The Old Ghan

Today we spent some time looking at old trains.  This is one of the first places that Jamie, Grump and I visited when we arrived in the Alice, but we hadn't been back and Daddy hadn't seen it.  Old Ghan Historic Railway. 

It has some really neat old trains.

And an explanation of why its called the Old Ghan...

Jamie and Jethro

Were the camels a clue???  Yes, those are live camels.  There were two of them here today - Jethro and Oscar.  They are big and smelly and make a really weird, loud grunting noise.  Fortunately, neither of them spit on us.  We've been told they like to do that.

So, why are there camels in the middle of Australia?  Surely, they can't be indigenous?  You're right, they're not.  Surprisingly, Australia now has the last herds of wild Arabian camels on Earth. Originally brought to Australia by Afghan traders in the 1840s, camels were once the mainstay of travel between places like Alice Springs, Darwin, Adelaide and Perth and their outlying townships. The advent of Australia's railways saw a decline in camel usage, but the railways used the trails started by the Afghan traders and their camels, hence the nickname of Commonwealth Railways as the Ghan.  If you're interested, you can come visit and take a camel ride out into the desert for a meal or even an overnight camping trip.