Katherine the great

Tuesday 2/3/21

Breakfast on the Ghan is a dining experience as is every meal on the Ghan. No photo of the breakfast menu but trust me, delicious and sumptuous.

After a sleepless night (trains rock and roll and make noise so not particularly conducive to sleep), we were to go on our Katherine Gorge cruise.

Due to the floods in the area, there was to be no choice of cruises. Originally there was one involving lots of walking and the other involving less walking.  Given my boot, I was not sure I could do either.

Kind of luckily because of the floods, there was to be only one cruise involving only walking down to the boat from the bus  and back again to the bus. Kayla, the great, suggested that the Ghan had an up to now unseen wheelchair I could use to get to the boat and back. This mysterious wheelchair failed to materialise for the walk down from the bus to the boat so I hobbled down slowly holding onto Paul. I could only hold on with my left hand as my right arm was sprained and could not be touched. Fun for us (Paul) especially trying to get  to the amenities.

 

Anyway once on the boat, it was an amazing experience and we had expert commentary from a local ranger who was not only informative but very entertaining. Highly recommend this tour. I have so many photos but i will only attach the best of the best.

 

 

As we disembarked,  a wheelchair and porter appeared and i was pushed to the bus. It was uphill and the porter refused all offers from Paul to do the pushing. Is there a better word than ‘pushing’ ? I cant think of one at the moment. I blame the drugs.

  

After the cruise and back through the town of Katherine (20 seconds according to the bus driver) and we were back on the Ghan and lunch.

 This will be our last meal on the Ghan and it was as usual special.

 the wine list. Have i mentioned how good it is?

On arrival in Darwin, a shuttlebus transported us to our hotel and I was given the best spot at the front reserved for people with disabilities. It all helps. There are a few benefits.....

The Novotel in Darwin has perhaps seen better days. Very 80s style with lots of tropical plants.  

We had a surprisingly good dinner at the hotel restaurant however, sharing scallops and ravioli. Very good.

And what will we do for the next few days? How will we get around? what will the food be like? So many questions.