What a lovely surprise to find so much leg room in the Red Service carriage. We had bought the cheapest tickets for the Ghan ($350 each) where people sleep in the seats overnight. I thought it would be like being on a plane, but it was so much better.

The carriage was beautifully air conditioned and we were confident we would enjoy ourselves. We had packed some goodies including cheese and biscuits and a bottle of red which we knew would help.

There was very little information about the trip before we left, even online. And so we hopped on not knowing too much. Hopefully this blog entry will help others considering the trip.

We caught the transfer bus from Darwin to the rail station (for $15 each) which is about 15 km out of town.

Our train carriage had its own host / duty manager – a very happy chappy called Bruce Smith who had worked on the train for 20 years. He explained everything about the train before we left Darwin. He then headed off to bed until 9pm so he could look after us in the night. There was a shower and toilet at each end of the cabin. The one down the other end was a single cubicle and more private affair.

On this trip, there were 29 carriages, including 4 dining cars. There were 28 staff today with 229 passengers in total. The train on this trip was 687m in length – not considered too large.

Our train carriage could hold a maximum of 48 people – we were pretty full when we left Darwin. There was an excursion of students from a special school travelling with us as far as Katherine. They had a great time.

The dining car was the next carriage called the Matilda Cafe.

The train left on time at 10 am and the first stop was Katherine around 2pm. We had earlier (at 11.30am) passed through the small settlement of Adelaide River where we spotted quite a few caravans and camper vans parked for lunch.

We found out the train would stop in Katherine for just over 4 hours and that we could pay for an optional tour. Those people who paid the top price for the train tickets had the tour/s included. We chose to go on the Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge cruise which cost us $110 each. We caught a boat and cruised gently down the Katherine River, viewing the spectacular sheer walls which framed the gorge. Our guide’s name was Oyster and he was excellent.

The gorge was renamed as Nitmiluk which means cicada place in 1989 when the traditional owners, the Jawoyn people gained title of the land.

The Katherine River flows through 13 separate sandstone gorges carved over 23 million years. The sandstone was nothing like we’d seen in NSW, and we found out it is the hardest sandstone in the world. Wow!

Not long after we returned from our tour, the train departed with fewer passengers in our carriage (24). We enjoyed a few beers before dinner. The meals on offer were simple and not expensive. Michael opted for a pie in the end (for $4). We both were pretty full from our cheese and bikkies. A few of us stayed in the Matilda Cafe for drinks until it was almost lights out at 10pm.

Then things went downhill, and I don’t mean because of the gradient of the railway line.

The seats were terribly uncomfortable to sleep in and I kept wishing I had brought my neck pillow and eye shades. Obviously some people were able to sleep as evidenced by (mostly gentle) snoring and the occasional loud burst that even woke the owner up temporarily. The train stopped for long periods over night, unsure why, but I do remember a train passing us on one of the occasions we were stopped.

The sun rose around 6.30am and it was pretty spectacular.

Breakfast was available from 7am, and again reasonably priced ($13.90 for a full breakfast). Soon after the train started pulling into Alice Springs and we arrived about 30 minutes late at 9.40 am.

There was a shuttle bus available for $7.50 each to take us into town.

This was a wonderful experience and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to experience outback train travel. Just remember a few comfy things for sleeping.