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Took The Ghan from Alice Springs to Darwin. It took 24-hours but was a great trip. The Ghan was built in 1878 and refurbished in 1980 and was named after Afghan cameleers who migrated here. It travels between Adelaide and Darwin. It's a beautiful, plush way to travel. The seats fully recline and you can stretch out without your feet touching the seat in front (and I was in the Red Car-cheap seats) so I can only imagine what the Gold and Platinum cars were like. When I awoke in the morning the scenery had changed dramatically from red outback to lush, green foliage. We had two long stops during the night to let passengers off. The Ghan will not continue until the departing passengers are picked up. A good idea considering how remote the stops are.
Took a day tour to Litchfield National Park. It was beautiful, tropical. It rained off and on but it felt good. Unfortunately, I couldn't get too many pictures in the rain! We cruised up the Adelaide River and saw some giant Saltwater Crocs "Salties" and got to see them being fed huge chunks of meat hanging from fishing poles. They jump several feet out of the water. Also fed Kites all the way back to the dock by throwing pieces of meat in the air which they catch and eat while flying.
Hiked up to Wangi Falls, Florence Falls and Tolmer Falls. Swam in Buley Rock Hole (no freshwater aligators here) with waterfalls all around. The water was warm and we sat on rocks next to the falls for a refreshing natural jacuzzi. We swam for a couple of hours and jumped in from the surrounding rocks as the water was pretty deep.
Back in Darwin my roomie from Holland, Sanne, and I visited the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory which had a fabulous exhibit of Cyclone Tracy which flattened Darwin in 1974. We also checked out all of the WWII memorial sites. Darwin was bombed a month after Pearl Harbor and took twice as many bombs. It destroyed much of the city and 240 people perished. Many of those were Americans stationed on ships in Darwin Harbor. Saw the Government House, Old Courthouse and Police Station, Survivor's Lookout, Tree of Knowledge, Chinese Temple, Parliament House, Darwin Waterfront & Wharf Precinct and Bicentennial Park.
The weather here is sweltering but it rains almost every day so that cools things down a bit. Needless to say, my hair is one big, frizzy mess! I also have a strange rash on the back of my calves which comes and goes! It doesn't itch so I'm not too worried but it looks really bad. How attractive!
- comments
Marilyn Cindy, I am loving your blog posts! It is so great to hear about your adventures. The Ghan seems like the way to get to Darwin. Please keep up the sharing & I hope the rash gets better... while you're still in OZ pick up some Lucas' PaPaw Ointment. I got hooked on it when I was living in Melbs & now I can't be without it... I swear it works miracles & it's all nature.. maybe it will take care of the rash. Cheers, Marilyn
Cheryl Davis Hi Cindy, Your travel blog is great! I really enjoy your humorous articles and your pictures are beautiful. I copied the following from my friend, Angela Wendel’s Facebook page. She’s the gal I mentioned who travelled the last 5 months in South America. Angela just came back home to California on Feb. 29th. I know you’re aware of potential thefts while travelling and thought you’d be interested in what Angela posted recently, just days before she planned to fly back to the States. “So, yesterday started out great. Went to the most significant ruin in Bolivia, Tiwanaku, made a new friend, had a great dinner. Came back to the hotel and realized I was yet another victim of Carnival. From my hotel room, someone stole my daypack with my passport, money, credit cards, 100 GB of memory cards full of photos, and my iPad. The iPad has all my contact information. Be on alert if you get an email from me that sounds out of character. Other than a great feeling of violation (they were in my hotel room, going through my things), the greatest loss is of all the photos I took in South American. This will take a bit of time to recover from. Beware, thieves are everywhere. I have certainly learned a couple of valuable lessons. I did make DVD´s of the first six weeks of the trip and sent them home, so I have some photos of the beginning, and my camera wasn´t stolen, so I have some photos of the end. I´m counting myself lucky.” Stay aware, stay safe, and enjoy your fabulous trip! Sure wish I could afford to be there with you! Best Wishes, Cheryl
Joan Hennes Hi Cindy! I just started reading your posts. What an interesting journey! I am home with Lizzie and Tom. Tom picked Lizzie up from Berkely today and we are going to Yosemite tomorrow. I am going to check your blogs from now on.