The Ghan, Katherine and Alice Springs

G'day!

Plane, train, bus, or automobile to Alice Springs to see Uluru/Ayers Rock?  I chose the train and bought a Rail Explorer pass ($450) which allows unlimited travel on Great Southern Railways routes for 3 months.  There's a $10 fuel charge for every trip I book and a $50 cancellation fee if I don't travel on a booked ticket.  The Ghan travels between Darwin and Adelaide twice a week in each direction.  The Indian Pacific goes between Sydney, Adelaide and Perth while The Overland plies between Adelaide and Melbourne.

The outback - view from The Ghan

So I took a cab ($12) with 3 other girls from Dingo Moon Lodge to the railway station, 20 minutes from the CBD.  I checked in on Sunday 8 am, an hour before departure and checked my backpack (2 pieces under 20 kilos each allowed).  My arrival time in Alice Springs (1500 km/930 miles) was scheduled for Monday 11:30 am (27.5 hours).

There are 3 levels of service on the Ghan: Platinum, Gold, and the one I took, Red.  I was in a Day/nighter seat which reclines somewhat.  The Red Service dining car, the Matilda Cafe, serves reasonably priced and pretty good meals and snacks and overpriced drinks.  A lounge car ($10/day) provides free coffee and tea and power points (outlets) for electricity.  Red service sleepers are available for $150/night.  You can bring your own anything except alcohol.

Cruising in Katherine

I was excited about my train ride.  I would get to see the countryside, the renown barren, wide open outback!  And I did!  Miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles of it!!  Actually, it is amazing how huge and empty of humans so much land can be.  And the land was not all flat as I expected.  There were little hills here and there, little lakes (billabongs?) and creeks and creek beds. The ground was often very red (iron) and sometimes white, yellow, or brown.

The vegetation was mostly low shrubs and grasses.  Sometimes there were small trees, rarely large trees.  I saw cattle and lots of birds including an emu running.  From time to time, I could see B-trains (3 trailer big rigs), campers, and cars on the Stuart Highway which runs parallel.

Katherine Gorge

We had two very long stops on the way to Alice Springs.  The first was a 5 hour stop in Katherine.  Whistle stop tour options are outlined on the Ghan magazine, Platform.  I chose the 3-hour Two Gorge Cruise for $85.  It was all very well organized.

 A tour bus took us to the gorge where we transferred onto two flat bottomed boats.  A tour guide explained the formation of the gorges and described some of the local plants, birds, and animals.  The cliffs, rocks, and water were beautiful.  We saw two crocodiles, a croc trap, and beaches where the crocs nest.  We got off the boat to see some old Aboriginal rock art and to walk to another gorge where we boarded a second boat.  The second boat cruised partway up Katherine Gorge.  Then we went back the same way. It was a pleasant way to spend our stopover.

The other long stop was in Tennant Creek around midnight for about 6 hours.  Apparently freight trains have higher priority than passenger trains.  I'm not sure if the Katherine stop was for freight or not.  I think and hope it was.  If it weren't for those 2 stops, the trip would be 16 hours.

The train ride was very nice.  Each of the 2 Red Service cars has 64 seats.  Passengers are able to turn the row of 2 seats around to face each other.  Since my car was almost empty, I not only had the seat next to me available but the two in front of me as well.  I did some reading, some sudoku, wrote my Darwin blog post, and ate a lot of snacks.  I even took a shower since 2 showers with bath towels (and 2 toilets) are available on each car.  Sweet.

We arrived in Alice Springs a few minutes late.  I was picked up by the Alice Lodge shuttle.  After checking in ($26/3 bed), I walked into town to pay the balance for my 3 day Rock Tour to Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Kings Canyon.  Unfortunately, I had just missed one of the biggest events of the year, the Alice Springs Camel Cup races.  I did enjoy the weekly Sunday market on Todd Mall.

Alice Springs, about halfway between Darwin and Adelaide, is called the Red Centre (Center) and is very close to the actually geographic center of Australia.   "The Alice" is the second largest town in the Northern Territory (after Darwin) with 28,000 residents.  But, I'm sorry, "there's no there there".

It's not a pretty town.  It's not a busy town.  I was told by at least 10 people during the course of my stay in Alice that it is not safe for anybody to walk around after dark, not even for 2 blocks.  There are regular opportunistic robberies, beatings, and even rape that occur throughout Alice.  The problems are blamed on Aborigines.

Alice Springs from Anzac Hill

I've spoken with several people about Aboriginal culture.  My Kakadu guide, Nifty, and my Rock Tour guide, Rachelle, were the most knowledgable and positive about them.   The gist of what I learned is that Aborigines have been the keepers of their land for tens of thousands of years and prefer to live as they have always lived without Balanda (non-Aboriginal) influence.  But of course that is impossible.

The Australian government has handed back large parcels of land back to the traditional owners.  Many national parks are on land that was handed back and the Australian government have 99 year leases which are paid to the Aboriginal groups.  Royalties for mining leases are also paid.  There's a huge uranium mine in Kakadu.

Traditionally Aborigines only worked to get food, shelter and clothing; working at a "job" is not part of their culture.  These days, with supermarkets and clothing stores, all they need is $$.  I don't know how land lease or mine royalty payments are distributed nor to whom.  But many Aborigines are unemployed and are "on the dole" (welfare).  Some people (including Aboriginal leaders) say that Aborigines have lost their self respect because they don't have to work.  Some say that the Australian government has made it worthwhile or too easy for Aborigines to be unemployed.

Eucalyptus pachyphylla - Red bud mallee

However, other Aborigines make a living off tourism.  They continue their traditional work such as making clothes, bowls, weapons, and musical instruments which are sold as art.  Painting is now mostly on canvas instead of on wood, bark, or rock and is also widely sold.  Still others become  park rangers or guides.  Also, many Aborigines are fully integrated into Australian culture and there is some intermarriage.

Alcohol is a major problem.  Aborigines are unable to process alcohol well, just like the Chinese and Native Americans Indians.  Yet many drink.

Aboriginal culture has many rules about kinship based on "skin grouping", gender and tribe that affect how they interact with each other.  Some relationships prohibit any contact with certain people.  So if they know one of them is in the supermarket, they must wait outside until that person (people) leaves.  So it appears that Aborigines loiter in the street.

Eremophila - Emu or Fuchsia Bush

Aboriginal culture have (harsh and brutal) traditional punishments.  Traditional punishment for a fairly minor infraction would be a spear in the thigh which the victim was not allowed to remove; it has to fall out naturally.  The shaft would be made of mulga wood which is toxic so healing time was prolonged.

These punishments are still meted out.  Apparently, in Darwin and Alice Springs, one can see boys and men limping about.  A more severe punishment would be to take the victim to the top of a mountain and put sap of a certain reed into their eyes which causes (temporary?) blindness.

I felt safe walking in Darwin.  I had been to the Botanical Gardens and stopped by the Mindil Beach Market for dinner.  I didn't see any of my hostel mates so I walked home alone, after dark, on mostly deserted streets to my hostel 25 minutes away.  No worries.

Euro in Olive Pink Botanical Garden

I felt safe walking in Alice Springs during the day.  There are usually tourists on Todd Mall, Anzac Hill, and in the two supermarket shopping centers.   I walked alone in a fairly remote/open area one morning to the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens.   The only time I felt uncomfortable was on a cloudy late afternoon;  the streets were deserted.  I was spooked and decided not to go to the Royal Flying Doctors Service and School of the Air museums.  I took a cab home after dinner one evening.

The Botanical Gardens looked natural.  There were a whole bunch of different birds out there and I saw a euro, a type of wallaby, in the rocks.  I especially enjoyed the mallee, bush medicine, and Eremophila (Emu or Fuchsia Bush in the Scroph family) areas.

I visited Ayers Rock!  Details next time.
Cheers!
Cyn