The Ghan

Well.  I am back again.  A little while between entries but I have been good at updating the flickr account.. so i hope that counts for something.  We jumped on the Ghan train which takes us south from Darwin to Alice Springs and eventually to Adelaide.  The first stop along the way was Katherine.  They allow people on the train four hours to tour the town or pay a little money and see the amazing Katherine Gorge.  Krystal and I got a bus to the gorge and went for a walk through the national park.  There were options for helicopter rides and boat tours.. but remember.. we are backpackers.  The view at the top was spectacular.  We had to walk pretty quick to catch the bus back to the train.

The train continued south to Alice Springs.  To be honest.. Alice Springs is kind of crappy... its a small town close to Uluru... and thats about it.  We had a tour booked on our second day so we spent the first day walking around town.. and out to the old telegraph station.  Alice Springs is named after the wife of the fellow who worked on connecting a telegraph wire from Adelaide to Darwin.  We walked through the dried up Todd river.  It was hot and there were flies everywhere.. but it was fun.

The next morning we woke up at 6 and jumped on our tour bus.  This was not like our Kakadu tour... this was full of backpackers who were taking a cheap 3 day tour of the famous Uluru.  We drove for over 4 hours and arrived at Kings Canyon.  It is a spectacular walk around the canyon.  We even took a dip in a natural swimming hole.  The thermometer showed 50 above..  The guide had told us to bring 3 liters of water and he was not joking.  The walk was about 3 hours and it drained everyone.  We all jumped on the bus and continued to our sleeping place.  The ground in the middle of the outback.  We even had to stop and load the van up with firewood.  The food on the tour was suspect at best.. but dinner was ok.. and we all collapsed into our 'swags' and fell asleep under the stars.  The ground emits heat all night and its fairly warm.  The swag is basically a big canvas sack that you put a light sleeping bag inside.  We slept pretty well.

We woke up the next morning and headed to Kata Tjua (The Olgas).  The Olgas are very similar to Uluru.. but for some reason are completely unknown to everyone.. including me.  Apparently they even hold more significance to the Aboriginals than Uluru.  We were supposed to go on the Valley of the Winds tour.. but it was too hot so the park had close the walk.  Our guide found us a small walk through the giant rocks.  It was too bad that we missed out of the bigger tour.. but at least we were able to see the Olgas.

We went to the Uluru gift shop..err.. I mean the cultural center and then headed to the more exciting thing of the whole trip.. SHOWERS!!  Krystal had had a few comments on her strange body odour.. so she was super happy :)  Or maybe that was me.. but I, he who writes the blog tells the truth.  We went on a short tour at the base of Uluru.  The rock is absolutely giant.  It is a monolith.. which means its actually 1 rock.  Apparently some sort of earthquake formed it.. but it sounded like no one was really sure how it was formed.  I say Aliens..  We finished the day off by taking millions upon millions of pictures of Uluru as the sun set over the rock.  We spent the night in the Uluru campsite.. again in our swags on the ground.

We woke up very very early and headed for the Uluru sunrise.  Now, I as person who likes to take photos would have loved to be behind the rock.. as the sun rose.  But for some reason everyone likes to be on the sun side of the rock as it the sun rises behind you... and shines on the rock.  To be honest..it was neat.. but not that amazing. Very similar to the sun set.  Oh well.  We then had the option to walk around Uluru or walk up it.  The Aboriginals own the land and lease it to the government of Australia.  They cannot forbid anyone to walk up Uluru.. but they ask that you don't.  The truth is.. that they close the walk 90% of the time.. for high temperatures, wind, rain... just about anything.  I think that the promise of the walk brings the tourists in.  I am not sure if I would have walked on the sacred rock.. but I did not have to choose.. because .. it was closed both days.  So we did the walk around.  It was ok.  The path had a million tourists and was really easy.

Over the past few days I took literally one picture for every fly that flew into my eye.  Which.. for you uninformed.  Is a lot.  We boarded the bus and made the long trek back to Alice Springs.  It seemed to take forever.  We stopped for a few minutes and Krystal and I rode a camel.. which was good for a laugh..

In the end.. we had a nice cold beer in Alice Springs and said goodbye to our new friends from the tour.  It was amazing.

The Ghan continued south to Adelaide.  The seats on this train were terrible because it was newer and they did not recline as much as the older versions.  I barely slept.

So we did it.  2 great train journeys.  The Indian Pacific and the Ghan.  5 nights sitting up... but it was great.