The Ghan is a legendary train that travels a distance of 2979 km (1850 miles) from Adelaide to Darwin through the Red Centre of Australia. It was named after the first cameleers who arrived from Afghanistan in 1839. Camels were used to deliver supplies to outposts and miners. Construction of the railroad began in 1877. As the need for the camels diminished, The South Australian Government passed the Camel Destruction Act, giving police the right to shoot any unregistered camel. Rather than see their camels shot, some cameleers released their camels into the wild. Today it is estimated that there are around 1 million wild camels in Australia! The track used today was completed in 2004. The train we rode was 996 metres (0.6 miles) long with 42 carriages, 1692 tons of rolling stock, 320 guests and 52 crew. We were in the middle of the train so often could see the front and the back when going around curves.
After boarding the train in Adelaide and exploring our luxury "superior" compartment, twice as big as a regular compartment, we settled back to watch the world go by for two days. Leaving Adelaide, we travelled through the Adelaide Plains, home of huge grain fields and market garden operations. Then the Snowtown Wind Farms appeared - 137 turbines that supply 40% of the power for South Australia. On the distant highway we watched for "road trains", trucks pulling several trailers.
After dinner in the Queen Adelaide dining car, we attempted to sleep in our berths, Ruth Anne in the top, as we had an early wakeup call to see the sun rise over the outback.
Coffee, tea and goodies were served as the sky came to light over a barren landscape. We were surprised , however, at the amount of vegetation in the desert - scrub bushes, grasses and acacia. Enough for herds of cattle to survive.
We left the train at Alice Springs, a town of 28,000, home of flying doctors, camel races, and regattas on parched riverbeds. After our bumpy, swaying night and early morning, we were ready for a big nap.