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Day 22: The Ghan - Wednesday 24th May 2023

dawn2025

Updated: Jan 14

Back in 2020, in the height of lockdown, we settled down to watch TV. The other half flicked through the plethora of available films, comedies and documentaries and fell upon Michael Portillo and his Great Train Journeys. Having had our trip to Australia cancelled just a few weeks before, watching a programme about our intended destination seemed like a good plan for the evening ahead.\


As the programme unfolded it became apparent that if our trip to judge Cairns in Australia was resurrected, then we would be including a trip on The Ghan.


Needless to say judging Cairns was resurrected for 2023 and before we booked flights, we huddled around the computer to investigate The Ghan.


Availability on The Ghan was limited due to bookings carried over from covid cancellations. The only dates to fit with judging in May were booked! Then flights and the rest of our trip was booked, reserved, planned and scheduled out😍





The Ghan Expedition is an iconic world renowned rail trip from Darwin to Adelaide. What makes it so special? The explanation does not lay in one simple answer but a combination of the enormity of the journey, the style of travel, the standard of service, the off train adventures, the food and the views. The result is an experience that nourishes the travellers every sense and one which creates memories to cherish forever.


As us Brits have trouble appreciating the enormity of distances in Australia, this is an attempt to help…

  • If you walked from Darwin to Adelaide it would take 25 days, if you drove it would take you 31 hours.

  • It is a distance of approximately 3000 kilometers, which is about 1,860 miles

  • It takes me roughly 6 hours to drive to Edinburgh from Worcester, where I live, a distance of about 315 miles. So, it’s like me driving to Scotland and back home, 3 times over!


In short, going on The Ghan is iconic, you see a lot of Australia, go on astounding adventures and eat some fabulous food! For us, it’s tick, tick, tick!


We were collected from the hotel in Darwin, checked aboard a coach and taken a short trip out to The Ghan station outside Darwin. There was time for a photo shoot alongside the train!





We were shown to our cabin. Petite, compact, adequate were all words that sprung to mind. As we were about to find out, we didn’t spend quite long enough in the cabin to fall over each other…


We made ourselves at home and found the lounge for coffee or maybe it was now time for something a little stronger…





We were greeted by Alisha who would look after our tours, meals and answer any queries throughout our time on The Ghan.


Our first afternoon tour was called Katherine Outback Experience. This was a visit country singer and renowned horseman Tom Curtains home.



The outback experience was a fabulous afternoon of demonstrations with horses, dogs, goats and a few cows to boot. Tom told his story which you can read here



This horse had been out of work for several months and this was its first day back

Tom used body language and his voice to control the dogs and said as the dogs grow up, they would get to know their job. He allowed them to have fun and learn as they went


As these few videos show we had a fun and educational afternoon

We were served afternoon tea at Tom’s ranch and then returned to the train. It was the time to freshen up before dinner.

The food on The Ghan was amongst some of the best food we have ever eaten. Every meal had choice and was all Australian!


After dinner we returned to the lounge for evening drinks and then went to bed.

When we booked this trip, the last available cabins on the only dates we could do to fit with judging were twin cabins. This was a bunk style layout with private bathroom. It was adequate and we agreed to rotate who slept in the top bunk.


The other half scrambled up the ladder and snuggled down. I flopped into the bottom bunk.


Now, we knew we would be sleeping on the train, we knew that we would be travelling through the night but what we hadn’t factored in was the noise…


We slept, we woke, we went to loo, we slept, we woke, we rolled over, we fiddled with the blinds to make them be quiet but they were not complying. We tossed, we turned and before we knew it, 6am had arrived. We were up and out. Both needing a larger and cooler space, coffee and we did not want to miss the sunrise.



This was 10 minutes of time recorded in hyper lapse mode so it plays super fast! We recorded about 30 minutes but need someone more techy than us to put them all together to see its entire beauty


Our second day on The Ghan had begun…

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Kennel Carradine & Dawn Carradine Inett
Email: kennelcarradine@outlook.com

Licenced by Wychavon District Council to Breed Dogs with a 5 Star Licence
Licence Number 202/02312/ANIACT

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