The Ghan Expedition from Darwin to Adelaide offers a good-value take on luxury rail holidays
The stillness jolted me awake. Stopped mid-way down Australia’s dusty red centre, the open blinds let in dawn’s dull light and revealed a truck parked by my window.
I peered in. No outback bandits stared back, so I sank into the cushions of my snug, wood-pannelled cabin, waiting for its rattle and shake lullaby to resume. , I sailed through a crocodile-rich gorge painted with millennia-old rock art, admired Uluru from above, and up-close, danced under the stars at Alice Springs Telegraph Station and met an opal miner whose stories could be ripped fromWith each meal and peaceful sleep, the carriages felt more like home.
My easygoing neighbours added to the comfort. Most were Australian, with domestic travellers making up 75 per cent ofIt began in the Northern Territory capital of Darwin. At 8am in Australian spring, it was already 26°C at the railway station. Crew members wearing wide-brimmed Akubra hats and crisp, striped shirts checked in passengers.
Behind them, a tomato-red locomotive, offset by a cornflower blue sky, came into view. The train’s camel-and-rider symbol is a tribute to its inspiration – the cameleers, who came from Afghanistan , but several other countries, too, and helped forge a route through inhospitable terrain.
Guests, a mix of couples and small groups and most over 40 , queued at trestle tables stacked with fruit and pastries and swilled glasses of champagne or buck’s fizz.on a guitar before a stint on the didgeridoo, a chance to share a little about his heritage. Soon, train manager Zephyr took the podium and told us to hop on board.
I would be sleeping solo in a Gold twin cabin . But my first call was the Outback Explorer Lounge. Its window seats were an invitation for easy rapport among passengers, G&Ts in hands, after dusty excursions.
A couple in their sixties who lived in Australia, but were originally from Scotland, became my regular companions in the Queen Adelaide Restaurant. This Art Deco-style carriage featured cushioned booths separated by etched glass partitions. The scenery, such as Flinders Ranges, a vast sweep of red mountains seen on our final push to Adelaide, unspooled behind curtain-framed windows.
The Queen Adelaide dining carriage is an easy spot to get chatting to fellow passengers In Gold class, The Ghan’s team served two-or-three-course meals with style, even at average speeds of 52mph , and even remembered my favourite coffee order. The train’s menu has been overhauled since my departure, and options on offer at the moment include: crispy pork belly with pepper berry jus and crackling, a salmon bowl with zucchini fritters served with sour cream and red onion and a cronut with caramelised banana, salted caramel and vanilla bean ice cream.
All the silver-service elegance felt at odds with the wilderness. Our first taste of the outback was a cruise through Nitmiluk Gorge , a 13-gorge system sculpted by the 204-mile-long Katherine River. It was named by the Jawoyn people, the traditional owners and custodians of the site.
At turns, a minty shade, then tawny, the river is flanked by chiseled pinky-red sandstone through which tufts of vegetation sprout, like hair from the crevices of a time-worn face. The sandstone dates back around 1.6 billion years, and, according to Jawoyn belief, was carved by a giant rainbow serpent. Passing rock art painted up to 10,000 years ago, cicadas chirped and a crocodile languished motionless on a bank before launching into the water.
The gorge is home to saltwater crocodiles, which have a wide, short snout and attack humans, and the freshwater kind that have a longer, narrower snout and will bite if they feel cornered. Its other inhabitants include the rare pig-nosed turtle, and 46 species of fish.
Chatting to fellow passengers, I found several were ticking off the Australian bucket list offered by Journey Beyond, which is behind The Ghan, as well as other long-distance trains and experiences, such as a safari camp on Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef. Among my companions was Ann Donald, who had travelled from Vancouver, Canada and joined The Ghan after an Australian road trip.
“You talk to the most interesting people, and the service is second to none. The Gold class cabins are pretty small , but that’s part of the adventure. ” Tickets for The Ghan Expedition include off-train experiences, but an Uluru experience was among the tempting add-ons. Furnished with packed lunches, we boarded a small plane with our pilot-guides, Brendan and Jack.
Within an hour or so, we were above Kata Tjuta domes. These 36 red rocks – the tallest standing at 1,791ft – are, like Uluru, sacred to the local Anangu. We flew around the monolith before landing nearby and being driven to the edge. It seemed unthinkable that just seven years ago , hundreds of people climbed Uluru each day, especially as we were shown how easily its surface sloughs away.
Uluru’s spiritual pull made me crave a longer visit, but we had a dinner appointment at Alice Springs Telegraph Station. Now a museum, it became a crucial relay point on the overland telegraph line between Darwin and Adelaide in 1872. Twirling on the starlit dance floor as local musicians, The Heartbeat Band, playedOur last stop before Adelaide delivered another filmic memory.
The outback town of Coober Pedy can reach 48°C, more than half of the population live underground, and opal is the local treasure. John, an opal miner I met at Umoona Opal Mine and Museum, described driving around stocked with homemade explosives, looking for spots to dig. He could recount many jump-scare moments: “I was underground and it felt like the walls were moving; they were covered with wolf spiders.
” Whipped by dirt-sharpened wind while ducking into its opal shops, I felt Christopher Nolan may have visited Coober Pedy before directingIt was a fitting finale for our blockbuster journey, one of big-screen scenery and memorable characters, all enjoyed while sinking into the cinematic glamour of a heritage train. Return UK to Darwin flights are available with a change in Singapore with Singapore Airlines or via Guangzhou with China Southern. Prices from around £1,000.
The writer was a guest of Journey Beyond and Australia’s Northern Territory. The Ghan Expedition 2027 departs Wednesdays and Saturdays . From £2,208pp in a Gold single cabin, including all meals, drinks, off-train experiences in Katherine, Alice Springs, Coober Pedy and Manguri,
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