Outback Tracks: Outback Adventure & Ghan Rail Journey

Foodies, historians, art aficionados and sport buffs all feel at home in multicultural Adelaide. You will, too, exploring the city at your leisure before meeting a local gourmand to eat your way through the legendary Central Market. This place has been selling artisan produce for 140-plus years. Think green-ant gin, native herbs and spices, locally grown coffee, chocolates and all manner of cheese and charcuterie. Save space for your Welcome Reception & Dinner tonight.

Sitting pretty in the Clare Valley, Knappstein Enterprise Winery produces sweet-scented rieslings and mineral-rich reds. The only thing that distracts from your glass is the setting: all rolling fields of vines and wide blue skies. Hawker lies just to the north, the town inspiring artist Jeff Morgan to paint enormous panoramas capturing the SA outback. Drop in to see his works, plus the SA memorabilia he has collected over the years. The best is yet to come, as you arrive at Wilpena Pound Resort in the shadows of a vast natural amphitheatre.

The soaring river red gums that envelop the restored Hills Homestead will leave you lost for words; equally mesmerising is the display inside the property, revealing the hardships of early settlers in this part of the state. You get here on a leisurely walk along Wilpena Creek and continue to Wangarra Hill Lookout for seemingly endless views over the pound’s rippling peaks and sweeping curves. The drama is echoed as you climb to Pichi Richi Pass – spare a thought for the workers who built the train line here in the 1870s, through deep rock that provides a snapshot of Flinders Ranges geology. Visit the historic town of Quorn for a walking tour with a Local Guide. Dating to 1875, you'll hear stories about the old Quorn Mill, the history of the town and its importance in the ANZAC's Gallipoli Campaign in 1915. Your next stop is Port Augusta, where you’ll discover the uniqueness of the Wadlata Outback Centre, and more stories of yesteryear.

Secrets are revealed at former rocket-testing site Woomera, today home to a park where you can glimpse Australia’s aerospace innovations. Speaking of space, you may will think you’ve landed on the moon as you travel through sun-baked country to isolated Coober Pedy, aka ‘the opal capital of the world’. Things get deep as you travel underground with a local to see how these gleaming gems are mined, and visit the town’s head-scratching subterranean facilities, from churches to schools and hotels.

Once you emerge from your Coober Pedy cave, first stop in the Northern Territory is, fittingly, Australia’s spiritual heart: World Heritage-listed Uluru-Kata Tjuta. Come sunset, you’ll want a full camera SD card – with every “click”, the countryside around the world’s mightiest monolith changes colour. Toast the day with a glass of bubbles and nibble while you mingle with your fellow adventurers. 

The colours are just as vivid when you’re enjoying an Uluru sunrise. Make the most of the morning cool and enjoy a circumnavigation by coach of ‘the Rock’s’ 11 kilometres. Or join a guided walk to sacred Mutitjulu Waterhole. This living cultural landscape takes you back to the beginning of time. Small wonder it’s a sacred place for eons of Anangu people. Over the millennia, they left behind rock art and snacked on native plants, with bush plums, tomatoes and figs, all still in abundance. More soul-salving landscapes spread before you at Kata Tjuta, cool relief found as you walk amid its domes to Walpa Gorge. If your SD card isn’t full of sunset photos yet, it will be after tonight’s dazzling display.

If you’re an early bird (or even if you’re not), we highly recommend an optional pre-dawn call to glimpse the Uluru Field of Light – a blanket of 50,000 glowing bulbs. What a way to start the day. There are so many record-breaking rock attractions in this part of the country that you may not have heard of Attila (Mt. Conner) before – but once you’ve glimpsed the table-like formation, you certainly won’t forget it. Stretch your legs again at Kings Creek Station, the largest exporter of wild camels in Australia. Guess what meat stars in the burgers for lunch? All your senses will be activated on the Kings Canyon rim walk, 440-million years in the making and forged through layers of sandstone and hard shale creating soaring domes and plateaus that plummet to an oasis of natural rock pools. It’s hard to gauge the immensity when you’re wandering, until you reach a lookout that is… 

Things are bigger in the NT outback, from the cattle stations the size of a small country to the MacDonnell Ranges, which stretch like a dinosaur spine toward the character-filled town of Alice Springs. Aside from its plethora of Indigenous galleries and art stores, Alice makes Australian history for her 1872 Telegraph Station, one of 12 along the Overland Telegraph Line that traverses a whopping 3,200 kilometres between Adelaide and Darwin. Glimpse it up close, then from afar as you ascend Anzac Hill for panoramic views that inspired many of those paintings in Alice’s galleries.

Aboriginal culture and community spirit are strong in Alice, as you’ll discover on a city tour and a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service – just how these dedicated health workers deliver life-saving services in remote realms is rather astounding. The other thing that dazzles in this part of the state is the stars. And at Earth Sanctuary World Nature Centre, this equates to epic stargazing. Your BBQ dinner here with the Falzon family is enlightening and uplifting – think stories of self-sufficient living, astronomy and even a tune or two on the didgeridoo.

1.3 million square kilometres – that’s the eye-watering distance the School of Air’s lessons are broadcast across daily. Watch a live session with kids who would otherwise have no access to public education. It doesn’t matter how knowledgeable you are, you might just believe in aliens when you pass Wycliffe Well, the self-proclaimed ‘UFO capital’ of Australia. But it’s the devil that awaits (well, his marbles) at Karlu Karlu, where precariously balanced boulders appear to have been superglued together. The most prized rock found in this part of the world is, however, gold, which is why your base for the night, Tennant Creek, exists.

Since the 1930s, the time-tested Daly Waters Historic Pub has been dishing up schnitzels, barramundi burgers and hearty steaks. The walls here are lined with treasures that passers-by leave behind, from bras to boots. What can you contribute over lunch? ‘Land of the Never Never’ awaits at Mataranka. Yes, you can visit a replica of the Elsey Homestead, used in the filming of 1982 Aussie drama We of the Never Never, an autobiographical flick about life in the outback. Or wander palm-lined walkways to take a dip in the region’s steamy thermal springs – the ultimate antidote to weary limbs before arriving in Katherine.

The Jawoyn have called Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge home for millennia. You can feel their presence while cruising this mighty waterway that’s home to more than a few resident crocs. This is not the last time these scaly creatures will be in your company – they’ll make another appearance on your Kakadu tour, when you jump in yet another boat for a Yellow Water Billabong cruise. You don’t need binoculars to spot the sea eagles, brolgas and kingfishers that colour this part of the Top End; they’re everywhere you look.                          

The best way to appreciate the immensity of Kakadu and Arnhem Land is from the air. An optional morning flight swoops low over these beauties, giving you a feel for its Indigenous significance. On the ground, meanwhile, Aboriginal art awaits at Ubirr. Scamper to the top of the rocky outcrop for seemingly endless views over floodplains backdropped by sheer escarpments. If your backdrop looks familiar, that’s because it features in Crocodile Dundee. The night is yours in steamy Darwin, where the characters are as large as the shadows cast at sunset. First stop: the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets for a croc burger with your feet in the sand. 

Nature rules today, your explorations into Litchfield National Park revealing magnetic termite mounds standing up to two metres tall. And then there are the waterfalls: Florence Falls, for its dreamy cascades among monsoon forest; and Wangi Falls, where you can cool off in the crystal-clear waterhole before heading back to Darwin. See the NT capital in a new light when you venture out on a Darwin Harbour Cruise, your champagne glass full to toast your last evening on this epic adventure. 

Things in Darwin don’t happen in a hurry, which is just the way locals like it. You’ll quickly fall into pace, whether you spend the day exploring architecture on foot, or cruising out to the Tiwi Islands to discover Indigenous art. The choice is yours.

This morning your journey aboard the legendary Ghan begins at Darwin Rail Station where you'll take the small but momentous step from platform to carriage. Friendly staff will lead you through corridors to your comfortable private cabin where you can take your time settling in and exploring the amenities as the view outside your window begins its smooth and spectacular transformation. Lunch in the Queen Adelaide Restaurant is bound to satisfy and delight with culinary wonders prepared on board by our talented chefs. All food is included in your fare, from a hearty full cooked breakfast to a delectable 3 course dinner. And as you sit back and enjoy the scenery, you'll have arrived in Katherine ready to experience your first included Off Train Excursion to spiritual Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge.

Wake up to a new view outside your window, in a world which feels a million miles from home. An outback sunrise could be one of the most spectacular you'll ever see, setting the tone for the day ahead. After coffee, a juice and a sumptuous breakfast you'll arrive in Alice Springs ready for another day of exploration. Here you have the opportunity to embark on one of the included Off Train Excursions, taking in the delights of this famous outback town. A full day in Alice Springs gives you ample opportunity to visit the town landmarks, get up close and personal with Australia's incredible flora and fauna or explore the Alice at your own leisure.

After breakfast this morning you'll wake up and rub your eyes with disbelief as we pull into the middle-of-nowhere stop at Manguri. Here, a friendly tour guide awaits ready to whisk you away for the day. Your destination - the sun-scorched opal mining capital of world, Coober Pedy, where more than half of the residents live underground. Venture into the tunnels and caves of this underground town, where you may even catch opal fever as you mine for riches, visit the otherworldly underground Serbian Orthodox church and glimpse the famous Coober Pedy Golf Course - the only course in the world boasting reciprocal rights with St. Andrew's course in Scotland. Below the earth's surface, you'll enjoy a gourmet lunch in the most unique of locations before setting off to the stunning outback moonscape that is the Breakaways.

Looking out of your window this morning you'll notice a dramatic change in landscape as the rich ochre tones of the outback make way for the beautiful green fields and pastoral lands of South Australia. After breakfast you'll have time to reflect on your journey before The Ghan rolls into Adelaide and your momentous journey comes to an end.