It was a beautiful September day in Sydney...
Spring had sprung, essay week was coming and I had no plans yet. I was living downunder and obviously I was not going to stay at home writing essays and other assignments...
My first choice -and taking into account the relatively short distance- was Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. It was a family matter. These islands were discovered by my great-etc.-great-grandfather Álvaro de Mendaña in 1568 while trying to find the Terra Australis Incognita he would never find.
Santa Cruz / Nendo Island (Solomon Is.), where Álvaro de Mendaña died.
It was a shame I couldn't really afford that trip. Just the return ticket to Honiara was around 600 bucks. So... I decided going to the Australian Outback instead.
Quick stopover in Adelaide
So I took the first Qantas flight to Adelaide. If you take a look to a map of Australia, Sydney seems relatively close to the capital of South Australia, but they're actually 1300 kms apart. I had 4-5 hours to stroll around the city centre and buy some goodies before my train ride.
As you could appreciate in the picture, Adelaide is a planned city. It was completely designed by Colonel William Light in 1837 (year in which the new British colony of South Australia was established). But even if Adelaide is a planned city it has a special charm of its own and it is not cold, incoherent and -somehow- overrationalized like... erhm... let's say... Canberra!
The name comes from the original nickname: The Afghan Express. Hundreds of Afghani, used to life in the desert, were hired by the British to build the tracks and also to transport provisions on their camels to Alice Springs. By the time they were no longer needed, they abandoned their camels in the desert. That explains why there's so feral camels in central Australia.
The train itself is impressive... a countless number of carriages comprise this convoy and it is virtually impossible to see the whole train unless it is from the distance. You can hire an entire carriage for yourself. Slightly cheaper is the Platinum class providing you an en-suite cabin ocupying half a carriage. If you don't have that much cash, you could always buy a Gold Class ticket... sharing a cabin with other two people. However I travelled in the Red Kangaroo Class. And that was not a joke.
Quick stopover in Adelaide
So I took the first Qantas flight to Adelaide. If you take a look to a map of Australia, Sydney seems relatively close to the capital of South Australia, but they're actually 1300 kms apart. I had 4-5 hours to stroll around the city centre and buy some goodies before my train ride.
This is the city of Adelaide as seen from the plane. You can appreciate the Parklands surrounding the city centre's square mile.
As you could appreciate in the picture, Adelaide is a planned city. It was completely designed by Colonel William Light in 1837 (year in which the new British colony of South Australia was established). But even if Adelaide is a planned city it has a special charm of its own and it is not cold, incoherent and -somehow- overrationalized like... erhm... let's say... Canberra!
Chinatown and St. Francis Xavier's catholic cathedral
The city hall
Marcelino, my travel companion, at Victoria Square
So what is The Ghan?
If you're a train lover, you've probably heard about The Ghan. It is comparable to the luxory of world-famous Blue Train in South Africa, the no-longer existing Orient Express or the also Australian Indian-Pacific.
The Ghan was built in order to connect South Australia with Alice Springs (a city in the middle of the continent). The original plan was to connect Adelaide to Darwin, but just the first half was finished in 1929 -even then the last few kilometres were done on camel caravans. The connection to Darwin was not completed until 2001.
The name comes from the original nickname: The Afghan Express. Hundreds of Afghani, used to life in the desert, were hired by the British to build the tracks and also to transport provisions on their camels to Alice Springs. By the time they were no longer needed, they abandoned their camels in the desert. That explains why there's so feral camels in central Australia. The train itself is impressive... a countless number of carriages comprise this convoy and it is virtually impossible to see the whole train unless it is from the distance. You can hire an entire carriage for yourself. Slightly cheaper is the Platinum class providing you an en-suite cabin ocupying half a carriage. If you don't have that much cash, you could always buy a Gold Class ticket... sharing a cabin with other two people. However I travelled in the Red Kangaroo Class. And that was not a joke.
My carriage as seen during sunrise
Let the journey begin...! (To be continued on the second part...)
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