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| Alice
Springs - Darwin |
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2
days - 1 night
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| T |
HINK OF THE GHAN TODAY as a
multi-class hotel on wheels, a far cry from
The Ghan of 1929 which |
ran on narrow gauge rails and
wooden sleepers which were progressively demolished
by white ants or swept away by flash floods...
The wooden sleepers have now been replaced by concrete
ones, and the whole track has been re-routed to
avoid flood prone areas. |
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With the completion of the rail link between Alice Springs
and Darwin, the Ghan now runs a weekly service departing the
Alice on Mondays... Heading out of Alice Springs, you'll pass
aboriginal camps and then... emptiness... The power of the
desert lies in its' awe inspiring sense of space... Timeless
horizons extend as far as the eye can see, and the emptiness
which endows even the most mundane objects with a sense of
importance.
You travel overnight to arrive just after breakfast
in Katherine, about 200km south of Darwin. Tours
of Nitmiluk National Park's famous gorges are
available by boat or helicopter. A two hour cruise
upriver will give you a taste of this natural
wonder. Dizzying monoliths of rose, ochre and
charcoal rock plunge into quicksilver water so
dark and deep and rich with nutrients that 40
species of fish reside here, as well as freshwater
crocodiles. At the cliff summits, craggy rock
formations brood like carved saints atop some
Roman monument.
Leaving Katherine shortly after midday, you arrive
in Darwin in the late afternoon.
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