Racing with ‘roos on the old Ghan

I enjoyed Beverly Beyette’s fine piece “The Red Rider” [Jan. 7] very much because it brought back my own ride through Australia on the old Ghan in 1961.

Recently arrived in Melbourne as a Fulbright exchange lecturer in music education at Coburg Teachers College, I traveled with about 20 students and two other professors for a two-week tour.

Our days were spent in the touring cars. Red dust blew in, and beer cans littered the tracks for hundreds of miles.

When several students hurried to tell me that kangaroos were chasing the train, I thought they were teasing again, then actually saw a mob of kangaroos racing the train.

FRANCES ULRICH

Northridge