Alice Springs

"The Ghan", is the train that goes north from Adelaide to Darwin and back. The coaches are similar to those of the Indian Pacific but the length of the train is perhaps longer (800 meters). In the early days in Australia for those traveling to the Outback, they used camels for transporting their supplies as horses required water which is not readily available there. The camel drivers were either from Afghanistan or from Pakistan but to the Aussies they were all Afghans. As the train takes much the same route as the camel trains did, consequently the name: "The Ghan".

I was advised to not go to Darwin at this time of year as the weather conditions are not favourable on account of possible hurricanes (or typhoons, or what ever). Instead I opted for Alice Springs which is situated right at the center of Australia. The trip to Alice Springs had a duration of 24 hours and this time the train left and arrived on time.

For the first hour of so of the journey, the countryside was very lush and green but as we continued on, the countryside was anything but; as all one could see was the red earth of Australia which contains much iron oxide. The land was flat with the odd what I would call a mole hill. Looking out the window of the train the only vegetation was salt bush and died trees starved for moisture. There was the odd carcass of a dead animal, perhaps having died of thirst. Regarding animals, I did not see any wild ones at all, although out of Adelaide some passengers claimed to have seen "Emus". Further on, there were some cattle grazing where the ranchers had made dugouts to hold water when it rained. Other than that, there was not much to see.

We passed over the "Finke River " about 300 kilometres south of Alice Springs which is claimed to be the oldest river in the world (300 million years) but it was dry-as-a-bone at this time of the year. Likewise was the Todd River that flows (when there is water) through Alice Springs. In August the locals hold a regatta on the Todd River Bed as it is dry and race one another carrying bottomless boats. On arrival at Alice Springs when stepping off the train, the heat was overwhelming. I'm sure it was nearly 40°C. Anyway, we were driven away in an air conditioned bus to the Chifley Alice Springs Resort for the night. The first thing I did was to put on my bathing suit and go for a swim. I was told that the water for Alice Springs comes from aquifers and not pipelines from distant lakes as I had seen in Broken Hill. The electricity is generated by natural gas from local sources. (With all the sunshine here, one wonders why solar generation is not employed.)

My fellow passengers on my section of the The Ghan Train were mostly English Folks who were on an arranged tour. After the usual socializing in the lounge car with a retired Aussie and a Dane, I was seated for a late lunch with an English couple who live in London. They got into a hot discussion whether Britain should stay in the European Union or not. The man was all for quitting the EU but not so his wife. It was interesting to hear the arguments for and against. They agreed to cancel each other's vote when they go to the polls in June.

At the evening meal, I was seated with three other guys, two Aussies (one of them being the tour guide) and a Welshman. There was a discussion of New Zealand having just defeated the changing of their present flag to one having a fern leaf more or less on the left centre, black in colour on the top left fly and the Southern Cross on the right side as they have now. There was also a discussion on the topic of should Australia change their present flag. The Welshman (even though he was not an Aussie) was dead set against removing the present Union Jack from the Australian flag. So was the tour guide. The other Aussie was all for a distinctive flag. I sat back and listened while the three of them fought it out. I did put in an odd comment, saying that there were many in Canada against adopting a new flag but after it was done, people seemed to be pleased.

The next morning for breakfast my table partners were two old dolls who immigrated from Scotland to Australia.  The older of the two was good looking too.  We had a very friendly discussion of their present home in Australia and their former home of Scotland. The Scots never forget the land from which they have come. I think the main reason the Scots leave Scotland is because of the weather as that came up in our discussion often at breakfast.

Last but not least were with an English couple in the lounge car. The lady was born in Vancouver, lived for a short time in Victoria but moved with her family to England when she was two-years old. She still has relatives in Canada and has been back several times. In fact this couple have been everywhere, even on the railway from China to Tibet and to such locations as Antarctica.

As I said the first thing I did in Alice Springs was go for a swim. The second was to have a good meal. The resort at the Chifley has an excellent chef. In fact, I am impressed with much what I have seen in Alice Springs. The town (23,000 population) is not what was shown in the movie "Crocodile Dundee". It's a very modern town with paved streets, sidewalks and curbs. The business section is very modern and is laid out in the usual square grid fashion while the residential is laid out in crescents.

Tuesday morning we all had to get up early to catch our tour bus to Uluru (Ayers Rock). Wonders of wonders, it was raining that morning which delighted the locals! In fact, our bus driver (who made a running commentary as we traveled) said that Alice Springs had a good rain as recently as two weeks ago. The drive took six hours with stops first at a camel station where for $6 one could sit on a camel and then be lead around a circular corral. No thanks! The other was a cattle station where I bought a sandwich and an Aussie Flynet. What is an Aussie Flynet you ask? An Aussie Flynet is a net you wear over your head (best if you wear a baseball cap) so that you don't have to make the "Outback Salute".  In some areas one is always swishing flies away from one's face.

This particular camel station is one dedicated to tourists but there are others that raise camels for export to: believe it or not; Saudi Arabia, but others are raised for meat processing. The bus driver was full of facts and figures; he told us that when the railway was completed to Alice Springs in 1929 and beyond that there was no more use for the camels. The Afghan drivers were told to destroy their beasts but many did not and turned them loose. Presently there are over 600,000 wild camels roaming around the outback.

The cattle stations are rather interesting. Apparently, the vegetation in the area around Alice Springs is not amenable for raising sheep but it is for raising cattle.  In order for a cattle station to be economically viable, the rancher must run at least 4,000 head of cattle. Because of the scarcity of grazing feed, it requires one square kilometre per animal. In other words, the cattle station must be 4,000 square kilometres.  We passed a number of cattle stations on our way to Ayers Rock. Our bus driver told us that the larger cattle stations are north of Alice Springs.

Ayers Rock is a very modern tourist village (pop 1,000 permanent residents and 3,000 to 4,000 tourists) built in the late 1980's. It is constructed around a distorted oval, the center portion of the oval is all park dedicated to the natural vegetation and is criss-crossed by many walking paths. The hotels (my hotel: Desert Gardens), commercial centre and campground are built along the outside of the oval. A free shuttle bus runs continuously around the oval from 10:30am to 12:30am daily. The little tour takes about 20 minutes. I was impressed with this little village.

We had to again rise early for a 5:30am departure to Uluru to witness the sun rise. I was not too impressed with the sunrise at Uluru, as we do have a more spectacular sunrise over Saltspring Island back home. What did fascinate me was to see the moon right over my head, whoa! We walked right up to the Rock (as the locals call it) touching it and listening to the folk lore stories of the Aboriginals.

The afternoon was spent touring a camel farm where there must have been over a 100 camels. They seemed to be a very lethargic beast as they (like cows) lie down (kneel) and chew their cud all day. I didn't ride a camel.

Tonight, me and my fellow tourists travel back to Uluru and dine along with what they call "Sounds of Silence" and watch the stars. I'll tell you all about it after I arrive in Perth. But first I must catch and early morning flight to Alice Springs and then to Adelaide before catching the Indian Pacific to Perth. (Three days on the train.)

Bon Jour