October 12, Ghan to Katherine

 We set an alarm and woke up an 7am. We had done almost all the packing the evening before, so all I had to do was unplug and stash an array of electronics. Paula fixed a breakfast for us to take to the station.

Journey Beyond, the company that runs the Ghan, provides shuttles to several hotels in Darwin to the train station. Paula had made our reservations at a hotel that should have been on the route, but turned out not to be. So she made reservations to have us picked up at a hotel about two blocks away. We decided that getting there was too much of a hassle, so with considerable effort she managed to contack Journey Beyond and tell them we would find our own way to the terminal.

Our Uber driver was very prompt; in fact, he got to the resort about ten minutes early. We were on our way even before most people were picked up by the shuttle, and were the second people to arrive at the terminal, about ten after eight. (Officially we were supposed to be there by eight o'clock.) We waited in a nice, air-conditioned lounge until it was time to board the train. Paula ate a sandwich she had packed; I just had a pear.

The trip on the Ghan comes with a choice of expeditions. Our attendant is Kaitlin; we discussed expeditions with her, and she registered us for our choices.

Our room on the train is enormous, as is our private bathroom.

Kaitlin

Paula in our room

Meals on the train are quite elegant, very comparable to what Amtrak was a few years ago. I believe the tables aren't quite as long, though, as they literally lack elbow room.

With the exception of a couple of palm trees in the city of Darwin, all the vegetation here is completely different. There are trees, bushes, grasses, some things that are intermediate between trees and bushes, but nothing that could be mistaken for anything that grows in Pennsylvania.

The afternoon expedition to Katherine Gorge involved quite a long bus trip. The buses were typical large, air-conditioned buses. They had no trouble stowing the scooter for us, though I had to make sure it was turned off and had the brakes locked before they made off with it.

The temperature was 39 C, or roughly 102 F. We both wore hats and sunscreen. Paula left her scooter on the dock while we took a boat trip up and down the First Gorge. At the far end of the boat trip, there was a small boat dock, where one could get off to view some prehistoric indigenous art. I got up and climbed some 20 steps to see it, while Paula stayed on the boat.

The "art" was very faded and hard to see. When I finally made out one painting and tried to take a picture of it, my camera shut off due to the heat. I restarted the camera (I should say, the "phone"), set it to maximum zoom because the painting was about 20 feet up a cliff wall, and tried to take a picture. It was so bright that I couldn't see anything on the camera, so I had to guess where to aim. Amazingly, one of my shots actually came out.

Out boat driver and guide was an aborigine. He explained some about the politics. If I understood him correctly, his group (tribe? nation? I don't know the correct word) had owned the land, but gave it to the government with conditions. His group owns and runs the docks, the boats, and some other things, including, I believe, the helicopters that fly tours over the gorges. He also demonstrated the didgeridoo for us, including a continuous sound that went on for maybe two or three minutes, which he did with circular breathing.

We collapsed early. The beds are stupidly high. Paula had a great deal of trouble getting into hers, and I had to help her, both then and also once or twice during the night. After the first night, we employed the trick we learned at Disney World, and used towels and extra blankets to make an extra step. Also after the first night, we got permission to take the wheelchair from the end of this car into the room, so she has somewhere to sit at night.