The Ghan

After 2 hours of sleep (:0) I took the Ghan Train from Adelaide up to Alice Springs (in the very center of Australia - and the very center of the outback). It's called the Ghan in recognition of the Afhanistan guys who came over on their camels and helped chart the early tracks through the center of Australia... It was different from the Indian Pacifc in that when I went to sleep looking at flat red desert puncuated by arid trees and sagebrush looking bushes, that's exactly what I woke up to...

but let me tell you, it was a great sight to watch go by out the windows. The only thing that wasn't as good was the lack of animal life... didnt' see see any kangaroos or emus this time (I was really looking for dingos anyway ;0). But the red sand and dried up salt lakes were great to see.

I made some buddies from Ireland and we looked for animals together (we also all had the same guide book which was funny):

One of them saw a kangaroo early in the moring, but the only thing I saw were these "camel melons" growing in clumps by the tracks... they look very succulant (and therefore very out of place in the outback) but I learned later that they were brought over in the saddles of the Ghan camel guys and taste REALLY bad.. so bad that no animal in australia will touch them.. at least that keeps them from spreading...

I was also able to see lots of the Spinifex grass (which grows in round clumps and is essentially made of silicon... that means glass). This stuff was very hard on the early exploreres and their horses... I tried touching it and was instantly stabbed by it with a sliver of glass... ouch that stuff is nasty...

I think the coolest thing on the trip were all of the dust devils we saw....

And the world's oldest river (the course has remained unchanged for millions of years.. you can see why it really hasn't changed much from this pic ;0)