On the Pursuit - The Kimberley Coast, Indonesia & PNG - and a really keen choo-choo train!

shark b8 · July 24

On 7/23/2024 at 12:04 AM, FlyingScotSailors said:

…how strict Outback Spirit is about "soft sided luggage only".

They're much more concerned about luggage volume than composition. They give everyone a medium-sized backpack, which you’ll have with you each day on the coach, stored on the rack above the seats, and then you can also have one (p/p) “carry-on” size/style suitcase or duffel bag etc, which you will have at the various hotels, but when on the road, they are stored in the coach’s locked luggage section, inaccessible to your seating. For instance, here’s the backpack they give you, with one of our normal airline-carry-on sized suitcases, the usual size is approx 9”x14”x21” I think? Doing that from memory, but point being, if you have carry-on bag in a normal carry-on size, soft-or-hard composition, they’re fine with it.

shark b8 · July 24

Below is link to the page showing the various room designs on the Ghan. (Incidentally, I had read the history of the name “Ghan” being shortened from “Afghan”, going back to the Afghan camel drivers of the late 19th century, but for some reason I had in my head that it was pronounced “Ghan” as in “gone”. Now that we’re here and we’re hearing people actually say it out loud, vs just silently reading it, it is, of course, pronounced “Ghan”, rhymes with “can”)

https://www.greattrains.com.au/cabins

shark b8 · July 24

(This will be the “as expected” post).

They claim that “Platinum” class cabins are almost twice as big as “Gold” class, although that’s hard to believe, as the Platinum room is….small (as expected). We did Platinum twin…..and when the bed configuration is done (they change it over while you’re at dinner), there was about 12” from one wall to one bed, about 12” in between beds, and on the other side the bed was right up next to the wall. It’s no wonder they, too, want you to check large bags and have as little as possible in the cabin - there’s just so little room (as expected). Bath and shower are tiny (as expected) but entirely usable. I couldn’t make a visual comparison to Gold, as all the cabins in our car were Platinum and you don’t have any access to a Gold car.

Edited July 24 by shark b8

shark b8 · July 24

shark b8 · July 24

https://www.australian-trains.com/blog/history-of-the-ghan.html

shark b8 · July 24

On 7/23/2024 at 7:32 AM, BasandSyb said:

Make sure you have a good book.😄

Great point by BasandSyb - and that point is, there is absolutely nothing to do on the train. You have access to exactly two places - your cabin and the combo lounge/dining car, below. Fortunately I can go for hours just watching the red soil desert go by, but probably most people are not that addled.

shark b8 · July 24

shark b8 · July 24

Overlaying Australia onto the US, one is reminded how big it is. The train from Adelaide to Darwin is (very roughly) similar to going from New Orleans to Winnipeg. (Packing necessary for completely different weather!)

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lincslady · July 24

Thanks for that map - very interesting. As to comparing the populations .....

shark b8 · July 25

22 hours ago, lincslady said:

Thanks for that map - very interesting. As to comparing the populations .....

Exactly. Last numbers I’ve seen are….USA 333 million, Australia 26 million. Make of that what you will.

shark b8 · July 25

Today we explored the King’s Canyon area. Spectacular.

highplanesdrifters · July 25

On 7/24/2024 at 3:11 AM, shark b8 said:

(This will be the “as expected” post).

They claim that “Platinum” class cabins are almost twice as big as “Gold” class, although that’s hard to believe, as the Platinum room is….small (as expected). We did Platinum twin…..and when the bed configuration is done (they change it over while you’re at dinner), there was about 12” from one wall to one bed, about 12” in between beds, and on the other side the bed was right up next to the wall. It’s no wonder they, too, want you to check large bags and have as little as possible in the cabin - there’s just so little room (as expected). Bath and shower are tiny (as expected) but entirely usable. I couldn’t make a visual comparison to Gold, as all the cabins in our car were Platinum and you don’t have any access to a Gold car.

By any chance do you know how long the beds are? Thanks.

shark b8 · July 26

21 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

By any chance do you know how long the beds are? Thanks.

We’ve just closed out Day 3 of the five day “Outback Spirit” tour out of Alice Springs, but we’ll be back on the train for the second half, to Darwin, on Monday (Sunday to most folks reading this). I’ll see what I can do re measurements, but without a tape measure I’ll probably report something like “7 ½ iPads long”, and then I’ll try to do the appropriate math. All I can tell you right now is that the beds are narrow and short, especially for those of us who are neither.

lincslady · July 26

I once fell out of a bed which was half a 5' wide one, split, so 2'6" wide, I am not huge, but it was very very narrow! Anyone really large would overflow at the sides.

lincslady · July 26

Should add - only fell out when I turned over!

highplanesdrifters · July 26

Just now, shark b8 said:

We’ve just closed out Day 3 of the five day “Outback Spirit” tour out of Alice Springs, but we’ll be back on the train for the second half, to Darwin, on Monday (Sunday to most folks reading this). I’ll see what I can do re measurements, but without a tape measure I’ll probably report something like “7 ½ iPads long”, and then I’ll try to do the appropriate math. All I can tell you right now is that the beds are narrow and short, especially for those of us who are neither.

Short and narrow is close enough!😃 Thanks!

shark b8 · July 27

23 hours ago, lincslady said:

I once fell out of a bed which was half a 5' wide one, split, so 2'6" wide, I am not huge, but it was very very narrow! Anyone really large would overflow at the sides.

I have fallen (been thrown) out of bed twice. (other than relationship-oriented 😳). Once was on a scuba liveaboard in the Galapagos, on the way to Darwin Island. As the night wore on and everything was crashing to the floor, I took everything off the dresser etc. Once I was the thing that hit the floor, I gathered sheets/blankets and stayed there. The other was on a Seabourn actually - we had sailed out of Melbourne a few years ago, it was the wee hours of the morning and the ship lurched badly to starboard. I was literally thrown out of bed. (No small task, btw). They told us all the glassware pre-set on the Restaurant tables was lost. We were told it was an “operational error”, which could mean anything, of course. And that’s probably why they described it that way, vagueness tends to be safe, I suppose. On bridge tours I’ve repeatedly described the event & asked about what might have been the cause, I’ve never gotten anything but a vague “safe” response.

shark b8 · July 27

Have lots of pix etc from the last few days at Kata Tjuta and Uluru, but wifi is iffy out here, pix and video are tough, so I’ll try to catch up when back to better connectivity, in Alice Springs tomorrow.