The only French château to have been occupied continuously for eight centuries by 34 kings and emperors with its 1,530 rooms that contain more furniture than any other castle in Europe lies just 70 km south of Paris: Fontainebleau. But why, when this UNESCO World Heritage site surrounded by a forest that attracts some 11 million tourists a year, does Fontainebleau palace play second fiddle to Versailles…
It is a common misconception that Uluru (Ayers' Rock) is close to Alice Springs. Which is why I thought we could go to this small town in the geographical centre of the Australian continent, pop over to Uluru in the afternoon and leave the next day. We didn't want to fly, we wanted to see the Outback up close and personal. But we didn't really want to drive 1,500kms either. The answer: go by train!
The idea behind undertaking an almost 1,000 km drive from Brisbane to Sydney was to see some of the coastline. Well, it turns out that the Pacific Highway doesn't actually run anywhere near the Pacific and that it's mostly lined with gum trees!
Brisbane is a big, modern metropolis, set along both banks of the Brisbane river whose waters at this wet season are brown and fast flowing...
The first thing that struck me in Darwin was the high proportion of Aborigines. The second was how small and empty this state capital is (its population is comparable with that of Weston-Super-Mare in England or Versailles in France). The third was that it feels (to me) as though this town belongs to a different place: there is something a bit rootless about Darwin...
I'm not going to write too much about The Ghan here because I'll be writing about it elsewhere.
But as it was one of the major highlights of our trip to Australia I shall tell you this:
The Ghan is not only the longest passenger train in the world (1km long, give or take a metre or two) but it also takes you on one of the world's great train journeys...
