When the Moors spread across the country during the eighth century they could never penetrate the Pyrenees, though they left quite a legacy in other parts of Aragón. By the ninth century the Christians had begun to reconsolidate in the Pyrenees; they formed the Kingdom of Aragón and made Jaca - today the most popular village among mountain sportsters - their earliest capital. The Romanesque churches scattered throughout the Pyrenees stand as a genteel testament to the devotion and determination of these rallying Christians. During the 12th century they had worked their way south into the wide.

Freelance travel writer and Lonely Planet guidebook contributor Tim Richards decides to shake up his life by taking an epic rail journey across Australia. Jumping aboard iconic trains like the Indian Pacific, Overland, and Spirit of Queensland, he covers over 7,000 kilometres, from the tropics to the desert and from big cities to ghost towns. Tim's journey is one of classic travel highs and lows: floods, cancellations, extraordinary landscapes, and forays into personal and public histories—as well as the steady joy of random strangers encountered along the way.

Master storyteller Judy Nunn has now sold over 1 million books worldwide. In her spellbinding new bestseller she takes us on a breathtaking journey deep into the red heart of Australia. It is 2001 and as the world charges into the new Millennium, a century-old dream is about to be realised in the Red Centre of Australia: the completion of the mighty Ghan railway, a long-lived vision to create the 'backbone of the continent', a line that will finally link Adelaide with the Top End. But construction of the final leg between Alice Springs and Darwin will not be without its complications, for much of the desert it will cross is Aboriginal land. Hired as a negotiator, Jessica Manning must walk a delicate line to reassure the Elders their sacred sites will be protected. Will her innate understanding of the spiritual landscape, rooted in her own Arunta heritage, win their trust? It's not easy to keep the peace when Matthew Witherton and his survey team are quite literally blasting a rail corridor through the timeless land of the Never-Never. When the paths of Jessica and Matthew finally cross, their respective cultures collide to reveal a mystery that demands attention. As they struggle against time to solve the puzzle, an ancient wrong is awakened and calls hauntingly across the vastness of the outback . . .

Australia's Engineering Marvels contain the stories of the design and construction of some of Australia's major feats of engineering. Some of Australia's bridges, hydro-electric power stations, railways and communications structures were built at times when much of the technology we take for granted today was not available. Many represented the latest in design and technology when they were built.

When Australia was first settled by Europeans in 1788, the worldwide railway boom was still 40 years away. When the railways finally came to Australia, they helped create new towns and alleviate the isolation of the outback. Communities began to consolidate in places where the rail came. In the cities the railway enabled the growth of commuter belt suburbs. They have been crucial to the development of Australian industry. Railways and associated industries were the biggest employers in Australia. The railways reached their pinnacle in the 1950s, but they have been disadvantaged by Australia’s sparsely distributed population and low density cities, the advancement of the motor vehicle, and air travel. Nonetheless, the future for our railways is not completely grim. While the romance of the long-distance passenger journey seems to have more tourist than utilitarian value, the growing population in Australia’s major cities, as well as the traffic and environmental problems caused by cars, means that urban railways are more vital than ever to the effective operation of cities. The railways also continue to play an important part in freighting the produce of Australia’s primary industries as well as in agriculture. Combined with the large number of heritage and tourist trains, these ensure that even today some of the romance of the railways remains.

The author shares her adventures of traveling by train throughout the world.

The twelve-hundred kilometre narrow gauge railway from Port Augusta to Alice Springs served the Outback of Australia for 100 years. Starting in 1878 as the Port Augusta and Government Gums Railway, it became the Great Northern Railway and then the Central Australian Railway. The once or twice a week passenger train became known as the 'Ghan'.Partially by-passed in the 1950s, the old narrow gauge line was closed in 1980 and the rails pulled up. Two sections have survived - the first 40 kms through Pichi Richi Pass which operates as a Heritage Railway and the final 23 kms into Alice Springs, which currently no longer operates.Although the rails have gone, there is still much to see along the route. The author has compiled this Guide to the old railway - what is there and what was there and how to find locations, mostly through his own travels and with his photographs taken over more than fifty years.