Two Trains and a Plane

Sunday 21 April

We woke to very welcome gentle rain this morning. I boarded the Ghan after breakfast at Dianne's and morning tea at the Keswick Interstate Station. This train is 35 carriages long with two engines. The layout is the same as the Indian Pacific and now that I've learned that the whistle stop tours are complimentary I am more willing to choose one at each stops, especially when these stops are for 3-4 hours rather than just the 1 hour at Broken Hill. My neighbour is Andrew from Jersey Is travelling here while his partner visits her daughter in Sydney. The rain has stopped already and we are just a little north of Adelaide.

At lunch I discovered that Andrew knows Chris Bailes and Helen who used to live on Jersey. I also met Dirk (Dutch) and Anika (Turkish) who spent the afternoon coaching me in German for the next Chorus Oz performance in 3 weeks time. I will be spending this journey learning for this performance having brought the score and CD with me. Whilst practising the Brahm's German Requiem I watched a magnificent sunset over Iron Knob.

At dinner Andrew and I sat with Joanne and Nancy from NZ and had a delicious meal. Mine was dorpa lamb.

Back to a cabin made up ready for bed and of course very squishy.

Monday 22 April

I woke soon after 6am wondering where my coffee delivery was (our attendant had forgotten!) Along to breakfast soon after 7am with two Japanese people. I spent some time practising my Brahms then lots of time chatting and sharing experiences as we watched the ever changing scenes outside, either in my cabin or in the lounge.

I think this is the Finke River bed.

 At about 1:30pm we pulled into Alice Springs where there is no raised platform. We all found the buses ready to take us on our various tours. I had chosen the Desert Park visit. This started with a talk in the centre where indigenous artists come to pait and saw some fabulous dot work and watercolours Then a walk to the amphitheatre to see a display of trained birds: galahs, boobook owl, kestrel, black kite, stone curlew and barn owl. There was also a demonstration of how the birds are trained. None of them were tethered and were free to fly away if they wanted to. It was an amazing show! The huge nocturnal house came next with many animals out and active.

Two galahs that put on a magnificent display.

The barn owl in training.

A planting of assorted grasses in the Desert Park.

In the nocturnal house.

As we walked back to the entrance there were an amazing number of small birds calling and flying round very close: finches, parrots, honeyeaters, and overhead 4 black cockatoos.

We were back at the train by about 5:30pm then continued on our way north.

A beer and a chat in the lounge was followed by dinner (again with Andrew, Joanne and Nancy) until it was time to retire to my bed in my minute cabin. During dinner it started to rain but we've no idea how much because it is quite black outside.

Tuesday 23 April

Up just before 6am this morning and pleased to receive the coffee delivery.

We arrived at Katherine at 9am  (again no platform) and I chose to tke the Nitmiluk Rock Art cruise along the Katherine Gorge. It is a stunning place! Surrey and I toured it about 40 years ago when we came on our bus trip. We saw a few examples of very old rock art and at the end of the cruise were treated to tasters of champagne, camel and beef (both on kebabs), crocodile sausage roll, and crocodile soup. The only disappointment was the camel which was tough and tasted like dog food.

Katherine Gorge

Andrew at our tasting table.

Back to the train and into our lunch sitting with a nice cold beer to start with.

After returning to the cabin I finished recharging camera and phone then packed ready for our arrival at Darwin around 5:30pm. I had been quite worried about travelling on my own fearing loneliness but was so pleased to meet Andrew with whom I was able to share many experiences. Nancy and Joanne were also great company at three of our meals.

Adelaide River? near Darwin.

I loved the filigree patterns in the tidal flats on the flight from Darwin to Kununurra.