July 11 and 12

Fly from Ayers Rock to Alice Springs, where we spend a couple of hours before catching the Ghan Train. Alice Springs is supposed to have some fun events--there's a dry river regatta, where people paddle with shovels or use boats with the bottoms out, Flintstones style--but there's nothing particularly interesting while we're there. I spend an hour at an Internet kiosk, of which approximately 42 minutes are spend muttering rude things under my breath; that keyboard was obsolete in 1985 and the browser...grrr.


I was expecting the train to have an open lounge where we could socialize, but in fact you spend most of your time in your 2-person compartment. We roll for hour after hour past hills, grassland and scrubland, without a building or light to be seen. Also without a kangaroo, dingo, or other wildlife to be seen; Josh and I conclude that we will have sharp words with the Australia Tourism Board about misrepresentating the existence of these mythical kangaroos. We pass over the Finke River, said to be the oldest in the world; the Painted Desert, which we didn't really see much of since it was night; Port Augusta, "where the Outback meets the sea". Still no kangaroos, but we do see sheep. I've heard from several people that the Ghan Train is a great experience, but I frankly would rather have flown to Adelaide (or Sydney or whereever). There are only so many hours of looking at barren landscape (particularly at night!) that one can appreciate.
We're about to arrive in Adelaide.