Volker hat geschrieben:And maybe, some day, I will travel with "The Gan" from north to west
I think you mean "from north to south", because Darwin is in the north and Adelaide in the south.
The east-west route, which I have travelled (1974), is between Sydney (east) and Perth (west) and the train which does this run is called the "Indian Pacific".
This is a fabulous trip and for any train-travel fan who visits Australia I would recommend doing this trip before doing the Ghan, as it sees a far greater diversity of landscape and environment, from the east-coast temperate area, across the Great Dividing Range and on to the Western Plains of New South Wales, down through the wheat area of South Australia and then across the Nullabor Plain and on to Perth.
The description of the track says, that most of the track goes through the outback. I imagine only dry and hot deserts when I hear this.
That is pretty much exactly what the line traverses BUT....don't automatically associate "outback" with "Sahara"!
Depending upon the time of year, the "outback" can range from hot, dry and arid to warm, wet and green.
There is a distinct change of topography and environment between Adelaide (southern terminal) and Alice Springs (centre of the trip) and then Alice and Darwin (northern terminal).
This is one trip which my wife and I have promised ourselves for the future, having already done the east-west trip; although we'd like to do that again too!
Some links which may be of interest.........
http://www.johndarm.clara.net/ip.htm
http://perthtrains.nachohat.org/date/2002-11-03/
http://www.gsr.com.au/indian/
http://www.railaustralia.com.au/indian_pacific.htm
http://www.discoverwest.com.au/prindpac.html
http://www.oztravel.com.au/travel_mall/ ... AUSNSW.htm
http://www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/
http://www.alicesprings.net.au/
http://www.alice.au.com/alicecam/
http://www.ourdarwin.com/
Come on down!
Bruce.