Day 2 - Sunday 24th May

When we woke, it was quite wet outside. Dave had suggested that we have breakfast at a café on East Terrace called East Terrace Continental. Because of the weather, we decided to catch a taxi.

At the café, they asked us if we had a booking (which we didn’t) but they gave us a table that had been reserved for someone else later - on the assurance that we only wanted a quick breakfast. It was easy to see why Dave had suggested this cafe because it was a good location across the road from the park and had a great atmosphere. It’s obviously a trendy place to go for breakfast because it was packed by the time we left at about 9:30am.

We walked back to our hotel – down Rundle Street to Mount William Street. We were too early for the Rundle Street Markets.

At 11am, we caught a taxi from the hotel to the Parkland railway terminal to catch the Ghan to Alice Springs. Annie and Paul arrived about half an hour later than us because they got caught in a traffic jam behind a convoy. They’d stayed overnight with Annie’s sister (Helen) and her husband (John). John is a local travel agent and he had organised all our holiday bookings for us (except for the flights).

The train left on time at 12:20pm. Today, the Ghan consisted of 29 carriages including two locomotives – a total length of about 700m. Our cabin consisted of a lounge big enough for three people plus a very small ensuite bathroom. At night the lounge folds down to form one bunk bed and there in another bunk bed that folds drown from the wall above the lounge.

The entire train is nicely air-conditioned with double-glazed windows to keep out the heat and cold. The dining car was two carriages away along a very narrow corridor next to the cabins. The lounge and bar was in the next cabin after the dining car.

Because of the number of people on the train, they weren’t able to accommodate everyone in the dining car at the same time and they divided us into two sittings. We opted for the late sitting so we could have a drink in the bar before lunch.

It was very pleasant sitting in the bar and the dining car sipping on a drink, eating a nice lunch, chatting with Annie and Paul and watching the world go by in the window next to us. In the bar, they gave us complementary champagne and cake to celebrate the Ghan’s 80th birthday. Annie and Suzy were fully expecting Inspector Poirot to walk in at any moment.

When we reached Port Augusta station at about 5pm, the train had to stop three times in succession to let people on and off because the train was far too long for the platform. We spent the next couple of hours reading in our cabin before joining Annie and Paul in the lounge for a pre-dinner drink.

After dinner, we went returned to our cabins to find that the staff had folded down the bunk beds for us and we went straight to bed.