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Been thinking about doing the Ghan train journey, Wife and her pals did it some years ago and she wants us to do it. So I'll be having a look at this three hour documentary tonight on SBS.

Any guesses as to why it's called The Ghan?

Do you know or do we living in Oz stay quiet for wee while.

I love travelling by train Hughie - and looked at this rail journey as something we would do when visiting Oz - I really want to visit Alice Springs and Uluru. As for the name - something to do with Afghan camel drivers - I know there are herds of wild camels in the centre of Australia.

Meg

I would say the same. The journey was named after the Afghan camel drivers who used camels to deliver goods through Central Australia. There are more camels here than anywhere else in the world.

Was there any spoken commentary through this program Hughie. I watched a wee bit but I couldn't stand the fact that there was no one speaking. To me very disconcerting.

margb wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2018 9:46 pm Was there any spoken commentary through this program Hughie. I watched a wee bit but I couldn't stand the fact that there was no one speaking. To me very disconcerting.

Same here, it put us off watching. Kept flicking back but certainly did nothing to entice us to make the journey.

Afghan cameleers and their camels were responsible for supplying the workforce as the railway track progressed through the country. In addition to those who delivered goods etc, throughout Central Australia , they were partly responsible for opening up the country. Many never returned to their homeland and their descendants still live in outback small towns nearby or alongside the track.

When the railway was completed, the cameleers were expected to shoot their camels but most simply released them to run wild. Australia now has the greatest number of wild camels which, believe it or not, are exported to Arab countries in their thousands to improve the bloodlines of Arab camels.

Yes, it was a bit of a disappointment. Not so much the actual train journey, just the way it was presented without commentary. Though there was the occasional text information on what we were looking at.

I have heard it is an awesome journey.
Maybe one day.
Must admit though I was feeling a bit guilty because I know a couple of people who are deaf and here's me not coping with one programme.

Just seen there's an article about this on facebook news.com that said 400,000 people watched it last night. Tried to copy link here but wasn't successful.

Here's a link with comments. We watched the whole thing and on reflection it was quiet relaxing.

Meg wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2018 9:09 am I love travelling by train Hughie - and looked at this rail journey as something we would do when visiting Oz - I really want to visit Alice Springs and Uluru. As for the name - something to do with Afghan camel drivers - I know there are herds of wild camels in the centre of Australia.

Meg

Uluru- has been all over the news recently in the UK. Don't know if its a good thing or not. No more climbing.