

It started off well with the holiday to Pemberton with Mel.  Back to Perth late afternoon and at the airport the next day with my friend heading to
Adelaide.  I caught up with my brother and his wife while just there for one night and my friend caught up with an Aunty of hers.  The next day we boarded the Ghan, for a two and a half day train journey from Adelaide to Darwin.  It is a direct route into the heart and outback of Australia.  The Ghan was named after the Afghans who took their camels into the desert outback so many years ago before trains and cars were used. 

Breakfast option with nuts and cooked Quandong

Our journey was unlike any other holiday.  The train rattled and rolled while we sat in the lounge car drinking champagne and chatting to other passengers. We drank a lot of champagne! All our food and drinks were included in the cost of our train ticket.  At dinner time staff converted the lounge in our tiny cabin to a bed and pulled down the top bunk.  At breakfast the staff converted it back to a day lounge.  Each meal provided three choices, many of them with a flavour of the bush.  Kangaroo fillet, Quandong, wild mushroom, damper.  We spent most of our time on the tracks in the lounge car chatting and playing board games.  The landscape continued to change throughout the day.  Most of the time the vegetation was sparse and the river beds dry.  It is the end of the dry season in the north of Australia and the wet season is soon to come.  The train slowed as we crossed from South Australia to the Northern Territory.  Everyone crammed the window space snapping away with their cameras and smart phones. 

Beautiful Katherine Gorge

The Ghan stopped at both Alice Springs and later at Katherine.  A tour of each place was included in our ticket.  It was my first time at both places and I rejoiced in the opportunity to stop and explore.  It was 40 degrees in Alice Springs.  The heat was dry while in Katherine the humidity was high. I did the town tour in Alice and the Gorge tour in Katherine.  We were fortunate to see original rock art by local Aborigines.  The water levels were low and we walked from Gorge 1 to Gorge 2 before stepping onto the next boat and enjoying the coloured high walls of the gorges and marvel at the bird life.

All too soon our train journey was over as we came to a slow halt just outside Darwin.  It was an experience.  There was little space to stretch but for a couple of days I was happy to stretch my fingers instead of my arms!  It was a good way to do little and relax and let others run around after us.  The fun has just begun our Kakadu adventure is just around the corner! 

The 2 Ghan Engines, cars and many many carriages!