HOME FROM THE RED CENTRE: The Ghan TRAIN

All good things must come to an end. Our trip to the Red Centre had it all...great friends and travelling companions, fabulous scenery, great natural experiences, shopping and bus trip and accommodations to remember a life time. There was one more "good" thing yet to come. While in Alice Springs we managed to obtain return transporstion to Adelaide on the world famous Ghan train. It was so named after the Afghan workers who built the railway, after first traversing the outback by camel.

In the back of our minds we had hoped at some point to ride the train, and it came to pass. We obtained the last two Red Class sleeper tickets available on the Sunday trip from Alice Springs to Adelaide We were looking forward to a unique and relaxing return trip and we were not disappointed. We left Alice Springs at about 3 p.m. on Sunday and the race was on to see if we or the bus would make it back to Adelaide first. It rained heavily Sunday morning so the bus left early. For much of the way, we travelled along the highway, and we could see many caravans making the trek, but not our Banksia bus. We found out later that it had indeed beat us back home to Adelaide.

All our luggage made it onto the train, with a little creative repacking. The train is not new - it was slow and jiggly with many stops, but it was intriguing to finally ride the famous Ghan. The room was small and compact but comfortable. As evening crept into night, we marvelled at the manner in which the room could be transformed into fold-down bed accommodation. It was very cool.

There was a neighbouring diner car available to us for breakfast. The views out the window gave us yet another perspective on the flat bleakness of the outback.

We had a great time on the train with another couple from New South Wales, Greg and Marguerite McKeown, former exchange people to Canada who had been on the bus trip with us.

What a great way to end our second holiday break!

RED CENTRE- JULY 3-12: Alice Springs

Alice Springs - we arrived in the town of Alice Springs in the early evening and were overjoyed that we would be staying in a warm motel room with a bed for the night, albeit a very basic simple motel room with NO phones and no available communication with the front desk. The White Gum Motel

also did not offer daily room cleaning service, but after our past few nights accommodation, we thought it was sheer luxury to relax on the bed with the heater belting out at its high setting! Once we were back home from the trip, we learned that the motel was really an accommodation for transient Aborigines who needed to visit the hospital just across the street! Of course it got its name from the beautiful "Ghost Gum" or white gum trees in the area. That night we went to the Alice Springs Memorial Club for dinner with everyone, and were thrilled to be offered a buffet of three delicious meat choices, which was just heaven to our starved palates! Of course we celebrated our survival from our memorable tenting experience!

Alice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as Alice, it is situated in the geographic centre of Australia.

The town straddles the usually dry Todd River on the northern side of the MacDonnell Ranges. This year, however, with all the rain, the Todd River is flowing again. Because of the plentiful rain this year, the flowers and vegetation were exceptionally plentiful and beautiful.

Alice is renowned as the Aboriginal Art capital of Central Australia and the Todd Mall, which is really its main street,

is home to many local and Aboriginal art galleries. The Aboriginal art showcases their rich culture and native traditions. Even the garbage cans on the streets are each painted differently in different Aboriginal patterns. Rick had taken an Aboriginal art course at the Melbourne University in the first term, and so he was most interested in all the art work. We purchased some works, one from a gallery and one from a local artist selling his painting on the street. We visited the Papunya Tula gallery, a cooperative where the Aboriginal dot painting movement began. The town was an unusual mixture of the old and the new - we would see buildings like the old post office, and just down the street would spy a modern K-Mart store!

Then there were the unique places with character.

We even climbed up the Anzac Hill Lookout for a better view of the town, but through the drizzle we could not really get a clear picture.

Of course, being an outback town, the Flying Doctor Service plays a very important role to the well-being of the community.

We spent the next two days in Alice. There was much to see and do, in spite of the unpredictable weather. We were lucky that the rains usually held off while we were outside sightseeing! We spent a morning at the Araluen Centre for Arts and Entertainment, which houses the Albert Namatjira gallery, a museum, a concert hall and craft shops. Beautiful sculptures and paintings adorned the grounds.

On another morning we visited the Alice Springs Desert Park.

Here we discovered the different desert habitats,

saw rare and endangered species of animals both outside and in the spectacular nocturnal house,

and witnessed free-flying birds of prey in the nature theatre.

We truly discovered many of the secrets of the Central Australian desert at the Desert Park!

The bus was always our mode of transportation, and for some it had been a mode of sleeping to avoid the tent situation, so by now it carried a not too fragrant smell!

Still, we survived and it did get us from one scenic spot to another. Next stop - Simpson's Gap. The very picturesque Simpson's Gap is a natural gap in the West MacDonnell Ranges and this was the location for our lunch stop. As we walked up to the gap,

we spied a rock wallaby among the rocks.

We could wade across the clear sandy river bottom to the other side.

After lunch we drove to our next scenic stop - Standley Chasm. This is another spectacular gap in the same MacDonnell Ranges. It has been gouged into tough sandstone by floods over untold millions of years. The result is a deep red cleft crowded on either side by craggy slopes that rise 80 metres above the floor. The sheer walls seemed to glow from the reflected sunlight. The walk followed a dry creek bed until closer to the chasm, where there was now standing water because of the recent rains. We had to remove our shoes and socks and clamber over jagged rocks to continue. Many turned back, but I persevered to the end!

The gully floor was lush with plants that ranged from delicate ferns to tall gums - truly an awe-inspiring place! I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

The town of Alice was hosting the Camel Cup

exactly when we were there, so, it was imperative to take a camel ride. We booked a sunset tour and had a great time, travelling as a convoy of camels across the flat scrub land with the beautiful MacDonnell Mountain range on the horizon in the distance. The camels were very friendly

and the ride was really quite smooth and enjoyable. The dismount was somewhat unusual!

Later that night we attended the town's special "Sounds of Starlight" didgeradoo show. The didgeradoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous people of northern Australia at least 1500 years ago.

We had a great time at the concert, listening to the music performances, hearing some of the Aborigine dreaming stories and trying our hand at music-making the Aborigine way. Rick was invited to come and try playing the didgeradoo and was surprisingly good at it, although the circular breathing that is needed was a challenge for him. We bought a didgeradoo there to be shipped home, so that Rick can be the first to master the instrument back in Canada!

After the show we had supper with a group of friends and walking home thereafter, we saw hundreds of Aborigine people silently converge upon the streets, coming from every direction in groups. It was rather eerie and surreal.

We had a final dinner together with the group before each person departed to wend their way either home or elsewhere. It had been a memorable trip with a chance to meet some wonderful new friends!