The Afghan Express was the name affectionately given to the camel trains that used to be Alice Springs' only connection to the outside world, and so when the rail link to Adelaide was finally completed, it adopted the same name. Australians, though, are remarkably lazy when it comes to words with more than two syllables (for example, aggro, ambo, arvo, bikey, beaut, and that's just from the beginning of the alphabet), and so they shortened it over time, until the train is now simply called the Ghan. It's pronounced to rhyme with can, though most British and some Australians pronounce it to rhyme with barn, quite understandably. The company that runs the train reverses the usual trend for abbreviation, insisting on calling the train The Legendary Ghan at every opportunity. Presumably the only reason they don't write that on the engine is because the writing would have to be much smaller.
I got onto the train and sought my seat. Seeing someone sat in the seat next to mine, I said "Hi, I'm seat number 6", intending it to be a light hearted introduction. She replied "Yes, that's the aisle seat, I'm number 5", clearly assuming I was asking her to move. There was a pause, while I contemplated spending the whole journey next to someone I'd ticked off in my first 5 words. "My name's Matt". "I'm Michele, nice to meet you". Michele was from Co. Clare in Ireland, and was also heading up to Darwin, so we chatted for a bit, and then she discovered a free seat at the front of the carriage. As we were stuck on the train for a full 24 hours, she thought it'd be sensible to take it, but we agreed to meet for dinner, and over dinner decided we got on well enough to organise our activities in Katherine together.
The Katherine stopover was from 9am to 2.30pm, giving us 5 hours plus to enjoy Nitmiluk National Park, or Katherine Gorge. So I booked my gorge transfer bus, and Michele did the same. On arriving in Katherine the following morning we were told we'd need to be back on the train at 1pm, as a freight train was due to use the track around the station from that time. Fine, that still leaves four hours. By the time we got to the gorge, it was shortly after 10am. Fine, still three hours to get back to the train. The coach driver said "Right, you guys, meet me at the visitor centre at 11.15am". My five hour exploration of one of the Top End's big draws had finally come down to a little under an hour, and Michele and I were more than a little vexed. Still, walking up the cliff of the first gorge, we made the first lookout and took some photos. A random Australian tourist talked about sport to me (I'm so glad I don't like cricket) and we headed back down, leaving enough time for a 10 minute swim in the river (keeping an eye out for crocs) before heading back to the bus. It was a hell of a view, as you can see, but I woudl have liked a little longer.
Back on the train, we waited in the platform from 1pm to 3pm, then headed to Darwin. On the way, the film in our carriage was Norbit. Don't bother seeing it. I never thought I'd say this of any film, but The Nutty Professor was actually better than Norbit. We finally arrived into Darwin at about 7.30pm, an hour late, and just in time to miss the sunset. The Legendary Ghan struck me as legendary in two ways only - slow and late. Having said that, it's a great way to see places on the way to your destination, there was much more space than on a plane, and not surprisingly, less turbulence.
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