Onboard The Ghan - Australia's great railway journey - Adelaide - Alice Springs - Darwin

hello and welcome to adelaide and next to me is the gan which is considered to be one of the greatest railway journeys in the world in this video i'm going to take you along a 3 000 kilometer journey over two nights and three days as we travel up the spine of australia from here in adelaide up to darwin so sit back and enjoy the ride here we are in the parklands train terminal which is in central adelaide the most southerly point for the gan i arrived around two hours prior to our departure at 12 15 just after midday you're allowed to check in bags although there was also a decent amount of storage space in your room which i'll show you shortly i had read online that they recommend that you use a smaller carry-on bag to take into your room although my large bag fitted perfectly fine as we waited to board there was a complimentary sparkling wine water and orange juice offered and live music playing in the background boarding began at 11 o'clock and we were taken to our rooms by the friendly attendants i booked a gold twin room as an alternative to the cheaper gold singles and the more expensive platinum rooms the reason i didn't go for the gold single was that they have a shared bathroom while all the other ones have private toilets and showers but because i was traveling alone in the gold twin i did have to pay an additional amount for the single supplement which i think was around eight hundred dollars although check the prices online [Music] now here's my gold twin room number four stepping inside and on the right you've got this thing which is connected to the top bunk which i'll show you later then swinging around you've got this storage ledge next to the staff call bell and a reading lamp below that is one of the multiple arm rests and above you is the fold out top bunk continuing on is another reading lamp and down by your feet are two power points and a fold out table waiting for me on that were the meal times some booklets and some details about the different off train excursion options and some history about this train as well there was also some water and some cleaning agents moving up is the lever which controls the windows now initially i had got a fright thinking that i would be looking through these blinds but if you keep turning the blinds eventually disappear you've got a cupboard in here including some coat hangers a hair dryer and a safe and hidden down below is this rubbish bin behind the door and moving up you've got a magazine and book holder and then there's more storage space and a mirror on the left here is the audio selection including several different music channels and commentary and there's also light buttons and another power plug [Music] moving inside here is the bathroom you've got these complimentary toiletries which get replenished daily and moving around and inside the door here are the towels here is the actual shower itself which i was pleasantly surprised with the pressure was fine and the hot water kicked in quickly there's also this curtain that you wrap around so that you don't get water all over the toilet and everything else and backing out of the bathroom you'll see more storage space and spare pillows up here now to the other things that i forgot to film here's the fold out table folding inwards against the wall it felt perfectly stable enough and i was happy to sit my cameras and laptop here and here's the upper bunk bed which folds out and you've got these side rails which slide up and to actually get onto it there's this ladder which folds up from underneath and one other thing here's my bag which while it's on the larger side it did slide in easily underneath the chair uh which was a relief because otherwise it would have probably got in the road a bit now i wasn't allowed to film the platinum section before the passengers boarded so it's interesting to compare the two and comment below with your thoughts i can't tell you how much extra they cost as the price fluctuates but if you're interested check out their website here's the platinum club lounge and dining carriages and then moving through i'll show you into the actual platinum twin room above those two seats you can see where the mattress folds down from forming a double bed you've also got some extra storage space a sturdier table and generally more legroom [Music] inside the bathroom you've also got more room and the shower itself is actually separate instead of just being right next to the toilet it looks pretty nice although i'll let you be the judge of if it's worth the extra cost now i know the rail geeks out there will be keen to see the locomotives and i can assure you that they are coming in alice springs due to ohs issues and i suspect some other mischievous passengers in the past you're not allowed near them although i got special permission and a supervised visit later on at 12 15 our 2979 kilometer journey began your proof overview brian icon that is began as early as the 1800s discussions began around building a rail line stretching from the south to the north of australia the first game departed adelaide in 1929 on route to alice springs located in the centre of australia it wasn't until 2004 that a new modern rail line stream as the guy was saying the plan was always for the gan to travel up to darwin in fact the government committed to it in 1911 although due to financial difficulties the alice to darwin railing wasn't completed until 2004. behind the snowy mountain scheme it was australia's biggest civil engineering project costing 1.3 billion dollars and taking three years to complete two carriages away was the outback explorer lounge for gold passengers and there's also this small souvenir shop all the food and drinks were included in the price although the souvenirs and a few extra off-rail experiences required further payment which you could make at the end of your journey i ordered a long black coffee and after a chat with the staff took it back to my room now a common question i had was about the coffee and i can confirm that it is barista coffee and tasted perfectly reasonable having said that if you do want a cup of tea or you can tolerate the powdered coffee which is also known as gourmet for our friends across the pacific there is this small kitchenette in my carriage where you can serve yourself at any time i made myself comfortable and sat back to read and enjoy the view as we traveled up towards port augusta due to the covered restrictions they had to space out our meals a little usually you'd be sharing a table of four although in this instance you had to try and keep as much distance as possible therefore i had the whole table to myself at 1 30 it was time to have lunch so i took off to the queen adelaide restaurant which was three carriages away from mine it provided for great views as i wanted and dined here's a menu for today's lunch as well as the drinks menu it's an a la carte service with both vegetarian and omnivorous options [Music] i went with the roasted chicken valentine with pumpkin puree which tasted fantastic the piece of bread was called a entree which i thought was a little odd but also tasted fine this was matched with a savion blanc from the margaret river in a wa and there was a great view outside as you can see the ground was gradually getting drier and the red and orange tinge was getting brighter for dessert i went with the chocolate and mandarin delicious and a bethany late harvest riesling and to close things off i had a coffee and sat back to enjoy the scenery i'll mention now that the service was all really good after the first few interactions most of the crew would refer to you by your name and they were all very eager to help out i'll mention it towards the end of the video but the crew were great and it really made the trip enjoyable after lunch i took off back to my room to enjoy the scenery the view became increasingly arid although it still had a beauty to it and the story behind this train is fascinating so the term gann is short for afghan and the afghan cameliers first came to australia in the mid 1800s and played a massive role in opening up central australia as the area was just too hot and dry for horses camels were perfect for transporting goods mail water tools things like that into remote towns they also played a vital role in the overland telegraph line and the construction of the railway lines at 7 pm it was time for dinner once again and i left this on my door so that the crew knew that it was time for my turn down service which i'll show you shortly just quickly here's the menu again and i'll show you what i ordered the starter was this lentil tart and for the entree i had this tasty kangaroo and sweet corn puree now i know that some international viewers might be surprised that we eat our national emblem and while that is true there are plenty of them and they're actually a naturally high protein and low-fat meat they're also a nuisance for farmers as they tend to damage fences and crops and also cause trouble for anyone driving in any regional areas as they tend to jump in front of cars quite regularly for the main i went with this tasting plate including coorong mallet octopus prawns and sardines served on rice there was also a side of salad and to drink i went with the shonen blanc from mclaren vale here in south australia as the sun continued to set i selected the riverland apricot trifle which tasted great and was matched with their brown brothers orange musket and flora fortified wine once again it all tasted great and the service was fantastic by about 8 pm it was time to head back to my room where the bed had been made up there was also this chocolate waiting and a fantastic view of the sun setting over this beautiful country [Music] while the mattress was soft the ride was fairly rough and noisy so i had broken sleep until around 2am when we arrived at mala so i had a few nice hours of sleep after that at around 6am we had the option of waking up to watch the sunrise and breakfast on the side of the tracks mala itself is a town of around 100 people and is located approximately 1 000 kilometers north of adelaide and 400 kilometers south of alice springs which was our next stop tea coffee and orange juice were offered as well as these vegemite scrolls and egg and bacon rolls the views were fantastic and the rising sun made for awesome reflections of the carriages [Music] at around 7 30 we boarded the train and started to head for alice springs [Music] now i'll show you the shower in a little more detail and don't worry i've double checked the footage um including the reflections and you won't be seeing anything you don't want to this shower curtain works well in containing the water and the actual flow of water itself is pretty good now i know that some of these water-saving shower heads increase the velocity of the water so it feels like you're getting needles into your back but that wasn't an issue with this and the water was warm almost immediately considering it's a trend carriage the shower itself was actually pretty good [Music] after that i took off to the lounge car to relax with some more coffee juice and a magazine now there are usually books and games available in a lounge car although they've been removed due to covered cleaning issues but i had brought my own stuff anyway as you can see i did manage to get phone reception for parts of the trip which was useful to read emails although it was also nice turning off and just enjoying being away from technology there's also no wi-fi on board because of the bike we had earlier in the morning at mala there was this brunch between 10 am and 1 pm and because i was peckish as usual i visited the restaurant car at around 10 30. the options included both traditional breakfast and lunch and i went with the full breakfast including bacon beef chipolata beans spinach and eggs and for dessert i went with a french [Music] toast [Music] the view outside was pretty barren with the odd collection of cattle and watering holes you've probably noticed that there is a red tinge to the dirt and there's a good reason for that the idea is that because there's not a lot of volcanic activity out here the dirt itself is actually really old this is in contrast with somewhere like new zealand or south america which relatively of course as they're still pretty old are much newer and being formed by volcanoes and general tectonic activity so this aussie outback dirt is actually so old that it's rusting it's high in iron and as it oxidizes it gives off this reddish hue and the rocks weaken and fall apart now while it does look nice it's not particularly nutritious dirt and not great for growing anything coming up shortly is something pretty interesting it's apparently the oldest riverbed in the world the fink river also known as lara pintuck by the local indigenous people is one of the four rivers in the lake air basin the river itself only flows a few times a year and not for long as the water disappears in the sand of the simpson desert before it reaches like air i got an espresso and watched the land go by eventually as we neared alice springs the land became a little greener we arrived at 1 15 in the afternoon and immediately turned our clocks back one hour due to daylight saving now i did feel bad for these cars waiting at this crossing as our 700 meter train wasn't moving very fast although luckily for them this train was a few hundred meters shorter than it usually is in fact it can be up to over one kilometer in length because of covert waiting here were a whole lot of health staff so we had to line up and answer a few questions and we had already filled in border forms prior to leaving adelaide now there were a number of different off-train options including the desert park a few sites around the township including the rfds museum or a walk through simpsons gap which is what i selected you can also pay extra for a camel ride a helicopter flight or a scenic fixed wing flight we were separated into different groups and our bus took us the 30 minute journey to the gap we also got our first close-ish glimpse at our locomotives and i'll walk up to these later on our tour began with some history of the region and some great views of the surrounding mountains it was pretty warm so hats sunscreen and cold water were recommended and there was also extra water provided if we ran out simpsons gap is considered to be one of the most scenic pathways through the west mcdonnell ranges and home to an important and permanent water hole it was really beautiful and after spending the last day on board the train it was nice to get out into nature again just before we departed from alice springs i was able to get a supervised visit to the two locomotives you're not meant to go near them although they were pretty accommodating if you're a big train enthusiast or filming a video our two diesel electric locos are nl-109 and 75 which were two of 120 built in australia for national rail between 1996 and 98. they came with massive general electric v16 diesel engines producing up to 3 000 kilowatts which can propel the gan to up to 115 kilometers an hour although the average speed on this journey is only 85 due to restrictions from the tracks in one trip from adelaide to darwin they use around twenty thousand liters of diesel and cost approximately fifty thousand dollars to operate the length does fluctuate depending on the season although ours was 782 meters long and included 33 carriages so there were three outback explorer lounges three queen allied cars two platinum club lounges three power carriages and a uh crew carriage as well as all the rooms for the passengers we left alice springs just after 6 pm and i wandered over to the restaurant car shortly afterwards looking over towards the west you could see the setting sun and the terrain was a little greener as we made our way north just quickly again here's the menu for tonight's dinner i started with a pumpkin tart and feta olive followed by the entree which was a grilled crocodile tail fillet which tasted great and it was kind of interesting eating a dinosaur i started with the sean and blanc again although i swapped that through a pewsy veil prima riesling from eden valley in south australia afterwards for the main i went with a grilled saltwater barramundi which came sitting in this very tasty soup and a mixed leaf salad again now the camera doesn't pick this up that well due to the lighting inside the carriage although this sunset looked pretty amazing for our last evening on the gan then for dessert i went with this cheese plates including cheddar and section 28 monte priscilla with apple paste and strawberry and this was washed down with a separate filled para 10 year old tawny once again on returning to my room i found a chocolate and the bed had been prepared i stayed up for a while watching the impressive lightning although unfortunately gopro struggled in the dark conditions this morning was a sleep in with an announcement at 7 15 reminding people that breakfast was available between 6 30 and 8 30. outside you will have noticed that there's a lot of sitting water and everything was becoming increasingly green the sleep last night was improved in part because i think i was becoming more accustomed to the noises and movements of the train but also the railway between alice and darwin is newer and noticeably smoother after a shower i took off to breakfast where i had this tropical fruit and yogurt parfait washed down with some tropical breakfast juice and an espresso for the main i went with the artisan chorizo which tasted great and some brown bread called pizano artisan toast after that i was back to my room where i found that the bed had been put away and i sat back to read and relax at approximately 9 30 we arrived into catherine where we were first exposed to the tropical heat and humidity while alice itself was warm it wasn't humid so this certainly was a noticeable change i went with the included nit malik gorge crews although there was also an option of an indigenous rock art cruise and at an extra cost there was the helicopter ride over the gorge luckily for us the water levels were much higher than usual so they ended up running the power boats which was fantastic the view was incredible and i was really impressed with how the new gopro managed to keep the footage stable [Music] [Music] as the next ride took off for their experience you can see in the foreground how the ramp was underwater after this which was really one of the highlights of the trip we were busted back to the train considering the heat and how long the train is they do have these little buggies able to provide a lift to your carriage if you need it but otherwise i was happy to keep stretching my legs and walk we rolled out of catherine at one in the afternoon and after a quick shower i went for lunch [Music] i went with a buffalo curry which was cooked perfectly and the roti on the side was very tasty i went with the riesling again having discovered how nice it was the day beforehand as we drove over the increasingly swollen catherine river dessert was delivered and i went for that mango parfait i had another espresso and retired to my room for the last few hours of the journey as we went through some bands of rain a popular question people were asking me on social media prior to the trip was how covert has changed things so other than the odd announcement about social distancing and the use of sanitizers before moving between carriages the main difference was in the dining carriage usually you would share the table with three other people which would have always been a great way to meet others although that wasn't allowed on this trip as you can see with the spacing out in the video but otherwise and being a luxury train there was always a fair amount of room anyway so things haven't changed that much oh and on your arrival in alice springs or adelaide in the opposite direction you would have had to have gone through the interview process about hot spots and viral symptoms and things like that at around 5 30 in the evening we arrived into darwin the northern territory's capital city as australia's northernmost capital darwin is actually closer in distance to jakarta than sydney it has a tropical climate with a wet and a dry season during the wet season darwin experiences heavy monsoonal downpours and spectacular lightning shows during the dry season the city is met with blue skies and gentle sea bruises from the picturesque harbour the greater darwin area is the ancestral home of the lara kia people today the city is home to 60 different nationalities there's plenty to do in darwin it's a hop skip and jump from some of australia's most spectacular natural environments including the kakadu and litchfield national parks it also boasts the popular mindless beach markets crocodile parks and a number of waterfront restaurants and bars we're sure you'll enjoy your time in darwin so how was a trip as this was my first ever proper long luxury train journey i really didn't know what to expect although overall i thoroughly enjoyed it i'll start with the negatives as they're brief the noise and the movement of the carriages did make sleeping difficult so the length of two nights was probably a good time frame as i slept very well in the hotel the next night the only other negative i could think of was calling the small bread roll and entree which seemed a little mischievous but onto the positives otherwise the food and the drinks were really good the food was always well presented and cooked well and the refills of the drinks were freely flowing the service was also really good and i noticed that i was greeted by name by most staff during the duration of the trip the room itself was spacious and perfectly comfortable to sit and watch the world go past the mattress is really comfortable although i wonder if another centimeter or two of width may have made it even better i was also pleasantly surprised by the quality of the shower which i didn't have very high expectations of because we're on a train but it was really refreshing especially after the hot excursions in alice springs and catherine i'll be keen to hear what your thoughts are about the gan and how it stacks up with other major luxury rail rides you've been on or watched on youtube i'd also love to hear if i should make more similar rail journey videos and where you would suggest that i visit next time in the meantime if you're into aircraft i would love it if you checked out my channel i've got heaps of trips on board flights and tours around significant aircraft in museums around australia and the world and after we arrived in darwin there was a bit of a walk to our complimentary bus that drove us to our city hotels if you enjoyed the video please give it a thumbs up and comment below thanks for watching and i'll see you another time

Channel: Paul Stewart

Views: 271,645

Rating: 4.918777 out of 5

Keywords: the ghan, ghan, rail, railway, railway journey, train trip report, train review, the ghan review, the ghan adelaide, the ghan darwin, australian railway, rails, railways, paul stewart, the indian pacific, indian pacific, journey beyond, journey beyond rail, train, trains, journey beyond review, ghan review, indian pacific review, First class travel, Rail enthusiast, Train enthusiast, Rail geek, train journey, great railway journey, great rail journey

Id: wGiXnz7TapU

Length: 28min 43sec (1723 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 11 2021