Over the border into the N.T.

25th May 2013

We said hooroo to Coober Pedy and continued heading north. The landscape continued to change character every so many kilometres with any number of spectacular features visible in the distance.

We just had to stop and get a snap of us at the border, but made it quick as the pesky little flies were everywhere and annoyingly sticky.

Our stop for the night was at a very basic caravan park behind the roadhouse at Kulgera. $20 per night for a powered sight, plenty of hot water in the showers, and a vista like this... what more could you ask for?

Tomorrow, on to the Rock.

A bit more of Coober Pedy

24th May 2013

Another morning waking to the sounds of the "Grey Nomads" packing up their rigs and hitting the road at sparrow's fart.

It was a brilliant sunny morning, but the temperature was still fresh with a light breeze. So what did we do? We headed underground on a self guided tour of The Old Timer Mine just back from the main drag. Shafts and drives have been dug everywhere around town. You can literally step off the street and into a mine.

Demonstrates how a miner climbed the shaft which was "custom fitted" to his size.

 We were told they dug out $50,000 worth of Opal just excavating the entrance to the old diggings when they opened it up as a tourist atraction.

Late that day we drove back out to The Breakaways to watch the sun set. A small group of people with cameras had gathered at one of the vantage spots, all with the same intention of capturing something special.

Here's a sample of our efforts.

Taking in Coober Pedy

23rd May 2013

Today started off with a leisurely breakfast of O.J., bacon and egg rolls, and coffee.  Then it was into town to visit the Information Centre for Shaz to gather some clues as to what to see and do. I wandered outside and next door to investigate what looked like a couple of petrol bowsers, but are actually points where, for 20cents per 30 litres, you can get fresh, drinkable water.

Next we drove around the back streets of town, taking photos and marvelling at the uniqueness of this place. It appears that nothing gets thrown out here, it either sits around, or gets made into something to be used for mining Opals. This is definitely no place for anyone suffering from O.C.D.

 We needed to re-stock our supplies so a visit to the local supermarket was in order. What a pleasant surprise the local IGA was. Not only was it a substantial supermarket, but it also incorporated a comprehensive camping section, a hardware, and some major white goods. There's even a Cafe/Deli so a Capuccino and Long Black were ordered.

 After lunch we drove 30kms North of town to see "The Breakaways", a natural formation that's as spectacular as anything I've seen elsewhere. The SLR, video camera and GoPro were all working overtime and some sample shots are supplied below:

 As we headed back to the Caravan Park, the late afternoon sun highlighted the striking colours of the piles of tailings from the ubiquitous diggings and got Sharon snapping away again. I'd heard that Coober Pedy was surrounded by diggings and that the resultant mounds of dirt were everywhere, but it's not until you see it for yourself that you get a true appreciation for this place.

 Selling or prospecting for opals seems to be everything to this town and I'd say it's a fair guess it probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for the semi-precious gems. This is a place like no other I've been to and has a fascination I can't explain, it definitely has to be experienced first hand.  

Port Augusta to Coober Pedy

22nd May 2013

We left the Big 4 caravan park at Port Augusta under grey clouds and constant drizzle. It didn't look much better where we were heading.

But the dark skies did provide a contrasting backgroud to the brilliant orange-to-red hills that surrounded us.

  Mid morning saw us at the Woomera Rocket range. This is a strange place that's a bit like a ghost town on the surface, but there's Army personnel and other workers around, a school, cinema, General Store, Museum and a Heritage Centre, and if you look a bit closer, there are some recently built residential houses. There's also a nice little Cafe where we took the opportunity to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee.

We passed a fair amount  of traffic heading South, a large proporion of which was large road trains of different configurations. This trip we're taking note of likely spots to stop and free-camp when we plan to come back this way with Di, Dave and Wendy in 2015.     

  It was fairly late in the afternoon when we arrived at Coober Pedy with the sun low in the sky and glaring in through the windscreen. It was suggested we stay at the Stuart Range Caravan Park, so we promptly booked in for three nights and planned to try out their Pizzas tomorrow night. After selecting our site and setting up the 'van, we settled in for the night.

     

"Alice Springs?.......a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there"

20th & 21st May 2013

Here we are at last, about to start one of the most iconic Australian journeys....through Central Australia to Alice Springs.

The last two days have seen us arrive at Port Augusta, travelling over countryside familiar to us after our trip to the Flinders Ranges in 2011. Last night we pulled up at a Caravan Park in Bolivar, an area on the north western side of Adelaide. I got talking to a fellow camper there about where we were heading. When I told him our ultimate destination is Alice Springs his immediate response was "Nice place to visit....but you wouldn't wanna live there!"  (He and his wife had lived there) hence the above title of this blog thread.

So, here we are on the eve of ticking off one of the major items on my bucket list, that is, to experience Uluru and Kata Tjuta in person. Hopefully there'll be some nice photos to add in over the next 4 weeks.

Stay tuned.

Rapid Bay, Myponga, Hindmarsh Valley, Deep Creek Conservation Park. 9th Oct 2012

After a comfortable night's rest, we woke to a bright and cloudless day.

Di and Dave hopped into the car with us and and guided us to a few locations they'd visited over the previous couple of days.

Old unused jetty behind the new.

The first stop was a little down the road at Rapid Bay, which has a large, open campgroud, no power or showers, an uninterupted view of the beach, and handy to the old derelict jetty which is popular with divers hoping to catch a sighting of the elusive leafy sea dragon.

Another short hop to the HMAS Hobart Memorial overlooking Lady Bay. The Hobart was a Destroyer that served Australia for 35 years before being de-commissioned and subsequently scuttled in 2002, now providing a habitat for local marine life. The ship's anchor has been situated at the memorial such that it points to the ship's final resting place.

The view back towards Rapid Bay.

Looking North to Yankalilla Bay

A bit more driving and it was time for a coffee break so we hit the local Bakery at Myponga. Back in the car and after a few wrong directions coming from the back seat (Dave had the map) we continued to follow the Tourist Trail and stopped off to take a couple of short walks to some waterfalls.

The Trail brought us out on the edge of the Deep Creek Conservation Reserve, and a chance for us to test out the new Prado on some dirt road. After a few K's we pulled up at a diversion off the main track that we had to purchase a pass to use and was open to 4wd vehicles only. We all agreed that it might be interesting to take a look so Dave filled out the paperwork and paid the fee and we were in. Not far down the track we came upon a couple of Parks Officers busy with a chainsaw clearing a reasonable sized tree that had fallen across the track. It turns out they'd only opened the trail 5 minutes earlier after being closed for the Winter., but assured us the way was clear from there on. So, we pushed on and found ourselves looking out over a spectacular landscape towards a brilliant blue sea and spotless sky. The "road" at this point was almost two lanes wide, dry, lightly gravelled but to our inexperienced eyes, quite steep with a number of switchbacks. Being a novice offroader, I turned on the Descent Assist Control (DAC), took my feet away from the break and accelerator, and let the "smarts" do all the work. It was a reasonably slow trip down the hillside, but the DAC did such a great job, I don't think the tyres broke traction once.

Road to Boat Harbor Beach

Anyway, the view was well worth it and was a perfect reminder of why we decided to get a 4x4.
Funny, but it didn't look so steep going back up and we made it back onto the main Tourist Trail again and back "home" in no time.

We dropped Di and Dave back at the 'vans then Sharon and I drove the last couple of kilometers to the end of the Cape to watch the Kangaroo Island ferry load up and cast off. The weather had started to turn by this time with the wind gusting up a bit and showers passing over, but the stretch of water between the mainland and the island was surprisingly calm. The crew were very efficient at cramming as many vehicles as possible onto the deck.



When we got back to the 'van we were surprised to see how many caravans, motorhomes and campers had moved in whilst we were away. Being the closest camping area to the Kangaroo Island ferry it seems that most people stop here overnight ready to jump aboard the ferry next day.

Anyway, despite there being quite a few campers, the place was still quiet and peaceful and a great place to kick back for a while.

Cape Jervis , Robe and Nelson October 2012

Like Willy Nelson we're "On the road again..." 

Cape Jervis via Bordertown, Wellington, Strathalbyn, Victor Harbor. 8th Oct 2012

Monday morning and it's time to set off on another caravanning holiday with Di and Dave. We said goodbye to Laura, as she left for work, and shortly after we hit the Highway, bound for Cape Jervis, South Australia.

It was a pretty quick trip across the border and down the Fleurieu Peninsular to the Sheep Station at Jervis Bay. The most interesting part of the drive over was the short ferry ride across the Murray River to Wellington. The ferry operates 24 hours per day, every day of the year, and is free of charge. Something a bit different to break up the driving.



 From Wellington, it was on to Strathalbyn and out to the coast at Middleton, followed by a welcome pit-stop and a break for a very nice coffee at Victor Harbor.

Cape Jervis is only 50 minutes or so further on from Victor Habor and is a very picturesque drive through some green rolling hills, not unlike the area around Leongatha, Gippsland. After climbing yet another hill and rounding a long right hand bend, you're met with an unobstructed view from a high elevation of the tiny village of Cape Jervis, the Backstairs Passage, Kangaroo Island and the Southern Ocean. It was a good test of the brakes on the way back down to something closer to sea level with the well signposted entrance to the Sheep Station at the foot of the hill.  



View looking South towards he Backstairs Passage

 

 

Di and Dave had arrived two nights earlier and were sitting outside their van looking pretty settled and relaxed, talking with some fellow travellers, when we rolled in. 







It didn't take us long to set things up, have a quick and easy meal, then settle down for the night.