To get to Alice Springs from Adelaide, we rode one of Australia's historic raliways, the Ghan (the light blue line in the map above). The train cuts through the center of the Outback, from Adelaide in the south to Darwin in the North, stopping in Alice Springs right in the middle. The train's name is derived from its original nickname, The Afghan Express - the train follows a trail blazed by Afghan Camel riders. Apparently the original Ghan journey (80 years ago) was quite an adventure - there were several different gauges of track used along the way, and as a result passengers would have to switch trains every once in a while. In addition to this, the original route crossed several floodplains and the wooden ties were susceptible to the bushfires that would sweep across the plains; as a result, trains were occasionally stranded on one side or the other of the journey, or, if they were really unlucky, somewhere in the middle. Apparently at one point the Ghan was cut off in the middle of nowhere for 10 days before floodwaters receded enough for the train to continue - legend has it that the engineer hunted wild goats to feed his passengers.
In 1980, the new Ghan track was built, all of one standard gauge and in a slightly different path so as to avoid floodplains. It's an overnight journey from Adelaide to Alice Springs, and then another one on to Darwin.
Instead of getting a cabin, we got "Overnight Sleeper Seats," which are about 1/4 the cost. I was envisioning something along the lines of a seat that would recline into a bed or something like that; what it turned out to be was something more like an airplane. Which meant that it was a long sleepless journey... But it was still fun, with some incredible scenery:
Right outside Adelaide, the grass is still green...
But the farther into the desert you go...
... the redder things get
Not sleeping has its benefits though - I was awake for an incredible sunrise
The border between South Australia and the Northern Territory
The Finke River. No water...
When we arrived in Alice Springs, we checked in at the hostel there and, again, set out to explore the city. It is not a particularly large city, more of a town really, with a two block long stretch of shopping area in the middle, mainly for souvenir shops and Aboriginal art galleries. Across the street from our hostel, the Todd River "flows" through town, or at least they say it does maybe once a decade... There is an annual event here called the Henley-on-Todd Regatta, which prides itself on being the only boat race in the world that is cancelled if there is actually water flowing in the river. Instead of sailing, crews run down the Todd carrying their boats around them, Flintstones-style. We apparently missed it by just a week or so - it would have been quite a sight to see.
The original plan had been to go out on the tour the next day, but when we checked in with the tour company they told us that a group had just come in and would have to leave to early do make it onto the next tour - they asked us if we would be willing to give them our spots on this tour and just take the next one. We had planned on having an extra day in Alice Springs when we got back anyway, so we gave them our spots and instead had an extra day in Alice Springs before we left.
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