We had a chance to sleep in and we were still up around
6:30am. I slept back in the bed under the AC because I was still just about
heat stroked out from the Palm Valley race walk in 93F. I slept fine this time.
I suppose I was just really tired. We went to breakfast then packed up and
checked out before 10am. We stored our luggage with the hotel and got from them
a keycard that would give us access to the pool area and changing
rooms/toilets/showers of the gym. We were scheduled for the 10am Lasseters transfer
to town and the 2pm return. The $15AUD per couple shuttle bus to The Ghan picks
up at 4pm. The Ghan has last bag check at 5pm. All aboard is after that and The
Ghan departs at 6:115pm.
We didn’t have a problem spending 4 hours in downtown Alice
Springs. It was another beautiful sunny day. The sun was very hot but there was
a nice breeze everywhere and it is a dry heat. We visited some more art
galleries. We went to the Royal Flying Doctors museum. That was interesting as
we’d already heard a lot about it from our bus driver in Broken Hill on the
first train segment. Did you know that Qantas is an acronym? Queensland and
Northern Territory Aviation Service. We didn’t even eat lunch in town. Clay ate
an ice cream and we sat over a Coke Zero. We ate lunch by the pool. We shared a
ham & cheese toastie and some shoestring fries with aioli and another Coke
Zero. If we’d known that we wouldn’t have dinner tonight until 8:15pm, we might
have had a bigger lunch. I waded in the kids pool since it was cold water. We
watched a helicopter doing Ghan tours for through passengers take off and land
next door several times. We studied a big brown walking stick insect that fell
asleep near our table. It startled awake a couple times as the helicopter came and went.
We are on The Ghan now and it has left Alice Springs behind.
It is a nice little town of about 28K. About 30 to 40 percent of the population
is Aboriginal. They say over 1000 Americans live and work here at Pine Gap, a
joint Australian-CIA operation outside of town. Alice Springs is beautifully
situated surrounded by the McDonnell Ranges. We watched our last outback sunset
and are glad we came even after hell week with AAT Kings. Clay says we might
have enjoyed it more if the weather had been better and we were 20 or 30 years
younger. I disagree that I would have enjoyed it then either. Clay says yeah,
but it wouldn’t have nearly killed you then. Maybe.
We are in carriage S room 3 on the Ghan. It is further back from the front even though
a higher letter this time. It must be a super long train this time. We could
see the automobile cars in the distance but couldn’t see the engines. They must
have more than the alphabet of carriages this time. This is our first time in a
wood panel appearing car. I had envied those when we were in Formica the last 2
times. Not anymore. There is a storage cubby under the mirror in the Formica
cars that is missing in the wood one. This is our 3rd train
assignment. The 1st was an even number 6 and we faced backwards to
travel. Not good. The last one was 5 and this one is 3. The odd numbers have
been forward facing and as far as we know that is always true, but it may not
be depending on how they put the trains together. In any event, odd numbers are better because in even numbers both the
little table and the bed ladder block the closet door and luggage storage area.
I don’t think you can reserve or request a specific cabin or room, but it would
be worth asking for an odd number room.
I will stop here as Clay has had his shower in anticipation
of dinner and bedtime. I won’t be able to post this for a couple of days but
will get it online ASAP. We were assigned dinner at 8:15pm. They’ll be serving
appetizers about Clay’s bedtime so he is getting ready for it before dinner.
There have been no announcements of departure or anything else. We’d learn
tomorrow morning that the train’s PA system is broken. But for now, we are
literally in the dark. It will be repaired tomorrow afternoon.
Dinner included a crocodile sausage. Clay had it and said it
tasted like spiced white meat. I ate the vegetarian.
The track here north of Alice Springs is much smoother than
anything else. You’d expect that since this portion from Alice Springs to
Darwin only opened in 2004. We expect to sleep well tonight.
Photos
