Desert Tracks
The Ghan is an unforgettable luxury train journey through the heart of the Australian Outback.
It was a warm September morning when we set off on The Ghan Expedition. The elegant, snake-like silver body of the train overlapped Darwin’s long railway station at both ends.
With a firm jolt, The Ghan’s bold red and yellow engine began to haul its 36 carriages away from the platform. Carriages rocked and rivets squeaked as the wheels began to roll over the steel tracks.
The train picked up speed. We were about to pass through Australia’s gritty Outback —
north to south, along tracks that represent the spine of the country — to places of incredible natural beauty and points of Aboriginal cultural importance.
The Ghan Expedition is a romantic, adventurous and comfortable four-day, three-night railway journey through 2,979km (72 hours) of Australian Outback.
It is one of the world’s iconic rail routes, providing an unfolding adventure in comfort and style that runs between the months of March and November and operated by Journey Beyond (Hornblower, Australia’s leading experiential tourism group).
Soon we were cruising at an average 95km per hour. We left Darwin behind and snaked our way towards the Outback towns of Katherine, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy, on our way to the opposite coast at Adelaide.
The train was named for the pioneering cameleers, many from Afghanistan who helped open the inland of Australia.
The first Ghan departed Adelaide in 1929 en route to Alice Springs, at the centre of Australia. It wasn’t until 2004 that a modern track stretched all the way to Darwin; 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the final section of line opening between Alice Springs and Darwin.
The Ghan is nearly a kilometre long and can take 49 crew members and up to 300 guests in Gold or Platinum Service. It is so long that, at one point, I spotted the chef travelling efficiently along the platform by bicycle to get from one end to the other.
The Platinum Club carriage is decorated to give passengers a sense of comfort with timber flooring, brass fittings, quartzite tabletops, and large windows to enjoy wildlife outside.
I spent some of my time in the Platinum Club Carriage, sipping cocktails and listening to Outback stories from the crew. The carriage offers a daytime lounge setting with adaptable dining options. There’s no end to the hospitality on The Ghan — all food and drinks are included in Platinum Service and Champagne is on tap.
On board, we were served unusual dishes including grilled kangaroo loin; smoked kingfish with beetroot; grilled crocodile-tail fillet; and scrumptious grilled saltwater barramundi with coconut sauce, a fish for which the Northern Territory is well known.
Chef de partie Rudy Heng has been working on the train for four years. “We try to use local Australian ingredients and native herbs, such as crocodile dumplings and fresh fish such as barramundi, kingfish and salmon from Darwin,” he said.
On my first night, I returned to my cabin to find that my personal steward, Yasmin, had discreetly transformed the spacious lounge-style suite (with moveable table and ottomans) into an inviting bedroom, with crisp white linens and plump pillows… and a nightcap. Rocking rhythmically over the tracks, I was soothed to sleep.
Yasmin told me about a romance that started on the train. “I had a couple on the train recently celebrating their 20th anniversary. They met on the train 20 years ago when they were travelling in single cabins.”
All Platinum Service suites include Champagne, Grey Goose Vodka and Glenfiddich whisky, Australian toiletries by Appelles Apothecary and treats by Adelaide chocolatier, Bracegirdle’s House of Fine Chocolate.
There’s no wi-fi (or television) on board; it goes against the principle of ‘slow travel’. Travelling on The Ghan offers a digital detox, and an exhilarating escape from modern technology, while passing through Australia’s ancient landscape.
At Katherine, 300km south of Darwin, I took a helicopter flight to Nitmiluk National Park, and flew over the river there, low enough to appreciate its breath-taking gorges and extraordinary sandstone cliff faces. Back on the ground, I met Outback horse trainer extraordinaire Tom Curtain, who demonstrated his consummate horse-training skills.
Another off-train excursion includes visiting the Cutta Cutta Caves with its glittering limestone formations of stalactites and stalagmites. The local Jawoyn Indigenous people named the caves Cutta Cutta (meaning ‘many stars’) as they believe the caves are where the stars rest during the day.
Throughout the night, the train travelled 1,183km to the remote town of Alice Springs.
I rose with the sun and watched it light up the red ochre Outback, the coarse spinifex plants, and the desert oaks that lined the train tracks. The flat, sun-scorched land often appears mostly red and brown but, on alighting from The Ghan at Alice Springs station, I realised that it is greener than expected and the temperature cooler. Even when the landscape is at its most sun-baked, it is a world of desert dwellers in the form of plants, animals and human life.
I traded in the comfortable, air-conditioned train for a bumpy but thrillingly scenic 450km flight in a light aircraft over the hash red Outback terrain to the remarkable sandstone monolith of Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock), followed by a walking tour of the 550-million-year-old natural sandstone monolith, a sacred site for the Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara people indigenous to the region.
In the evening, all the train’s passengers were invited to an open-air dinner at the historic Alice Springs Telegraph Station on the outskirts of the town. Serenaded by a local country music band, we dined al fresco at large circular tables. Even camel rides were on offer.
We crossed into South Australia on day three, the boundless Outback sky erupting in a display of pink hues as sunrise gave way to another dazzling morning. We were surrounded by sun-baked emptiness that shimmered in the antipodean dawn.
When we reached the quirky opal-mining town of Coober Pedy, our train was too long to fit into the small town’s station, so we stopped in a siding at Manguri Station, in the middle of the Outback. From there, we were transported into town.
Coober Pedy is full of independent miners looking for their fortune. Temperatures here can reach 50°C in the summer. Some of the local people live underground, in spaces resembling giant rabbit burrows, so that they can escape the soaring desert temperatures.
Our final stop was Adelaide, South Australia’s cosmopolitan capital and the end of the line. Beyond, the mighty Southern Ocean roared, the next land mass is Antarctica. We stepped down from train with a sense of achievement and wonder — a feeling that we had done something unique and special.
To travel on one of the world’s iconic trains, The Ghan, is turning a trek through Australia’s awesome Outback into an unforgettable desert cruise in unparalleled style.
The Ghan Expedition 2024 Platinum; prices from £3,850 per person.
