Monday 18th March 2019 - The Ghan to Alice Springs

I slept reasonably well until 5.30 when you could hear people moving about. Through the night I was aware of the train noise and movement. Sometimes there was a lurch or a jolt (was that a kangaroo? 😱😳) and then when I woke the train was still and quiet. It was at Marla, a tiny place in the middle of nowhere that has just 100 permanent residents. Let’s hope everyone gets on! The train should have arrived between 3 and 4 and this is where we were able to disembark to watch the sunrise.

We were off the train at 6.30, walking only a few yards to where the crew had set up tables and chairs if you wanted to sit, and a large table where they were serving fruit juice, tea, coffee and pastries.

It was still dark so to light the way they had set up small solar lamps at ground level and had also lit 2 little bonfires about 100 yards apart (not the size bonfires that we sometimes have at home Alex!!!)

Within a few minutes you could see the sky just beginning to lighten in the east but above it was pitch black and the stars were still shining. Now I’ve watched a lot of sunsets, and seen quite a few sunrises, notably on the way to work when the sun is blinding you as you try to keep on the road! (Not that I have to have that trouble again 😉), but I’ve never actually watched the sunrise. Not stood for an hour watching the sky change colour, seeing the sun‘s rays, as a child draws them, beginning to poke up from the earth’s surface, watching the changing light on the small clouds that were in the sky, nor the way they sparkle as the sun gets closer. And then the moment the first glimpse of the sun shows itself and the light that comes from it. Awesome, magical, beautiful and also moving. Another moment for me that was an emotional one on this trip.

The sun’s rays look blue!

It then all seemed to go a bit less interesting and people were wandering back to the train, but the sun hadn’t actually risen, and if you looked at the little strip of cloud that had gone a deep plum colour, parts of it were beginning to sparkle, and there was a redness beginning to show itself.

And then this happened…..

And this......

How fabulous is that!

Back on the train for bacon sliders and a coffee and then more watching the world go by! At this point we are still in the state of South Australia, the one we left yesterday lunchtime! I do need to point out that the train only averages about 85kph and there were sections of the track where they were restricted to 40kph (less than 30mph). Top speed 115kph. The slow speed meant you could actually see things out of the window, so that was fine.

Brunch was available from 10.00 so we went to the restaurant about 11.00, at the same time as we crossed into the Northern Territory’s. We thought we only had another 2 & 3/4 hours on board but hadn’t clocked there would be a time change, so that gave us another hour of window gazing! I’ll get Geoff to put some photos and maybe a video on the blog when we get to our next destination. Currently sitting at our hotel in Alice Springs waiting to go to the airport and I’ve still got lots to write!

On arrival in Alice we checked in at our hotel and messaged Julia who will be known to Elmsett folk. She lives out here with her family and had offered to give us a whistle stop tour. It’s so much nicer to have a local show you around! She drove us around the town to get our bearings, locating the botanic gardens (filled with plants that survive in this desert environment and not a tropical rainforest one!), their home, her workplace and daughters school, main shopping area, theatre and then out to Alice Springs telegraph station. Not only is this the place to find the location of Alice Springs, but there is also a museum detailing the story of how communication was in Australia in the days of the telegraph and the part that Alice Springs played in it.

You may have noticed our fetching headwear! The fly nets are must haves here as the flies will drive you mad! Julia and Ross has kindly given us one each, and Julia was wearing one too!

From here to Anzac hill which is a good vantage point for the town and surrounding area, and is also the memorial to commemorate the many conflicts that Australia has been involved with. And then out to Simpson’s Gap, literally a gap in the mountaina that form the McDonnell range. It was a beautiful spot with the red rocks, a small amount of water in the creek and the peacefulness of the place. We walked for a short distance but time and heat meant we could do no more. The temperature on arrival in Alice Springs was 35 degrees! It was a dry heat, likened by someone on the train to opening a hot oven door! That is quite a good description!

Julia dropped us back at the hotel then went home, changed and joined us back at the hotel an hour later with Ross and Jess for us all to have dinner. It was a very pleasant evening.