Australia

Gregg Tripp follows The Songlines into the heart of Australia

Ibecame beguiled by the Ghan after reading Bruce Chatwin’s nomadic novel The Songlines. It’s an embroidered tale of friends negotiating the new train route to Darwin while respecting important Aboriginal connections to The Dreamtime (the “songlines”). The book has now accompanied me on a pilgrimage that has given me a huge dose of reality.

The Ghan’s full northern journey started in 2004, with the completion of the line from Alice Springs to Darwin. The routine service runs most of the year, mid-January to mid-December. The Ghan Expedition, which runs from April to October, stops more often with time to soak up Katherine, Alice and Coober Pedy. The Expedition’s to-do list is so full you almost forget you’re travelling nearly 3000km on rails.

We’ve boarded the Ghan at Darwin. I’m 50, and definitely on the younger end of the passenger manifest. My wife and I walk along this 900m locomotive for about five minutes to our tight but comfortable car Q cabin. We learn to play Tetris with our luggage very quickly. The bathrooms are a big improvement from earlier carriages, now with conventional toilets and a reasonably-sized shower.

The first exposure to Aboriginal history and culture comes four hours in, at Katherine. The indigenous guide at Nitmiluk National Park is very local — Katherine Gorge is a part of his dreaming. We travel by flat-bottomed boat past basking crocodiles and rock paintings 60,000