To really taste the outback, you have to eat the dirt. And I have eaten Australia's red earth - a mouthful of the stuff courtesy of the horse that threw me into the parched plains of the world's largest cattle station, Anna Creek.
Oh, the ignominy! Just minutes earlier I had been introduced to my ride, a "gentle girl" named Take Two. Take Two is right. Take Two minutes to throw me off her back.
The Ghan. It’s an odd name for a train but in Australian history it is a living legend. The legend has soared to new heights with the extension of The Ghan journey to Darwin. When The Ghan first departed Adelaide for Alice Springs, it was always intended that it would one day travel through to Darwin. More than 70 years on, that dream has become reality.