Detour

DESERT DELAYS "You're coming on the Ghan?" said the people I had to meet in Adelaide. "Well, we'll allow for you being a little late." I was taking the train down from Alice Springs and was somewhat mystified by their comment. "I don't know why they said that," remarked the train manager in mock surprise. "It only happens about 99% of the time." But comfort rather than speed is the point of the rail trip—most berths on this overnight run cost more than a business-class seat on Qantas. The cozy sleeping cabins are plainly but comfortably furnished and feature enough clever foldaway devices to keep you amused even if you don't spend most of the 20-hour ride in one of the three bars or the dining car. But dinner is the highlight of the trip. As you tuck into your fillet of kangaroo with native pepperleaf and plum sauce, a banquet of scenery is delivered to your window—vistas of sand and spinifex grass, with salt plains for seasoning and a stunning sunset to round it all off.

Delay has long been a hallmark of the Ghan legend, which was named for the "Afghan" cameleers whose strings of camels carted goods to and from the train depots. The railroad on which it runs is often subjected to the intense weather of the Australian outback. Flash floods and sand drifts would sometimes block the line for days. Once, a train was stranded in the middle of the outback for two weeks; the driver shot wild goats to feed the passengers. Even construction of the rest of the line—originally intended to link the South Australian capital of Adelaide to Darwin in the north—has been held up. Work on the southern section started in 1878, only to reach halfway across the continent at Alice Springs 50 years later. And Darwin is still waiting for the first train to arrive. But not for much longer: the 1,420-kilometer section from Alice Springs is finally being built. Only a century late.