Outback travel.

I have skipped so much of our travels in this blog that I am back tracking to show you a little more of the country and of what we saw. The Australian Outback is a very dry, dusty and desolate place for most of the time and even though there is lots of plant cover at the moment the vast open spaces are still quite awe inspiring. Very much a place in which you would not want to get stuck, that's for sure!

When we left Coober Pedy we were driving for a while on hard gravel. The ground around Coober Pedy is mostly compressed silica and it is almost impossible to drive in a tent peg – which is why were were offered underground accommodation. So to begin with the roads were firm and flat even though there had been a fall of rain before we had arrived there that had closed many of the outback roads.

I couldn't resist this shot out of the window and through the mirror to show the dust raising behind us. We were fortunate that we were on the right side of the road when it came to passing another vehicle – our dust was drifting across the road and it was the on-coming traffic that could not see past our dust! That fine dust did manage to get inside the trailer and cover all our plastic containers but the containers were tight enough to keep the contents dust free. They contained all our pots and pans and kitchen equipment.

After a few hours of travel we encountered a group of emu. They were a little distance off so I wound down the window and banged on the side of the vehicle then waved my arm outside the window. They stopped and came closer and closer to see what was happening. Up came the camera and here is my shot. (one of them!)

In our treeless travels we were very grateful to the awning that Steven had purchased for his vehicle only days before we set off from home. When we found a “beach” near Lake Eyre South we set up our shade so that we could look over the dry sea bed and take advantage of the light breeze as we ate our sandwiches.

In the dry heat of the day the sandwiches had to be made as they were needed because the bread was like toast by the time you bit into the second half! We have two car fridges with us so we had moist sliced meats and salads to use as fillings. We even have home made fruit cake for dessert when we feel like a bit extra!
Near a little town called Leigh Creek we saw a sign to a coal mine lookout. Since it wasn't too far to go (this was when the vehicle was still a very sick animal) we went for a look.

What a massive hole in the ground! The lookout was over an area that had been finished and in the parking area was a huge dragline that had been retired. A wonderful big toy for the boys to climb into and look through. In front of it was a gigantic wheel that had been removed from something and both Colin and I posed for photos inside the rim! In the background you can see part of the dragline – it looks like a big crane on its side.

Today has been spent in a little town called Peterborough and I will write a little something about two of the places we visited there in my next jottings.

AJ