To the Outback - Part 2

After our first night in the cave in Coober Pedy we set off to explore this Outback mining town. First we checked out the Tourist Information place and we decided to partake in a tour of the town and surrounding area. Before we did so we visited the old timers mining museum, which showed us the history (relatively recent) of mining in the area. In the afternoon we boarded a mini bus with a few others and visited the mines, where we noodled for opals. (We did find a few small pieces). We also checked out an underground church, the cemetery (where there were quite a few Croatian graves and I found out that there is a large(ish) Croatian community in Coober Pedy) and most interestingly a cave where a local character used to live (he passed away last year). His home was used in the filming of Mad Max and it contained 'gifts', such as flags, knickers and memorabilia from visitors from all over the world. He used to dig parts of his cave out if he suspected that there was opal there. Next we went to see the local golf course, where they don't have to worry about watering the fairway (see picture). We then drove outside of the town to a group of hills named 'The Breakaways', which stood out like a saw thumb in the featureless landscape. The have important Aboriginal meaning to them. We also visited the Dog-proof fence, a very long fence that stretches from the Queensland coast to the southern Western Australian coast in order to keep the wild dingos out from the sheep pastures of southern and eastern Australia. Finally we saw the Moon Plain, an area of the countryside that is so barren and dry that nothing at all grows there and hence that is why it gets its name. It was a very eye-opening tour overall and we felt that it was like visiting another planet because life in this dusty hot outback town was just so different to life elsewhere. It certainly had its own charm.

After stocking up with water, food and petrol we set off on the next leg of our outback adventure, the next morning. Sarah and I shared the driving as we continued north to the state border and Alice Springs. As we crossed into the Northern Territory the speed limit changed from 110km to 130km and so did the price of petrol, which had been steadily increasing the further from civilisation we got. The cost was around 125c a litre in Adelaide, Coober Pedy was around 145c and the first petrol station in NT hit 165c. (Later in our trip we were paying 177c in Kings Canyon, it was so expensive it was almost at British levels! 177c a litre works out at around 80p incidentally). With our increased speed we reached Alice at around 4pm and we had a stroll around the city to get our bearings after we checked into the hotel. The following day, a Saturday, we climbed Anzac Hill, a hill in the middle of Alice and with great views. We then visited the Olive Pink Botanical Reserve and walked around there for a bit before venturing to the Telegraph Station, where the first colonial settlement was established in the 1860's, I think. Here is a picture of me standing in the middle of the local Todd river. It contained about as much water as the Coober Pedy golf course had grass. That evening we dined in a restaurant where we indulged in some of the local cuisine. We shared a starter of Crocodile before Sarah had the Barramundi and I had Camel. Both Crocodile and Camel tasted similar to Chicken in my opinion. Our last full day in Alice saw us visit the Alice Springs Desert Park. We enjoyed looking at the local flora and fauna that we spent around 5 hours there. In the afternoon we drove to the West Macdonnell Ranges and visited Elery Big Hole, the largest waterhole in the area and we managed to squeeze in Standley Chasm before it got dark. This was a fascinating bit of local geography and we wished we had more time to explore it and climb up the chasm but alas the failing light forced us to go back.

Alice Springs is a strange place, we found the locals to be unfriendly and generally the people in the bars and restaurants were miserable and unwelcoming. Perhaps this is because they are miles from anywhere else, although Coober Pedy is even more remote and the locals were not like that there. They certainly were much more friendly in Adelaide and surrounding area and indeed in the rest of Australia, so it really did stand out in Alice Springs. Also with problems with the local Aboriginal population in the area in the news we were expecting them to hassle us for alcohol, money etc. But this was far from the case, we found the Aborigines to be polite and unassuming generally. We even felt that they felt inferior to the white people because they would not look you in the eye or would move out of your way if they were near you. Overall we felt sorry for them as there seems to be a social divide in the city.

That evening we had a couple of beers and watched Australia scrape a last minute draw to the mighty Oman in the Aussie's first game in the Asian Cup. Then back to the hotel to pack our stuff in preparation for the next stage of our journey, Ayres Rock.