It was an early day for us again.  Rus checked in at work via e-mail and then packing began.  Andrew snuck off to have breakfast with Chris and Tamsen.  There have been exam's for the girls this week. School will be out and Chris will soon be headed back to Canada. Rus and I walked to the local deli for breakfast and again for a sandwich before departing.  It'd be dangerous if I had one of those in my neighborhood!!  So many kinds of interesting breads and pastries to choose from.  Andrew headed out on his bike for a few last minute errands and he packed "in a jif!"  The train station was literally only minutes away.   However, we chose to take a taxi, which arrived in minutes of having been called.   So... we arrived at the station on Grandma Ruth's time and had plenty of time to "sit and relax."   We learned at the last minute how to figure out which train car was ours!!  All is a big adventure!!

The Ghan pulled out almost on it's 2:00 p.m. departure time.  Today was bright and sunny from early morn for the first time and it was much warmer.  The cool snap is over for now. The train is very comfortable.  All our luggage is stowed right with us.  We can get up and walk etc.  Much more roomy than the airplane.  We are in coach class, which is fine for us.   We just walked back one car to the canteen for dinner.  It was quite good.  Rus had chicken and rice, I had cauliflower, broccoli and mixed vegetables and Andrew had a little of all above.  We brought it back to our seats as there is no eating area there. 

Click to Zoom The Old People Wore Him Out

The scenery leaving Adelaide changed pretty quickly.  It turned very flat right out of the city.  We passed many of the flower fields and greenhouses where they grow those lovely flowers we saw in Rummel Mall.  We went through an immense grain growing area.  At times we could see the ocean on the left which was a surprise.

Click to Zoom Outback Begins

Port Augusta was the last place you could come close to calling a town until Alice Springs.  (1,000Ks away).  We saw our first Kangaroos. We watched two movies on the train,  Jumanji and Cops.