The Ghan

Tuesday 5 September

An early breakfast and off the train around 9 for our excursion to Katherine Gorge. We had chosen the two gorges trip. It was a half hour drive from Katherine to the Gorge, which is now known as Nitmiluk Gorge, and when we arrived the trees were full of red flying foxes. As we walked to the boat quite a few people were showered with their yellow droppings.
The water looked really inviting as we cruised along the first gorge, then disembarked and walked across a very civilised path to the second gorge and another boat. Here we saw people canoeing and swimming and there was a Johnson River crocodile sunning himself on a rock.
Then it was back the way we had come, stopping briefly to admire some rock art at the end of the first gorge, and onto the bus and then the train. We were some of the last to return and by the time we walked the half kilometre to our carriage the train was nearly ready to pull out.
The scenery was looking familiar with lots of large termite mounds, small trees and pandanus. Another delicious meal, a bit of packing and the last kilometres into Darwin, where we arrived a little after 5. What a wonderful journey we had on this fabulous train.
One of The Ghan buses dropped us at the casino where we caught a taxi to our Air BNB townhouse in Fannie Bay. It is very well set up, opposite a park and shopping centre so we were able to walk across the road and find a nice Italian restaurant for dinner.