BACK TO ADELAIDE - AUSTRALIA

6th - 10th Oct 2011

Things got off to an irritating start on the final Ghan sector from Alice to Adelaide, and then got progressively worse. Having off-loaded some items from my bigger bag ( well over 20kg ) into a smaller bag, and handed the smaller one in, I thought as before, sorted. I reckoned without an officious lady 'baggage handler'. "No way", she said "could I take that bigger bag onto the train; there is absolutely no room". I protested that I hadn't had a problem before, but these bossy rail staff brook no argument or discussion and if you query their logic they just get stroppy and threaten you with being off-loaded yourself. They are the most unhelpful un-can-do jobsworths I have ever met on any public transport system ( and they insist on calling their passengers 'guests', I ask you ). I had then to hand in my big bag which was, of course, still overweight and they gave me a third bag into which I had to transfer more stuff, and that I was allowed to take onto the train. Of course, when I found my seat in the Red seating class carriage there was masses of space...half the carriage was unoccupied. It left me feeling cross and grumpy. That woman had been lying to me.
I say it got worse because next up we had to listen to the Red seater carriage 'manager' giving us the normal  threats and warnings. This dreadful man, whose name I have wiped off my memory banks, was a little martinet, but also, even more annoyingly, thought he was being witty and amusing and interspersed his dire warnings with 'amusing' comments which made some of the Aussie pax giggle, probably out of nervousness. It made me smoulder with a barely controlled desire to wring his neck. This ultimate jobsworth then proceeded to disallow anyone sharing a seat to move to other empty parts of the carriage, because he might have to move people around later on. He never had to. He also forbade the use of any electrical equipment in the buffet car ( never the case on the other sectors ), which was the only place with tables ( our seats had no tables ) or power points other than the Red lounge, because "they might contaminate the food; I don't know where you might have put them before". "I might allow the use of computers in here after 9pm, if no one is eating" he generously conceded. I suggested that maybe my clothes might also contaminate the place so perhaps I should remove those too. He then got stroppy and started threatening me in a rather facetious manner. He then announced that nobody could use the Red lounge either because it was full. I checked; it wasn't. He really was the complete arsehole. There were many other examples of his hideous officiousness during the journey. He never stopped, or shut up, but I've bored you enough with just the 'beginning' bits. My faith was restored a little when two ladies came up to me and said they wished they had had the nerve to stand up to him, and thanked me for expressing their views. Of course nobody ever does give these poisonous egotistical self appointed demi-gods the good mouthful ( or punch on the nose ) that they richly deserve, because they might get thrown off the train. There are obviously no 'officers' in the Oz rail service to control such appalling staff behaviour. I was so hoping he would meet with a terrible accident.


Re-crossing the Finke River ( left ), the home of that much unappreciated and unique little fish, the Finke Guppy. The rest of the scenery was, as you might guess, rather the same as on the way up. No surprises there. No kangaroos either.

I was, as you can imagine, in not a particularly jolly frame of mind on this sector. 'Lights-out' was at 2200hrs and I tried to get to sleep. Now, I'm not making this up, promise, but my arm started to itch. Come the morning it was still itching badly and there were some red spots on the underside. Sadly, I did not realise at the time what the cause was ( my hand and wrist spots on the way up to Darwin I had put down to some infection or other ).  We got into Adelaide at about 1300hrs and I shared a taxi with a charming couple of Cloggies to the YHA ( the best YHA in Australia, bar none so far ). By now my right arm had started to swell up alarmingly. That afternoon I went to find a medical centre, and without too much of a wait in a very smart and tidy public clinic, was seen by a really nice English doc, originally from Oxford. He looked at my arm, and the remains of the spots on my wrist and immediately said that I had been bitten by bed-bugs, or maybe fleas, and that my arm had reacted badly. He gave me some cream and sent me on my way. This consultation had cost me just $34 and I was told to go round to the 'Medicare' office to claim the money back; which I did and it took little time or effort. I was also signed up, free of charge, for medicare cover for the rest of my stay in Australia. I was mighty impressed by the 'Health Care' facilities I experienced. The same could not be said for Great Southern Railways, the Ghan and their ghastly staff ( well only one or two staff perhaps, but that is enough ). I have written them a letter. So, if any of you are contemplating a trip on the much hyped Ghan, forewarned is forearmed.....in the Red seater class at least. Maybe Gold and Platinum classes don't take bed-bugs and have polite and 'wilco' carriage managers.
It was at about this point that I discovered a ship appearing over the horizon, or at least some helpful agents in London did. I was advised that the good ship AS Carelia would be leaving Brisbane on October 15th  bound for Singapore via New Zealand. I booked onto it. I had originally planned to continue my rail journey on the 'Indian Pacific' train ( another service operated by Great Southern Railways ) from Adelaide across the Nullarbor Plain to Perth, Western Australia. This is another 3 day 2 night train ride. I realised I would now not have time to do this, and anyway I was feeling a bit less than enthusiastic about travelling on another GSR bug-ridden jobsworth infested iron horse. I chose to relax at the Adelaide YHA over the weekend and watch the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals. It was fun..and I put up with great good humour the jibes of the French contingent after the ( inevitable? ) demise of the English. I expect they went off with the Irish boys to celebrate with a good punch-up in Hindley Street. The swelling in my arm and my antipathy towards GSR gradually subsided.
The other sector of the Indian Pacific, from Adelaide to Sydney, a 2 day, 1 night trip, was fully booked due to school holidays and maybe a last minute influx of bed-bugs, so I committed to a return on the Overland ( Countrylink ) train to Melbourne on Monday. This fitted in quite well because it gave me the chance to meet up with an old army friend who happened to be passing through Melbourne on Tuesday.
So, not much time left to explore Oz, and I am a little disappointed in not being able to get to visit Perth and it's environs. As you are no doubt aware, Perth is the home city of the great and glorious Rolf Harris ( when he is not in Henley-on-Thames ).
By the way, a friend told me to look up 'Ghan Bed Bugs' on the internet. It transpires that I am not the only victim!