The Ghan: Part 3 – Side Trips – Around Our e-Table

***Storyline:* *Home to home westward***

Included in our package, aside from breakfast at dawn in the desert, which we covered in Part 2, were two excursions. There were 3 choices for each site and the staff had to confirm busses, etc. depending on the number of people for each option. So we had to lock in our selections before even the train had left Adelaide.

The choices for Alice Springs were:

Alice Springs Desert Park. It says in the brochure we were given that there were over 200 desert animals and 400 plants to explore. There were only about 2 km of walking though, so this was the first out for us.
Alice explorer – this was a coach tour though the area, where the guests would visit some iconic sites, such as The Royal Flying Doctor Service, where one would get acquainted with the mobile medical network, the National Pioneer Woman’s Hall of Fame, the Alice Springs Reptile Centre, etc. This option required even less walking, so it was out
Simpsons Gap discovery walk. This one was promising us to step into the footsteps of Aboriginal Dreaming and experience the power of Simpsons Gap. Required “high” degree of fitness, whatever their definition of fitness was, because it was an easy walk through the desert. Anyway, this was our choice.

Alice Springs, a true outback town, is at the heart of the red desert, some 1500 km from the two nearest major cities, Adelaide and Darwin. It is framed by the MacDonnell Ranges and has some interesting history with the legendary Afghan cameleers, the Royal Flying Doctors, the Overland Telegraph Line. We didn’t visit the famous Urulu this time, but Alice Springs is the gateway for that experience.

At around 1pm we disembarked for the second time that day, the first being the early morning sunrise view and breakfast at Marla. Buses were waiting for us. Our bus heading for the Simpsons Gap walk filled quickly.

Simpsons Gap is said to be one of the most scenic areas of the West MacDonnell Ranges that host some of the most significant permanent waterholes. The Arrente people considered the Rungutjirpa (their name for the Simpsons Gap) home to a group of giant ancestors. There are several Dreaming trails and stories that cross at this spiritual site. Dreaming or Dreamtime for Australian Aboriginal people is the time when Ancestral Spirits created life and important physical and geographic formations and sites.

It was a short, about 18km ride before we stopped at an area with a few giant, regal ghost gums (a species of Eucalyptus). Our driver and tour guide led us on a trail through the shrubs and high grasses until we reached one of the gums. The guide passionately talked about the geology of the region, drew maps in the red soil and explained that the water that comes to Alice Springs (how else would anyone survive in the desert) runs underground all the way from an island north of Australia, but I didn’t pay attention to this part. Perhaps he mentioned Madagascar since he went way back to Paleozoic times when Pangea split. Interesting how folklore is created, because I believe this must be a folk story. There is a huge underground water basin called Amadeus basin, from which Alice Springs draws water. Now was this basin formed during Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras? I doubt science is so advanced as to tell.

It was interesting and entertaining but for the incredibly annoying bush flies that swarm over us, entering our nostrils, mouths, eyes, ears, and all… It felt like thousands of them were all over us. Everyone was batting them away from their faces and heads, in what we’d learn later was a called the Aussie Wave. At least they didn’t bite or sting.

Entering the bus, the flies followed us, so there was no reprieve from them. But the AC slowed them somewhat. Shortly after we stopped again, this time for a walk up a hill to where we would take photos of the cliffs and capture the many moods of the rock faces.

This was the Cassia Hill Walk, named after the low shrubland consisting mainly of Sennas (also known as Cassias) which covered the hillside. From the top of the hill, one can see the Alice Valley to the east and west, Simpsons Gap to the north and Heavitree Range to the south.

We learned this from a sign at the base of the hill, that most of our companions passed by without noticing. Up the hill there was signage about the local plants, too.

We hiked up the hill, in vain performing the Aussie Wave. Flies were all over us. It would have been a lovely walk, with all the views of the cliffs of Simpsons Range, if it weren’t for the flies. The heat did not bother us that much.

After some photo ops we returned to the bus for our last walk by the riverbed. The riverbed was dry.

We walked above it to the permanent waterhole and then back on the sands of the bed. This, for me at least, was the best part of the trip.

The flies didn’t like the area for some reason, be it the breeze, the deep shade or lack of food for them, I really don’t know. But I was happy without them.

Besides it was really a beautiful oasis with trees, gentle breeze and rock shade, that provided some reprieve from the heat and made for a nice walk.

Here while at the bottom of the river I spotted a few Black-footed Rock-wallabies. Flies excluded, this was the only wildlife seen this day.

We returned to the train in time for our last onboard dinner. Next day we did the Katherine of-board tour.

The choices for Katherine were:

Nitmiluk gorge cruise – this one takes you down Katherine River through the First and Second gorges.
Nitmiluk first gorge rock art cruise – we chose this one because it included art interpretation by a native guide
Katherine outback experience – this probably was for the least fit, and I don’t think there were enough takers for it.

It was our last day and the tour was in the morning. We alit for one last time to where the outback meets the tropics, at a place named Katherine, by the river with the same name. The Nitmiluk Gorge is within the Nitmiluk National Park.

Shaped by the elements over eons, it is an important site to the Jawayan people. The neat thing about the tours was that the company that runs them as well as the National Park is owned by the Jawayan people (through a 99-year lease from the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission).

We cruised down the First Gorge, fascinated by the scenery, the sand strips with signs “Crocodile nesting area. Do not enter” around the bends, the rocks shaped over millennia and the vegetation so different from what we know.

We disembarked at the end of the gorge and walked to the rocks that housed a 40,000 – year old art gallery. Our Jawayan guide talked passionately and in detail about the spirit of the site, the art and the stories behind it: stories about the creation and significance of Gorge in their lives.

We walked around and up to a point, where our guide told us that the sites beyond it are sacred to them and asked us to go no further.

On our return trip, he tried to tell us the names of all the trees and shrubs and other vegetation, and their traditional uses. All-in-all, it was an unforgettable moment, where we connected with the native land and tried to fill the gaps with our imaginations. We didn’t spot any crocodiles, although there were supposed to be many during wet season. I saw many logs however, or were these crocs that my vision interpreted as logs? I’ll leave it at that.