Day 365, The Ghan, 6 June

Appears in
Floyd on Oz
Floyd on Oz

By Keith Floyd

Published 1991

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The Ghan is a big train of twenty coaches – sleeping cars, restaurants, bars, crew quarters and car transporters. It is a long, polished aluminium snake pulled by two diesel engines through 1,000 miles of scrub and bush and hard-baked earth from Adelaide to Alice Springs.

But on this day there was one extra coach. An elegant wood-panelled coach built for the Prince of Wales in 1920. And it had been hitched up so that I could make this epic journey in old-style comfort. It had a private dining room, double bedroom and kitchen with storeroom, as well as a cook, steward and butler.