a new dawn

 

Monday 22/2/21

We survive the night.

The next morning we are invited to see sunrise at Marla where the train will stop and we will be served coffee and light breakfast. Do we want to get up at 6.15 (they will knock politely on our door to wake us)  and partake of breakfast and sunrise over the desert?

Yes dammit we do.

But then disaster strikes. Paul, after successfully getting down from the upper bunk, moves awkwardly and injures his back. He is unable to move. Luckily we have appropriate strength medication. He recovers somewhat  so that he is able to do the dawn viewing albiet gingerly.

It was amazing. After a pretty sleepless night, seeing sunrise in the cool of the morning was surreal. I tried to take photos of all the stages. 

One of the he best photos which is on my facebook is of Paul and me and was taken by the journalist guy. (He lectures at Uni on journalism and also does photos blah blah blah).  Even so he is the nicest man and sounds just like an ABC journalist. Reassuring somehow.

 

Once back on the train there is some rest time before brunch is served at about 10. We are surprisingly hungry (and thirsty) by then.

It is rather a nice brunch as you can see from the menu

After brunch we spend some time in the lounge and our room taking in the really different landscapes.

And we are advised when we are about to cross the border to Northern Territory.

All goes well until it is time to disembark.  The staff on board have been so helpful and polite and cute with their akubra hats. But once off, we need to go through the Northern Territory border control due to COVID (global pandemic).  There are many people on the train and it takes quite some time to get through.

Did i mention it is 37 degrees once we are off the train and waiting in the hot sun?

Not happy..... (can you imagine?) 

Eventually we are on a shuttle on our way to our hotel, the Crown Plaza, Lassiters in Alice Springs.  It is actually a bit out of Alice and has a casino. Yay. not.

It is a really nice room and yes it has bathrobes. That is my test for a good hotel. Bathrobes.

We have dinner in one of the hotel restaurants, Tali which is very very good. 

We notice that all the staff are of Asian origin which is of interest.

And then back to our room with a much more comfortable room, bathroom and bed than the ghan. 

We are looking forward to our Uluru tour which starts tomorrow.  

Little did we know.........