Following on from my last post, The Ghan had halted in the township of Katherine for our last excursion – Katherine Gorge in Nitmiluk National Park.

Owned by the Jawoyn Aboriginal people, the Park is 292.000 hectares, with the river carving its way through a system of thirteen gorges.

Buses dropped us at Knott’s Crossing, where we boarded a little flat-bottomed boat for our cruise through the first gorge.

I went mad with the camera but photos don’t really do the job. You really needed to be there.

After leaving the boat, I followed the others the short distance up the hill to see my first-ever ancient aboriginal paintings. According to the Aboriginal guide, these particular paintings are thought to be around 10,000 years old. It took some help from him to be able to discern them but I soon got the hang of it.

After the talk, we were left to ourselves for awhile. I loved wandering on this pathway along the river, surrounded by the rocks and the ancient sandstone cliffs

Too soon, we were called back to the boat.

Before returning to the train, we were given a slap-up lunch, which I could have done without (I would have preferred longer in the gorge) but at least I got to taste kangaroo and crocodile.

Back in the train, a light dinner was served late afternoon, before we packed up our gear and waited for the journey to end in Darwin.

I was looking forward to exploring Darwin and, in particular, to getting a serious dose of sunshine before heading back into winter. 

My review of The Ghan? I loved it. The service was great, the food was beautiful and I enjoyed the excursions enormously. It’s an experience of putting your life, including most of the time your WiFi, on hold, just for a couple of days, and allowing yourself to be carried along. Of course you have to pay, and it’s not cheap (though reasonable, I think, for what you get) but if you can afford to lash out, I would  definitely recommend it. 

I’m thinking now of doing the Indian Pacific, which runs from Sydney on the east coast, across country to Perth on the west, though boarding again in Adelaide. I really fancy crossing the Nullabor Plain.