The heart, the soul, the centre

The train itself was fully booked, and i had actually snapped up the last place on it.

once again (the same happened on overland train i had taken a few days before) i ended up with a seat that had extra leg room, totally unnecessary for me, and meant i kind of slid down the seat throughout the journey and ended up sprawled in some very uncomfortable positions! my travelling companion was also completely nonresponsive to my attempts at conversation, and you would be surprised how hard it is not to talk to anyone at all for 25 hours when you are in such close proximity with one another. i did gobble up a whole novel in that time though, whereas i noticed he seemed to be working on the same crossword for a good 11 hours.

the journey didnt get off to the best of starts, as we came to a stop only 30 mins outside of adelaide and remained there for another hour and half. it seems that someone had pulled a practical joke overnight, and left their car across the line, locked and empty, and we had to wait for the police and fire brigade to move it from the tracks.

the lively commentary was a real treat on the train, which gave information on the background of the towns, the trainline and the people that built it, as well as the land itself. when camels were first introduced into australia in 1840, they also required people who knew how to handle them, and these people, mainly from areas of pakistan and afghanistan became known generally as ´afghans´, and the ghan is named after them for the reason that they made the journey through the centre of australia possible. the rail line was mapped out by sleepers which were dragged by camel, one from adelaide, the other from darwin, who met in the centre. this is a fete in itself considering the line spans a distance of 2979 km, and is a fairly straight line. after the line was built, however, the camels were obviously not needed as much for transporting goods, and were literally let loose into the wilderness, where you can still see wild camels living in the outback.

as with most forms of transport in australia, i was also treated to another rousing jingle throughout the commentary, where a woman warbled her way through the lyrics, ¨theres a call from the heart (i can hear it), a desire within (i can feel it), to experience the legend of the ghan¨. it was hard not to phase out of interest as i looked out onto miles and miles of vast and continuous desert, but as i watched the sun go down in a warm earthy glow that seemed to rise up from the land itself, i understood that however foreign, even barren this landscape was, it would be one of the most unique environments i will come across. i opened my eyes to stars from my window seat, and to discover we had already travelled over 970 km,, though it wasnt until late in the morning that we finally passed into the northern territory.

the sign which welcomed me to alice springs informed me that it was, ¨the heart, the soul, the centre¨. it certainly was the centre of heat, with the sun burning down at its highest point. it wa adapt. my excitement to be there was really for a tour i had heard about from other travellers, a 3 day camping/hiking around kings canyon, kata tjuta and uluru (ayers rock). unfortunately this meant that i would have to stay in alice springs for longer than i wanted to because of the train timetable. i am back from the rock tour a day or so now, and it was well worth the wait!

our group was fairly small, around 14 people, whereas the minivan had capacity for 21, and with a 6am pickup, most of the morning was filled with sleeping off those missed minutes, as this would also be some of the longest driving we would endure. ariving at kigs canyon in the middle of the day, we would be hiking for 3 ½ hours in the 35+ degrees, and i had already heard this was the most exhausting of the treks. we all had to carry 3 litres of water, which seemed a pain at the time, and our guide, bree, checked how we were doing throughout the walk. the hike could almost be something out of pilgrims progress, with the first obstacle nicknamed ´heart attack hill´ which eventualy led us down toa waterhole called the garden of eden. the heat made it all much tougher, but also incredibly satisfying when we all got back into the van, covered in sweat and orange dust. from the canyon we drove to the camp we would be staying that night, stopping to watch the sunset over the salt plains, a completely desolate spot found after a left turn somewhere along the road (i was impressed the tour guide found it), and only recognisable as a previously inhabited campsite by the pile of ash from former fires.

before arriving at the site, we had stopped for two important provisions. one was firewood, and the other beer. we scavenged for wood along the side of the road, and had been told to get thick branches because the wood was so dry. in a classic rebecca bravado i found the biggest hunk of tree i could carry and heaved it along to the trailer. we were then informed when we got back inside the van that we had just collected mulga wood, and she hoped noone had splinters because it was poisonous… i spent the rest of the hour carefuly inspecting my hands, arms and legs for fragments of that stupid tree.

that evening though, with the fire blazing and chilli con carne bubbling away in pots beside it, sitting on our rolled up swag, and a beer in hand, i remembered how much i love camping. we were told by bree that as long as we didnt leave our swags unrolled and open for a long time before crawling in ourselves, that it was unlikely that snakes, spiders, insects or dingoes would find a home there. she also assured us that they would not disturb us, being the bigger and scarier animal.. but i still found it hard to sleep that night, and it was funny to hear all our own personal paranoias the next morning. our toilet consisted of a shovel and torch leaning against a tree. the engaged sign would be apparant when the shovel and torch were gone to ´dig their respective holes´ around the camp site.

the next day was kata tjuta, or ´many heads´ of huge round conglomerate rock, and it is here that we were told some of the aboriginal stories, of the anagnu people that live in central australia. knowledge is incredibly important to them, knowledge of the land especially, which is vital for survival in hard times. considering that every plant has three uses, as tool, medicine and food and water provision, this is a huge accomplishment, which is made more urgent and serious when you realise that when uses and/or plants are mixed up in any way, it can very easily become a deadly mixture. it is for this reason that all the messages and information start out in the genre of childrens stories, which form a backdrop to more and more information, history and wisdom passed on through the elders. as we knew nothing of the land, we were all therefore children according to the anagnu culture, and could only be told childrens things. These included the origin of uluru and kata jtuta, created by two children playing in the sand as they dug a hole they threw the rocks behind them to form  the many heads of kata jtuta, and then made a huge patty cake with the sand and slid down the sides. the patty cake is uluru and you can still see the black lines down the sides where they slid.

it was then back to the van, stopping to pick up more firewood, and travelling to watch the sun set over uluru. it was a pretty big tourist circus at the ‘lookout point’, with tables and white cloths, cool boxes and champagne all over the place, complete with tourist bus arriving every 20 or 30 seconds. we were one of the first groups, and bagged a wooden table, got out our cans of cheap beer, and munched away at our chicken satay stir fry while taking comedy shots with ‘the rock’ in the background.

later as we were washing up beside the trailer, some tourists started taking pictures of us. i made a half joking remark about native backpackers at work, and that we charged copyright fees which could be paid in wine or dessert, but they didnt catch on.. oh well, one can only try…

tbc (with love)

Rx