The Ghan is one of the great train journeys of the world, taking you from the very south (Adelaide), to very north (Darwin) end of Australia over two nights and three days via Alice Springs. Both directions are available.
The Ghan was named after the Afghan people who had brought camels to the Australian outback. It originally followed the route of the explorer John Stuart, with the train opening on 4 August 1929, travelling to Alice Springs. In 1980 the track was moved further west to avoid floods, and built with termite-proof concrete sleepers. The trip was extended to reach Darwin, with the completed track opening in February 2004.
We travelled on the Gold level service, which included our own sleeper cabins and access to the Lounge and Restaurant. We were celebrating Ma’s 80th birthday, and thought we were pretty good until we realised another family had hired a whole carriage to celebrate their Ma’s 90th birthday. Keeping up with the Joneses is so hard.
Once settled on the train, we were welcomed to the Lounge car, with complimentary glass of champagne. This set the tone for the rest of the trip, as we seemed to swim in champagne, courtesy of birthday celebrations.
The Lounge and Restaurant cars were beautifully restored with an old world elegance, perfectly matching the elegant dinners that were served on board.
We had expected the average age to be retirees, and it wasn’t far wrong. But we met some extraordinary people in the Lounge car – one passenger had been the engineer for the Sydney Tunnel, and described how they had floated the huge concrete tunnel sections up the coast before joining them underwater and pumping the water out.
Travelling overnight on trains is always exciting and fun – working out how the beds fold away, how your bathroom works.
There were two sittings for each meal, so that there wasn’t a rush for seats in the dining car for each meal.
The sittings were allocated at the start of the trip, so we started to recognise people after a few meals.
I’m a morning person, so I loved waking early and checking out the view from the train window.
Our package included overnight stays at Uluru, Alice Springs and stops at Katharine Gorge.
Alice Springs was an eye-opener. The locals really did hang out in the dry river bed with bottles of booze at lunch time. And call out as we walked past. I had some interesting offers of companionship in the township, but alas, was already taken.
Uluru really does change its colours with the time of day.
Would I do it again? Yes – it was an elegant way to travel. Sure, it was an elderly audience, but that ain’t necessarily a bad thing – we all get there in the end.
