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.

To the Outback - Part 1

Term 2 came to a close on 29 June, after a busy finale with mid-year reports to write and parent-teacher interviews. Sarah and I then went for a meal at the Border Inn to celebrate making it half way through our Oz experience. We went here for our first meal when we arrived in Echuca on my birthday, 30th December last year. It was a time to reflect on the first half of our journey and wonder where those 6 months had gone, as it seemed that they have flown by.

In Echuca itself the implementation of the third set of traffic lights appears to have gone well and both locals and visitors have accepted these multi-coloured traffic controllers as part of everyday life in this picturesque Northern Victorian outpost. Indeed it seems that they have always been here and perhaps, over the course of time, will be accepted as a vital part of the community of the city. Future town planners could even consider adding further traffic lights at road junctions, as the city expands, which will give the opportunity to future generations to become aroused by the wonder of modern technology playing an integral role in the control of vehicular access around this settlement. Who knows?

As July arrived so did the rain and the cold, as my footy team played in appalling conditions to a very unfortunate defeat. Unluckily I had to come off half way through the second half with a twisted ankle, which fortunately, despite some pain, did not ruin our forthcoming trip to Adelaide and the Outback. We drove down to Melbourne Airport on 2 July and after a really easy and efficient process in parking the car, at the long term car park, we were off on a relatively short hop west to Adelaide. When we got there, in the rain, we picked up a hire car and drove for an hour to a town called Tanunda, which is in the heart of the famous wine producing region of the Barossa Valley. We stayed at the Caravan park, which was cheap and quite centrally located. The following day we started by driving to the outlying wineries with the intention of finishing with a walk around those in Tanunda itself, in the afternoon. In true Croatian and Scottish fashion we were drinking before 11 am! As afternoon arrived we dumped the car and walked (or hobbled, in my case and staggered, in Sarah's case) to the Tanunda based wineries. As we were about to leave the first one we visited here we got talking to some people (2 Aussies and a Pom) and stayed for the rest of the afternoon sharing some of the Barossa's finest tipples. A relatively early night followed.

The following day was going to be a biggy in terms of driving and distance. We set off to drive north and to the Outback. Around midday we arrived at a town called Port Augusta, where we refuelled the car and ourselves before hitting the Outback. As soon as the last house passed us in Port Augusta we were driving in the Outback heading for the mining town of Coober Pedy. The drive in the Outback, although long, was far from boring as the scenery was always changing from areas with many small trees to areas with many shrubs, through flat land to hilly parts, through parts with lakes (of water and just dried salt) through parts with a few hardy plants, to areas with absolute nothing but red earth and dust. It was really different. We eventually arrived in Coober Pedy just before dark, the journey had taken us 9 and a bit hours and almost 900 km. We were staying in a cave. Who said romance is dead? Me protect woman in cave! Seriously, many of the places in Coober Pedy are underground because of the immense heat in the summer months where temperatures approach 50 degrees. Also the winter nights do get cold out in the desert as we were due to find out. To be continued.