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The Ghan
  • Paula King-Foullie
  • Paula King-Foullie

The Ghan

What better way to celebrate a birthday than another amazing adventure. This time in this amazing country we live in, starting in Darwin for 5 days before heading off on the world renowned train adventure, The Ghan, ending with 4 days in Adelaide. Read more
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  • Trip start
    April 24, 2026
    Paula King-FoullieThe GhanTraveler
    1

    Let the adventure begin

    April 24 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We started our adventure with an early morning rise to head off to Brisbane Airport for our flight to Darwin. Up at 5.00am, collected Bryd and Tommy and we were Brisbane bound by 6.15am. Poor Macie and Dottie thought they were coming with us when they saw us packing last night, but as soon as we gave them a bone before we left, they soon forgot about coming with us.

    There was quite a bit of traffic on our way to the airport and we arrived at 8.30am, said a quick goodbye to Bryd and Tommy before heading indoors. A bit of confusion with the self checkin as it didn’t print my bag tag, only Dave’s. One of the Virgin staff printed it off for me but printed Dave’s again so had to get the baggage people to fix it. All done and we were at our gate at 9.10am. Before we knew it, we were boarded on our 9.50am flight and on our way.

    We paid for extra leg room and have to say, there was heaps of room. I had downloaded heaps of episodes of ER so I was set, Dave listened to music and slept. After a quick 4 hrs we had landed and on our way in our uber to our accommodations.

    Have to say, I have chosen well again, the room is huge and close to everything.

    After we unpacked and Dave had a coffee, we headed off to Woolworths which is 2 blocks over to stock up on food for the next few days before heading back for some relaxation.

    About 6.00pm we headed of for a lovely relaxing walk along the esplanade to take in a top end sunset and have to say it didn’t disappoint. We made our way back to the Cavenagh Hotel for dinner before retiring for the night.

    Tomorrow we are heading to the Anzac dawn service at the Cenotaph which is about a 5 minute walk from our room.    Read more

  • Paula King-FoullieThe GhanTraveler

    Anzac Day

    April 25 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Up early this morning at 4.30am to get ready for the Anzac Day Dawn Service. As it very popular, all the flyers said to arrive at 5.30am for a 6.00am service. We got there about 5.20am and the park was filling up then. I have never seen so many people at a Dawn Service.

    We headed back to our unit at about 7.30am after a little walk along the Esplanade to have breakfast and as we have both been working big hours at work leading up to holidays, we both had about a 2 hour nap!

    We headed off to Woolworths to get a hot chook for lunch and some scotch premix drinks to enjoy. I haven’t had to show my id for alcohol service in a number of years and I am clearly over 18 years of age, but it must be a Territory law that everyone needs to show it.

    Back at the unit to enjoy a yummy chicken and salad sandwich before heading out to tour the WWII Oil Tunnels only to get to the tunnels to find them closed for the day. Will head there tomorrow. We then walked along the Waterfront and enjoyed a beverage at Stokes Hill Wharf while watch a ship being tugged out to sea. Such a relaxing afternoon.

    Back to our unit to cool down, we aren’t used to holidaying in the heat, we are used to putting layer upon layer upon layer on and walking in -10 onwards temps 😂

    Then it was time to enjoy yet another top end sunset to end another spectacular day.    Read more

  • Paula King-FoullieThe GhanTraveler

    Darwin Museum Underground WWII Oil Stora

    April 26 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We had a slower morning this morning with a much needed sleep in before heading off the Waterfront to explore the Oil Tunnels. The Darwin oil storage tunnels were built during World War II to protect the oil stored in the Australian city of Darwin from Japanese bombing. They are below the cliffs of Darwin City in the Darwin Wharf Precinct on Kitchener Drive, a part of the Waterfront Precinct. By the time the tunnels were completed the risk from bombing had gone and the tunnels never stored oil.

    On the way back to our room, we walked through downtown to get a few souvenirs before heading to Woolworths to get a few more necessities, then it was time for some lunch at our unit.

    After lunch we head a rest as it’s too hot to do anything in the middle of the day. The afternoon was spent exploring the Botanical Gardens and Mindil Beach.    Read more

  • Paula King-FoullieThe GhanTraveler

    George Brown Botanical Gardens

    April 26 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    After a bit of rest after lunch, it was time to head out again, this time to the George Brown Botanical Gardens.

    After a long walk in the sweltering heat, feet absolutely killing me, we made it to the gardens. After loosing about 15kgs in sweat we had high hopes for the gardens, however sadly it didn’t live up to our hopes. The cafe was shut and the gardens aren’t very well maintained. It may be that they are just getting back into the swing of maintaining the gardens after the wet season.Read more

  • Paula King-FoullieThe GhanTraveler

    Mindil Beach

    April 26 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    After the disappointment of the Botanical Gardens, Dave and I weren’t holding up great hopes for Mindil Beach. We walked through where they have the markets which only start on Thursday, before making our way to the Mindil Beach Casino Resort.

    We found our way to Sandbar and enjoyed a few much needed beverages. As we had to wait 2 hours before sunset even started, we enjoyed some relax time just listening to music from the swim up bar next door, before making our way to the beach where we watched a wedding party having their photos taken.

    Then it was time …… and I have to say Mindil Beach sunset did not disappoint. Truly amazing.

    Made the long trek back to our unit to enjoy a yummy dinner. On our way back, I said to Dave that we need to walk more when we are at home as we prove each holidays that we can survive without a car. Yesterday we walked 14kms and today another 13kms.    Read more

  • Paula King-FoullieThe GhanTraveler

    Relax Day

    April 27 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Today was our relax day where we were just going to relax taking in everything we love - turns out we love walking, clocked up 14kms today 😂😂

    First up was to do some shopping to get some souvenirs to take home before dropping them back to the unit and making our way to Stokes Hill Wharf just to relax and take in the sea breeze, water and sea life.

    First port of call was the Lime Cafe for an Iced Chocolate and Cappuccino on the Waterfront. Onwards to Stokes Hill Wharf for lunch. As we arrived it felt like we were transported back to San Francisco as a Hop On Hop Off bush just like they have in San Fran drove past us just as we got the sea side smell just like the sea lions. Brought back many amazing memories. Dave had Snapper and myself steak which both were delicious. Icecream was calling after lunch - there goes the healthy eating today 😂

    We spent a few hours just gazing out the harbour, watching all the different boats, fires on Tiwi Islands, sea gulls and talking to fellow travellers before heading to Doctors Bay for a fish feeding experience. Man what an experience that was. We were encouraged to put our feet in the water with bread between our toes, well I tried this and within seconds a fish took my whole toe in its mouth and I was out of there 😂. This was a very unique experience and one we both enjoyed. We spent about an hour and a half here before heading back to the unit.

    It was about 5.00 by the time we got back so we relaxed for an hour before heading out again for today’s sunset. Whilst Dave isn’t really a sunset person, I am and feel so at peace during sunset. And today’s sunset did not disappoint.

    On the way back, we walked passed Parliament House and the Supreme Court, both speculator buildings.

    Yep you guessed it - another amazing day on our adventure. We are going to miss Darwin terribly when we leave on Wednesday.    Read more

  • Paula King-FoullieThe GhanTraveler

    Last day in the Top End

    April 28 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Well our time in Darwin has come to an end. We have had an absolutely amazing time and if the opportunity ever presents itself again, we will definitely be back.

    Today was the usual last day anywhere, spent relaxing, sleeping in, washing and packing. We did some last minute shopping this morning, lunch at the u to before heading back down to the wharf for an afternoon of sea gazing, ship and plane spotting, a yummy dinner and we can’t forgot one last sunset. That is the thing I will miss the most (Dave not so much 😂) are the sunsets.Read more

  • Paula King-FoullieThe GhanTraveler

    The Day has finally arrived

    April 29 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Today started with an early morning rise after a not so great sleep overnight as Dave tossed and turned all night. He does this every time we leave somewhere thinking he will sleep through the alarms (by 2) we have set!

    Up and had breakfast looking out over the Darwin bay one last time before packing the last of our stuff and giving the unit a quick sweep. Where we had to be picked up from was The Oaks which was directly across the road from us. We got there at 7.00 am ready for a 7.30am pickup. The coach arrived at 7.15am so on the coach we went and headed off at 7.30am bound for Berimah Train Station.

    After 25 minutes we arrived at the train station, which was very ironic as that is how long it took us by coach to get to the train station for our Cali Zephyr trip.

    Once our luggage was unloaded we were able to disembark and grab our luggage and head to checkin.

    Checkin was quite smooth and we found our carriage was Carriage O with the train going to Carriage R with 4 carriages past R for the staff onboard. Our checkin consultant said that the train was nearly 1km long so that’s pretty impressive.

    As part of the service, we had a champagne breakfast with many different pastries. I was very delighted to see that gluten free was on offer and the muffin and slice I had was absolutely delicious. If that was anything to go by, the food on the train would be amazing.

    After breakfast and the obligatory photos, we made our way to our carriage. We could have got a buggy ride to carriage but we opted to walk the nearly 1km to it.

    Once onboard we unpacked and made ourselves at home. We read up about everything on offer in the Ghan book and then our attendant came and gave us the room tour. As the room is very similar to the one we had on the Cali Zephyr we pretty much knew how everything worked.

    We spent the morning taking in the scenery in the lounge car as we waited for our lunch seating time which was 11.30am. We were waited on my Aaron the barman and our attendant in the lounge car and meal car is Yasmin. All foods, beers, wines, spirits, ciders and soft drinks as well as barista coffee, hot chocolates and tea are all inclusive.

    During lunch we sat with a lovely couple Lisa and Andrew who are about 10 years older than us who have just retired from an interior design business. They travel the world and we had a lovely time talking about all our travels and we didn’t draw breath.

    Lunch was absolutely divine. Dave and I both had the Buffalo Curry, whilst I had a pistachio icecream some for dessert and Dave had a pineapple tart. We both enjoyed a couple of Chivas Regal with a hot chocolate for me after lunch.

    We were due to reach Katherine at 2.00pm however we were delayed waiting for a freight train to pass (the rail lines are only 1 line so freight takes precedent over The Ghan). We arrived at 2.30pm and we were soon on the coach taking us out to Nitmiluk Gorge. We enjoyed a leisurely 1.5hr cruise taking in all the amazing views while listening to our very informative tour guy tell us everything there was to know about the gorge. As Katherine had just experience one of the highest floods on record, we couldn’t get into the second gorge so only toured the first gorge.

    Our dinner time seating was 6.15pm and we only got back just in time for our seating. We were seated and lo and behold, Lisa and Andrew were seated with us again, so we had another meal of lots of talking and laughing. Lisa loves her wine.

    Talking about wine, I said to Dave about an hour into the trip, I thought young people could drink but the oldies (and I can say that as we are one of the youngest couples on the train) are butting the young ones to shame. I really don’t know how some of them were standing after welcome drinks.

    For dinner, which was a 3 course meal, Dave had crocodile dumplings, steak and sticky date pudding for dessert while I had duck for entree (man o man was it absolutely delicious, I will crave that for a very long time), steak for main and an apricot cake for dessert.

    We got back to our room and our beds were made up with our lanyard for tomorrow off train experience, some tea bags, chocolates and the most amazing room spray. The top bunk has an innerspring mattress which is an upgrade from the Zephyr and has a lot more room to manoeuvre around.

    The whole time during meal service, the train was stationary. We could back to our room and I said to Dave that we should have our shower while the train is stopped. Got everything ready to have our shower and a freight train went past. That was the reason we were stationary. As soon as it passed, we were on our way again.

    After our shower, we filled up our water bottles and Dave turned in for the night while I wrote this blog and then watched some episodes of ER that I had downloaded.

    Pretty amazing first day on The Ghan, can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.    Read more

  • Paula King-FoullieThe GhanTraveler

    Onwards to Alice Springs

    April 30 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    First night sleep on The Ghan was pretty good, it was a little warm in carriage so we both were awake for on and off. Plus the train stops for long periods overnight so as soon as it stops, the no movement wakes me up.

    We were both up at 6.00am to watch the su rise from our window and it did t disappoint. After watching the sunrise, it was time to have a shower and freshen up for our 2 course breakfast. I had chia and mango parfait and full continental breakfast and Dave had cereal and full continental breakfast. We sat with Julie and Andrew again.

    Before long it was time to get on our coaches for our day’s adventure in Alice Springs. Our tour guide for the day was Bluey who has lived in The Alice for 51 years and 40 of those years was as a tour guide so you could imagine his stories. It was great listening to him but after a day of full commentary, it got a little overstimulating.

    First stop was Standley Chasm where local native guide Jacob took us to the Chasm showing us all different kinds of bush tucker along the way. Whilst at the Chasm we had free time to explore and take photographs.

    From the extensive travel we have done as a couple, Dave and I are learned how to take all our own selfies using a 10 second timer. I found a large rock to stand on to try and get the water at the bottom of the Chasm in the photo however the rock was pointy making Dave and I wobble around causing us to crack up laughing. Well the phone caught the perfect shot, one of our best photos taken and one we will treasure forever.

    Back at the kiosk at Standley Chasm, we sat down for another amazing meal. I was worried I wouldn’t be catered for being gluten free but nothing has been any trouble and they always have an alternative, delicious at that, for me. I had an amazing chicken and cream cheese sandwich with sundried tomato and an antipasto vegetarian sandwich. For dessert it was a lemon cake with cream. Dave had a huge selection of wraps and sandwich with wattle seed scones with jam and cream as well as wattle seed sticky date pudding for dessert.

    After eating way too much of this yummy food for lunch, we hopped back into the coach for our next stop, Simpsons Gap. As we were running ahead of schedule we stopped off a the largest ghost gum believed to be in Australia.

    Once at Simpsons Gap, we were meet with another local indigenous guide who taught us about song lines and I was pulled up to show how song lines work. Very similiar to Chinese whispers where the story is told differently by each generation. He spoke about leaving The Alice as a 7 year old to attend school in Adelaide only knowing language. He said it was very difficult for him until he learned English. He came back to The Alice after schooling and has lived there ever since. He also explained that in Aboriginal culture you just don’t have 1 mother and 1 father, all your birth fathers brothers are your fathers and all your birth mothers sister are your mothers. And all the children born from all your fathers and all your mothers are you siblings. Cousins come from the next blood line. We then had time to explore Simpsons Gap at our leisure before heading back on the coach to the Alice Springs terminal.

    We had a little wait at the terminal as the north bound Ghan was in the station. Once all those people were onboard, and that train had moved away, our train was able to come into station for us to reboard and get ready for our Dinner Under The Stars at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station.

    What an absolutely amazing night it was, the highlight of the trip. The atmosphere, the food, the drinks, the ambience, the band was absolutely spot on.

    Back in the coach at 9.00pm and back in our room by 9.30pm to shower and wind down from a night to remember.    Read more

  • Paula King-FoullieThe GhanTraveler

    Rolling into Manguri

    May 1 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 23 °C

    We woke up to another amazing sunrise in the outback while we made our way to the remote railway siding of Manguri in South Australia just 42kms west of Coober Pedy, having crossed the border from the Northern Territory to South Australia overnight. We arrived at Manguri about 9.00am.

    Manguri siding sits on a privately owned cattle and sheep property of Mount Clarence Station. It is 2500 square kms.

    After yet another amazing breakfast of Cosmopolitan Breakfast we boarded our coach to head into Coober Pedy. We had another very knowledgeable tour guide who has lived in the area most of his life after taking a bad fall for a race horse and breaking his back. He used to ride for Bart Cummings. So much information again it got a little overstimulating.

    First stop was The Breakaways where we nearly got blown away. We have an alcoholic toast at The Breakaways and the wind was so strong the wine splashed me in the face from the glass.

    Next stop was an underground mine for lunch. Before lunch we got to try our hand at fossicking but unfortunately didn’t find any opals. The lunch was Greek style food due to the large number of Greek people who settled in Coober Pedy. Lurch was finished off with a shot of Ouzo.

    We then made our way to the underground Greek Orthodox Church for a very quick visit before boarding the coach again for our next stop at another underground mine for a talk about mining and showing an example of a house underground. We then had the opportunity to shop and I purchased an opal pendant as a birthday gift from mum, dad, Chris and Jo who had all given me money before the trip.

    We did a tour of town and the gold course before heading back to the train on what can only be described as an extremely bumpy road. It was the old Stuart Highway of red dirt, corrugation and bull dust.

    Once back at the train, we got to go on the other side of the tracks on the coach and had a quick photo opportunity of having our photo taken with the full length of the train. The photo we had taken didn’t really work out so Dave and I with our trusty 10 second timer on my phone took an amazing shot.

    Back on the other side of the tracks, we had a bonfire, drinks and canapés watching the sunset before heading back into our room to pack, shower and head to dinner for our 8.00pm reservation. Another amazing 3 course meal where I had cheese soufflé for entree, tandoori pumpkin and rice and the most amazing gluten free chocolate mudcake I have ever tasted for dessert. Dave had kangaroo fillets for entree, the same main as me and a honey and macadamia nut parfait for dessert. We had a few alcoholic beverages before and during dinner and finished it off with a beautiful barista made cappuccino and hot chocolate.

    Coober Pedy was an extremely different township and way of life. This part of the trip was the most rushed tour and we didn’t really have time to take in there was to offer. The bonfire back at the train, despite the flies, made up for it though.

    Back to our room to settle in for our last night on the train.    Read more

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