I am lying at this moment on the little couch on the lower berth of the bunk beds, feeling the vibrations of the rail car, with the rhythm of the rumbling rail track reverberating in my ears, as if the Earth is mumbling a message to the earthlings.
The world is flying past me outside the windows: the barren and uninhabited wilderness, the rose-colored charred earth, occasionally a kangaroo or two hopping past. It is said that on this vast land lurk elusive, highly poisonous snakes.
Not long before this, I was still enjoying an exquisite lunch inside the posh dining car while having a light moment chatting with the Italian chief rail technician Joe. He told me this legendary 2,979-kilometer railway that spans the entire width of Australia from north to south, was completed in 1929, and the train that we are now taking is made up of 31 rail cars and is almost a kilometer long. It carries 158 passengers and 40 crew members, and boasts a total of six dining cars, steadily making its way at a speed of 85 kph towards the depth of history and wilderness.
Wow! I never knew this rail line has had such a long history of 96 years, and this train has a glittering name: The GHAN!
Powered by an electro-diesel hybrid system, train services are suspended every year from November through January the following year owing to monsoonal floods.
Joe told me proudly the name “The Ghan” was a tribute to the courageous Afghan camel riders traversing the Australian interiors in late 19th century. With their camels, these people helped pioneer the vast unknown terrain and transport necessities, and played a pivotal role in establishing transportation routes during the early years. This part of history has been immortalized with the naming of this rail route, making “The Ghan” a household name across Australia.
Tickets are hard to come by especially during May-July peak winter season, and have to be booked nine months in advance!
The 12 travel buddies and I have been excessively lucky this time to be able to board this legendary train in Australia’s late summer, from Darwin all the way to Adelaide, as the mercury falls from a scorching 30 degrees to a chilly 8 degrees over the 4D3N journey.
Nine meals have been arranged throughout the train ride, three of which special cuisines outside the train, including an unforgettable alfresco dinner under the starry sky next to the old telegraph station.
To be honest, the most charming part of the journey is not only the in-car dinner served on white tablecloth, nor the melodious songs by the aborigines reverberating in the canyon, or the candlelight dinner under the starry night sky, or the strolls from the four train stations along the way—but the sudden realization as the train chugs along at the speed of 85 kph, that this train ride is not just another travel itinerary, but a cross-section of the soul: not just to “see Australia,” but to “let Australia see its true self.”
Staring into the constantly changing landscapes outside the train windows is as if to witness a dynamic world impacting the static self in me: The world keeps revolving around me, but am I quietly accepting the changes taking place within me?
The impact is not about the speed of the moving vehicle, but the jet lag inside my heart!
The biggest difference between a train ride and a cruise voyage lies not with the degree of luxury, but the stories that flip past beyond the windows.
Australia is an enormous and mysterious land mass, whose soul does not dwell in the glass towers of its coastal cities, but rather the boundless red earth that keeps moving out of focus deep into the interiors, where it is so quiet you can almost hear the wind breathing. No wonder every Australian must make an effort to take “The Ghan” at least once before they die. They say this is the train that penetrates the deepest part of soul!
Joe continued: On August 4, 1929, the Adelaide train station was packed with well-wishers, as they enthusiastically witnessed the inaugural service of “The Ghan.” That was the first time a train traversed the entire length of the almost 3,000 km north-south railway, and arrived safely in Darwin in the far north two days later.
Ninety years later in 2019, “Arabana and the Ghan” was officially compiled and published, narrating the epical stories of this rail line—stories about the camel travelers, the courageous pioneers, and the big dreamers.
“The Ghan” is not just another journey; it is like a training for a person’s temperament, as he is transported from the fringes of bustling metropolis to the earth’s center of nothingness, the deepest red earth, the unpeopled core!
You can almost say that this is a journey where “adventure” dances with “opulence”—In the infinite expanse of barren wilderness, have a dream exclusive to Australia while sipping the sparkling champagne!
Slow, but deeply etched in the mind!
