Wainwright posing as usual
People at the front of The Ghan arrive at the station 5 minutes ahead of those at the rear
The warders, ready to beat the crap out of anyone from the Red section trying to sneak into Gold ClassBefore picking up my voyage to the centre of Australia I'd just like to take a moment.
Firstly, my last blog was a landmark but I didn't notice when I published it. According to the counter a the side of the page that was my 100th blog. Maybe yours too, and if that's true then thank you. I reckon that my blogs are on average about 1200 words long so that's about 120,000 words so far. All I have to do is cut and paste them into the book that I'm writing and I'm done. Easy.
Well, maybe there's more to it than that.
The beginning of the book is coming along nicely and I have let my university tutor see the first 4,000 words. He has come back to me with very positive feedback. I chose Steve as my tutor as he is an accomplished and published writer himself, unlike a lot of my other tutors who, whilst obviously academically gifted, are themselves wannabe writers waiting for that big break. 'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach,' as the saying goes. Steve has suggested that I find myself an agent, which meant a trip to the library to thumb through the Writers' and Artists' Year Book to discover agents that will deal in the kind of book I am writing. Also, a lady I spoke to at one of the places we stayed in New Zealand has a niece who is a literary agent in London who she suggested I contact. Another of those acts of serendipity perhaps? We'll see.
There's definitely a difference between writing a blog and writing a book. I believe that a blog should be quite short and take no more than 5 minutes of your valuable time to read. Some of my blogs recently, being written for the book and not specifically for publication on here, have tended to bang on a bit haven't they? So, from now on I'm going to break them up into bite sized chunks.
Before we go back to Adelaide I just want to say hello to Sinbad and thank her for joining us here. For some reason the comment box on here doesn't like me and hasn't published my reply to your question. The answer is: 'Civilian Investigator'. My answer to that is: 'Sod off.'
Right, where were we? Ah, yes.
The Ghan train journey from Adelaide to Darwin is much shorter than the Indian Pacific at a mere 1,851 miles (2,979 km). The entire journey takes two days, but I am only venturing half way, alighting at Alice Springs in preparation for my final hop to Uluru.
The train appears to be very similar to the Indian Pacific one that brought me to Adelaide, but for some reason the seats are not as comfortable and do not recline as far. I have the window seat once more and this time my companion for 24 hours or so is the very affable Emily, a young student from Canada who is working with youths in Alice Springs for 6 months as part of a church project.
As the train leaves the station I settle once more into the stress free world of the long distance rail journey, where all decisions are minor. I have smuggled a small box of red wine on board and Emily gratefully shares it with me as we intersperse our chats with bouts of reading and iPod listening.
This time there are no unscheduled stops for terrorists or fallen power lines. Although in the past the track has seen its fair share of drama. The present rail link only dates back to 2003. Prior to this the line ran from Adelaide to Alice Springs and provided an uncertain and very slow journey. As with the Indian Pacific, early travellers faced a series of trains to traverse various track widths.
Back in 1886 three thirsty railway workers conceived of a plan to travel along the narrow gauge track in search of beer. They hoisted a makeshift sail onto a railway trolley and set off for a hotel at William Creek. The contraption worked a treat and they must have been salivating in anticipation of a few cold ones as the wind powered locomotive gathered speed. Unfortunately it kept on gathering speed and the hapless three had neglected to build a braking system into their invention. The trolley left the track at high speed and the three bodies, still with very surprised looks on their faces, were found three days later.
As recently as 2009, nineteen year old American tourist, Chad Vance, narrowly avoided adding to the line’s death toll. He got off the train in Port Augusta and went for a short stroll. To his horror he returned to the station to see The Ghan pulling out. Luckily, the train stops momentarily just outside the station to change drivers. Spotting this, Mr Vance sprinted down the track and began pounding furiously on the windows of First Class Dining. The First Class Diners duly ignored him, tut tutting over their Brown Windsor soup at such loutish behaviour. As the train began to pull away once more Mr Vance hurled himself onto a small stairwell on one of the carriages and wedged himself on board. He remained there dressed in only a T shirt and jeans for well over two hours as the Ghan sped over the rocky landscape at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour. His cries for help were eventually heard by Marty Wells, a Ghan crew member, who brought the train to an emergency stop.
Firstly, my last blog was a landmark but I didn't notice when I published it. According to the counter a the side of the page that was my 100th blog. Maybe yours too, and if that's true then thank you. I reckon that my blogs are on average about 1200 words long so that's about 120,000 words so far. All I have to do is cut and paste them into the book that I'm writing and I'm done. Easy.
Well, maybe there's more to it than that.
The beginning of the book is coming along nicely and I have let my university tutor see the first 4,000 words. He has come back to me with very positive feedback. I chose Steve as my tutor as he is an accomplished and published writer himself, unlike a lot of my other tutors who, whilst obviously academically gifted, are themselves wannabe writers waiting for that big break. 'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach,' as the saying goes. Steve has suggested that I find myself an agent, which meant a trip to the library to thumb through the Writers' and Artists' Year Book to discover agents that will deal in the kind of book I am writing. Also, a lady I spoke to at one of the places we stayed in New Zealand has a niece who is a literary agent in London who she suggested I contact. Another of those acts of serendipity perhaps? We'll see.
There's definitely a difference between writing a blog and writing a book. I believe that a blog should be quite short and take no more than 5 minutes of your valuable time to read. Some of my blogs recently, being written for the book and not specifically for publication on here, have tended to bang on a bit haven't they? So, from now on I'm going to break them up into bite sized chunks.
Before we go back to Adelaide I just want to say hello to Sinbad and thank her for joining us here. For some reason the comment box on here doesn't like me and hasn't published my reply to your question. The answer is: 'Civilian Investigator'. My answer to that is: 'Sod off.'
Right, where were we? Ah, yes.
The Ghan train journey from Adelaide to Darwin is much shorter than the Indian Pacific at a mere 1,851 miles (2,979 km). The entire journey takes two days, but I am only venturing half way, alighting at Alice Springs in preparation for my final hop to Uluru.
The train appears to be very similar to the Indian Pacific one that brought me to Adelaide, but for some reason the seats are not as comfortable and do not recline as far. I have the window seat once more and this time my companion for 24 hours or so is the very affable Emily, a young student from Canada who is working with youths in Alice Springs for 6 months as part of a church project.
As the train leaves the station I settle once more into the stress free world of the long distance rail journey, where all decisions are minor. I have smuggled a small box of red wine on board and Emily gratefully shares it with me as we intersperse our chats with bouts of reading and iPod listening.
This time there are no unscheduled stops for terrorists or fallen power lines. Although in the past the track has seen its fair share of drama. The present rail link only dates back to 2003. Prior to this the line ran from Adelaide to Alice Springs and provided an uncertain and very slow journey. As with the Indian Pacific, early travellers faced a series of trains to traverse various track widths.
Back in 1886 three thirsty railway workers conceived of a plan to travel along the narrow gauge track in search of beer. They hoisted a makeshift sail onto a railway trolley and set off for a hotel at William Creek. The contraption worked a treat and they must have been salivating in anticipation of a few cold ones as the wind powered locomotive gathered speed. Unfortunately it kept on gathering speed and the hapless three had neglected to build a braking system into their invention. The trolley left the track at high speed and the three bodies, still with very surprised looks on their faces, were found three days later.
As recently as 2009, nineteen year old American tourist, Chad Vance, narrowly avoided adding to the line’s death toll. He got off the train in Port Augusta and went for a short stroll. To his horror he returned to the station to see The Ghan pulling out. Luckily, the train stops momentarily just outside the station to change drivers. Spotting this, Mr Vance sprinted down the track and began pounding furiously on the windows of First Class Dining. The First Class Diners duly ignored him, tut tutting over their Brown Windsor soup at such loutish behaviour. As the train began to pull away once more Mr Vance hurled himself onto a small stairwell on one of the carriages and wedged himself on board. He remained there dressed in only a T shirt and jeans for well over two hours as the Ghan sped over the rocky landscape at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour. His cries for help were eventually heard by Marty Wells, a Ghan crew member, who brought the train to an emergency stop.
"Chad is a very lucky guy - when we rescued him his skin was white and his lips were blue," Mr Wells told the Sunday Mail.
"I've never seen anything like this before and I sure hope I don't ever see it happen again."
Our journey is far less eventful and both Emily and I are careful not to get off the train in Port Augusta.
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