Thaindian News

Sydney, June 7 (DPA) The Ghan recreates the age of luxury train travel in the Australian Outback as it speeds the 3,000-km of desert and scrub between Adelaide to Darwin. But only if you are on the inside of the carriage.
American tourist Chad Vance told Sunday how he clung to the outside of the Ghan as it thundered through the chilly night at speeds of up to 110 km an hour.

“I never thought I’d have an adventure like this when I arrived here,” the 19-year-old Alaska native told the Sun-Herald newspaper. “And I’m sure this will be the highlight of the trip.”

Vance got off the train to stretch his legs when the Ghan stopped at Port Augusta, returning to find it pulling out of the station.

He managed to clamber aboard, expecting to raise the alarm while perched in the stairwell between two carriages. He was there for the next 200 km.

“I was getting worried my hands would get so cold and numb that I might lose my grip and fall off,” he said, recounting last week’s wild ride. “After about two hours, I saw one young staff member so I started banging and yelled and he heard me.”

That young employee was Marty Wells and he proved a lifesaver.

“He was shaking uncontrollably for several hours and complained of numbness to the left side of his body and arms and said his face was also stinging,” Wells told the paper. “I’ve never seen anything like this before and I sure hope I don’t ever see it happen again.”

Vance was upgraded and got a hot shower, a bed and the service of a butler for the rest of the two-day run to Alice Springs.

“I felt I’d won a million dollar when the train finally stopped because I would never have been able to get back on otherwise,” Vance said. “Marty was absolutely a life saver. He was amazing. I could have died without his help.”