We
took the Ghan train from Adelaide for a 970-mile overnight ride through the
outback to Alice Springs. Waiting to board the train we watched all the windows
being cleaned so we’d have nice clear views. Afghani camel trains, carrying
supplies, made the long 970-mile trek between the two cities for many years,
thus the name Ghan Train. A paved road did not exist until 1980.
We
were delighted to learn that only one of us was booked into a double sleeper cabin.
That meant that neither of us had to climb up into the top bunk and it gave us
a lot more room. Our cabins were located just about midway from the bathrooms
on either end of the train.
The
train traveled over level ground in the center of the country. After the wheat
fields of the Flinders Range, it was flat expanses of salt bush. Flat, flat,
flat!
We
bought a bottle of wine before boarding the train. Since we left Adelaide very
late afternoon, we decided to open the wine before dinner. I have to tell you
it was the first and last time I ever drank wine out of a Styrofoam cup---but
it was all we had and the good Girl Scout in me said just make do!
Dinner
on the train was good, and served in style.
The evening on the train was a good time
to learn a bit more about the land Down Under. We agreed Australia is a land of
awesome natural wonders, vibrant contrasts, friendly people, sophisticated
cities, exotic and unique wildlife and has a short but interesting history as a
nation.
The county’s bush ballads
and folk tales tell the story of the perseverance of farmhands, miners, and
sheep shearers to build a nation in a challenging environment. It is the only
nation in the world that covers an entire continent, and is the world’s sixth
largest country in land area. It is the flattest, smallest and second driest
continent (after Antarctica).
Most
of the train ride took place while we were sleeping, but I wager we missed
little interesting scenery. Only an overnight bag was allowed on the train as
all other luggage was put in a separate train car.
We
had breakfast on the train and arrived in Alice Springs 9:40 AM. Luggage was
off loaded in a timely manner and we were actually at our motel at 10 AM.
Alice
Springs is small and the motel was exactly that, although clean and adequate.
There was little choice in accommodations, but we knew we’d be back in
wonderful small boutique hotels in a couple of days.
The
city was originally named Stuart after an explorer, but was renamed Alice Springs
after Alice Todd, the wife of the telegraph station building project foreman.
In 1939 the population was 700, today it is 26,000 give or take, and it is the
center for Aboriginal artworks, and base camp for Outback travelers.
Alice
Springs started out as a cattle town, and as late as the 1970s the city still
had a Wild West image. It now survives on the tourist trade. In the Northern
Territory, twice the size of Texas, the 178,000 people are outnumbered by sheep
and rivaled by kangaroos, dingoes and Afghan camels. There were at the time of
my visit 1600 Americans living in Alice
Springs, most involved in the NASA tracking station at Pine Gap. Aborigines make up 20% of the city’s
population.
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