LIttle Dog, Big World!

Blitz Track in Marree. There were mice. I ate one.

This is my story of a journey along the old Ghan Railway Line.

Why should you read this story and not someone else's?

After all, thousands of tourists drive up and down the Ghan every year, pretending to be explorers.So it's hardly unusual.


But I'm a dog. 

Therefore, I have a different view of the world to humans.

I think about things like food, nice smells, food, sleeping, chasing mice, eating chickens, food, sleeping and did I mention food?


I have bad breath, I snore and I'm slightly deaf. Actually, I'm at the hearing aid stage, but no one makes hearing aids for dogs, so I guess I'll just have to put up with it.

Anyways. I like railways. A lot. So I badgered my owners (ha! bad pun) and decided to take a walkies along the Old Ghan Railway Line.

This my story.

Where is the Old Ghan Line?

The Old Ghan Line runs from Port Augusta to Alice Springs.

Here's a map:

OK. That map is probably a bit hard to see. But you get the idea.

I hope the dude whose site I nicked the photo from doesn't hate dogs!

Looks like he's a born again, too.

Mybad...

What You Need to Know About the Ghan Railway

The Ghan was a big project. Work started on it in 1878 at Port Augusta. Two years later (1880) the line reached Hawker. There's a really awesome cafe in Hawker. right opposite the park as you turn in.


(There was a really strange hippy living in a tent in this little park when I went there. He smelled kinda funky. I pee-ed near his tent, but he didn't notice. Maybe I should have pooped).


Anyway, the track was laid to Marree (then called Hergott Springs) in January 1884 and finally reached Oodnadatta on 7 January 1891.

And there it finished. For 40 years!

Bad thing is, that the people of Alice Springs had to rely on camels to deliver the Sunday papers. Lucky radio came into being, otherwise how would they know the footy scores?

After a lot of government people raided their piggy banks and got over the war, they finally started to build the track north  in 1926.

In 1929, the track was laid all the way to Alice Springs and finally the camels could call it quits.

Which is exactly what happened. Lots of camels were let go into the outback and now the blighters are breeding like er- camels- and sucking all the water they can find out of the deserts.



Back to the Ghan. The railway then ran for the next 51 years. In 1980 it was closed down after a new track was laid 160km west of the original alignment.  The main reason it was moved was because it was especially prone to flooding.

My Journey Along the Line

My family mob are always travelling all over the place. They've been up and down the Oodnadatta Track a lot. One time, I begged, looked really cute (I'm a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, so cute is my middle name), and as I agreed to chew mints to cure my dog's breath, they let me tag along.

Did I mention I like trains?

Ok. I will. I like trains. (And cars, too).

So, after begging my mum (more cuteness, wagging, soppy-eyed looks), she agreed to type up my memoir of the story for me.

So here it is.