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

A true traveller

There are so many things I could tell you about – each day is filled with new experiences and sights and I really should write everything down. But we passed a very special individual today and I am sure that you would be really interested to see pictures and hear a little about him.

Unfortunately my driver did not give me time to hop out and really ask questions – and I would really have liked to – so I do not know this man's name.
I had to beg Colin to slow down and stop when I saw something quite unique on the road ahead. I could see two camels pulling a little trailer. I am sure that Colin just sees the road!

I hastily wound down the window and took my first shot.

I asked the net covered man where he was headed “Here and there” he replied in a strong European accent (at a guess, Yugoslavian) “where ever the road leads us and which ever way my camels take me”.

How long have you been on the road? “ Eight years now.”

Do you sleep in your little van? “ Oh no, I sleep in the open next to my camels, the sky is my roof”

And that was all I had time to ask him before my driver put his foot down and took us on our way. Three photographs and three questions – but an impression of a contented person. He was doing what he wanted and he was happy with his lot.

The man had stopped when we pulled alongside him and was happy to talk to me but when the camels both lurched forward together he started again on his slow walk along the road. They must be female camels, they determine when they leave and how long they stop!

AJ

Dusty outback roads

Today was our first full day of travel on unsealed roads. The stretch between Coober Pedy and William Creek must have been very exciting to drive along three days ago, as soon as it was “open”. The ground looks as if it was not only slippery but very soft too. We stopped to take pictures of the state of the road and I am sharing one of them. Apparently if anyone drives down a road that is officially “closed” they are met at the end of the track by the police and there is a fine of one thousand dollars for every tyre that is on the road.

Our journey was not a fast one – after all we are on holiday and my purpose for being on this trip is to take photographs. At one of the creeks – which is now dry as a bone – I wandered down to see what it looked like (we had stopped for a cup of tea and all I had in my hand was my tea mug), when I stopped under one of the oddly shaped trees and looked up I soon retreated to the vehicle to get my camera. I changed the lens so I could zoom in because what I saw were two budgerigar. I spent a little time taking more photos while several four wheel drives with camper trailers zipped past and all gave cheery waves. No doubt grateful that they had no-one in their vehicle that was as photo-mad as me! The birds were not afraid of my proximity. I thought they would have gone by the time I returned with the camera but they were exactly where I had first seen them.

I walked a little further along the sandy creek bed after I had exhausted all the shot angles with them and found a bird feeding her youngster. Again they did not seem to mind me being below them and pointing a big black camera in their direction – the food exchange just continued as energetically as before I had reached them.

Budgies are native to Australia and are always green with yellow heads. This is their normal colouring. The blues and whites and different colours are created by breeders of tame birds. We used to have hundreds of Budgerigars when we lived on the farm but the sprays that were developed to kill the grasses that grew among the wheat was responsible for their disappearance. The spray was residual which meant that the grass seeds were unable to germinate and the grasses did not grow – good for wheat farmers but bad for the birds that used to exist on their seeds.

Apart from the budgerigars and ground larks that were quite numerous, we saw no more wildlife today. It is amazing that you can travel so many hundred kilometers and not see one emu, one kangaroo or one lizard or snake. There was plenty of colour: lots of greenery and plenty of colourful wildflowers.

We have a hazard light that tells us our new fuel filter is choked up. We must have some very dirty fuel in our tank. This has so distressed us that we will try to find somewhere that has the filter we need (we hope that we can actually get there without the motor seizing up) and then we shall head home as directly as we can. We did not drive out to Lake Eyre as we had wanted too – we could have been stranded out there and that frightened both of us. Nothing is worth taking that sort of risk for.

AJ

Breakaways at Coober Pedy

What a photo filled day I have had today! We had breakfast and were on the road by five this morning all because I wanted a sunrise over the Breakaways. Many years ago this area of Australia was covered by an inland sea – we are talking millions and millions of years ago – even before I was born! When the sea disappeared the landforms it had created were left and violent storms over the millennia tortured the landscape even more and the Breakaways - and the opals were a result of all this change. The opal came about because the silica sand of this inland sea was such a perfect mineral. (I suggest you do a Google search to find out more, if you are interested.)
My photography started before the sun rose. What I took then is interesting but not for sharing. Then the sun broke over the horizon and while Colin tried to take shots of the sunrise I was facing the other way and catching the changing light on the Breakaways.

This first shot is one that I like because it shows not only the sun catching the tops of the mesas but the amazing colours and textures of the plain below – and above. The unusual rains of this year in the driest part of our continent, has resulted in plant growth that has never been seen in this abundance before. I find this so exhilarating having seen the land around Coober Pedy in a normal year when nothing grows.

The sun is higher in this second shot, we had moved from our first position where there were many little “mountains” and “valleys” to a place which was once the edge of the inland sea (at least that is what we imagined this landscape to represent!) I would think that you are not at all impressed with this shot – but imagine it with no vegetation AT ALL and that is how it was last year. The slopes are covered with clumps of tiny daisies and purple flowers and lots of different green or grey plants. The flats and the slopes and the strange formations have all been used in different films – when shots of the moon's surface are needed, the film companies couldn't use this place at the moment!

Colin and I left the vehicle and walked in among the peaks and valleys and my eye was attracted to something shining on the ground. It looked like lots of pieces of broken glass. I picked up a few different pieces and found it to be very fragile – it is gypsum. I found a thin piece and held it up in the sunlight and couldn't resist taking a shot! It looked so beautiful. I found thin needles of Gypsum as well.

Finally a shot of Colin – still wearing his fleecy top after our very cold start to the morning. We started out with our rain jackets on with the hoods pulled up to keep our heads a bit warmer! It was very cold! As soon as the sun was up it was warmer but it took until about nine o clock before we could strip down to t'shirts.

It is unusually cool here in Coober Pedy. This time of year the temperatures are usually 30 degrees and over but according to our host this has been the longest winter he has experienced in the 38 years he has lived here. (Lucky for us!)

In the morning we shall be leaving Coober Pedy. It will depend on whether we have Internet reception as to whether I can give you a new update. There will be one, but it will be posted just as soon as it can be.

AJ

Underground wonders

Today Colin and I learned what opal mining was all about. We first went on a tour of an opal mine after first watching a very good movie that told the story of how opal was created and how this area of opal field was found before being taken on a walk through the mine that is part of the show-room, owners home as well as the caves in which our accommodation is set.

Each of the homes dug into the hillsides started out as opal mines and once the opal was removed and there was a smart burrow left behind it was converted into living quarters.

Colin and I donned hard hats and went into 'Old Timer's Mine” which is an original mine cut with pick and shovel back in the 1920s and has been made interesting for tourists with plaques and dummy miners showing the various activities that were done and the hardships that were endured.

Behind a sheet of perspex was opal that was still in the rock wall, I used the flash and expected a big flash-back from the perspex but am pleasantly surprised at how well the picture came out. Can you see the opal?

When we emerged after 40 minutes of taking ourselves around the mine we walked into the shop where we had started our tour. My eye was drawn to a couple of carvings into the rock wall.

Yes, even the shop has rock as three of its walls, the fourth wall is the front of the shop and it is made of man made materials. I am not really all that enamoured of opal and although I gazed into the show cases and made all the right sounds of admiration, I had no interest in buying any! So I took my photo of the camel in the wall!

Another interesting place we visited was the “Catacomb Church” (there are actually several churches that are underground). We were fortunate in that a tour group had entered the church ahead of us and we were invited to stay while the local guide told everyone stories about how opal was found when the churches were created and that this Catholic church was unlucky in that no opal was found here – other churches struck it rich!

After the group had gone I was able to take my photo of the altar without using a flash.

A trip out to the Underground Pottery proved a waste of time – it was closed!
As I was writing this blog a familiar person walked towards me (I was sitting outside the dugout that is our home for three nights), it was Steven and with him, his co-pilot Sabine. It was lovely to chat with them both and we were invited across to have dinner with them and to meet the "group". What a treat! Everyone was so thrilled to be able to talk about what they had seen and done that we felt very comfortable in their presence.
Just maybe we shall meet up with them all again tomorrow - they, and we, are going out to the Breakaways.
That would be fun!
AJ

Opals in our sights

We enjoyed our short night in Woomera, it was quiet and we enjoyed a super meal (home cooked!). I was content because I had given my Nikon a good workout through the day. Colin was not so happy – we seem to be having more and more things go awry with the vehicle and he seems unable to sort out the problems. The trailer brakes did not get fixed after all – he had forgotten to purchase two washers! And the fuel filter needed to be replaced and we did not have one – and today is Sunday. Before we left Woomera we did a tour of the town and enjoyed wandering around the collection of rockets and rocket junk that is a memorial to all the activity that was here in the 1980s – not only by the British, I found out, but USA too. Both Colin and I took many photos of the exhibits before we hopped into the vehicle to drive the 250+ km to Coober Pedy.

There were many reasons to stop the vehicle (No! Only one, really! Joan wanted to take photos!) and each time we stopped we seemed to be meeting with the same tour group. When we arrived at Coober Pedy and were shown to our underground accommodation we looked up to see this same little bus and trailer pull into the car park behind us!

I wonder if they stopped, as we did, to run down into the scraggy brush and take photos of a most colourful and pretty succulent. I was quite surprised at the appearance of the flowers – I expected to find “pig-face” you know, that purple mesembryanthemum that grows in the sand at the edge of the beach. To find such a perfect little flower with yellow and white in the centre was a real treat.

We had stopped for a lunch on the side of the road when the phone rang – it was our son ringing from Broken Hill to tell us that we HAD to call in to one of the places in Coober Pedy and we were given a name to ask for. Apparently he had called to tell this fellow that we were coming and he insisted on us staying with him. Well, we did as we were told and we are this evening sitting outside our underground hideaway having eaten our meal (cooked on our own gas stove) and done the washing up! I also managed to take a Coober Pedy sunset shot too! Not as spectacular as last night's Woomera sunset because there were very few clouds to catch the light. Aren't we lucky to have a son who seems to know all the right people? We have been told to join in with one of the tours that starts at ten in the morning. Bed and opal mine tour all for being Firie's mum and dad!

We actually arrived here at two so we were able to explore the town on foot a little – we had to go on foot, on the way in the indicators stopped working! Something else to cause Colin to panic! Our explorations took us to a service station where we were able to get another fuse and another useful thing – Colin talked to anyone who had a Nissan Patrol and found out where we would be able to get a fuel filter in the morning.

I couldn't resist taking this photo of a couple of aboriginal men sitting on the pavement with their collection of dogs lounging nearby. This is a fairly typical scene in outback towns.

You will be happy to know that the brakes on the trailer were fixed this afternoon. Two out of three problems sorted!

Steven arrives in Cobber Pedy tomorrow afternoon so we will be able to say hello to him in person instead of by phone!

Up up and away

We have found the sunshine!
It was with great trepidation that we peeped out at the sky this morning – but our luck has turned. The skies were brighter – still a bit cloudy but definitely brighter! Once on our way we had to stop – but not for any serious problem – I just had to take a last photo of a group of emu. We saw quite a few of them as we drove along but I finally managed to persuade my driver to stop long enough for me to get my photo!

When we stopped in a rather attractive parking bay for our lunch we were greeted by the strange cry of a fairly large bird known as the “Happy Jack” I think this bird is also the apostle bird but without my bird book to check … “Happy Jack” will do for now!

There were four birds and they were very brave and had obviously found that travellers that stopped here were only too willing to share their lunches! They were happy with a little bit of bread crust that Colin gave them.

Half way between Port Augusta and Woomera with 100 kilometers to go in either direction to reach a town, a warning light came on. Ooops!

We stopped the vehicle and I searched through the car manual and found what the warning light meant – water in the fuel filter. Colin started to panic after looking under the bonnet – he could not identify the fuel filter. I came to the rescue once again using the manual and showed him a sketch of the thing and read out what to do to drain and bleed it. The new steps we had bought to be able to access the bed in the camper trailer (have you ever tried to climb up round ladder runnels in bare feet?) came in very useful because the 4x4 is so high!

Half an hour later we were on our way and the light was out. Yes, there was water in the fuel.

Unfortunately the fix did not last for very long and we had 40k to reach Woomera when it came on again.
We limped in to the caravan park and will drain the filter again in the morning and purchase a replacement filter as soon as possible – its Sunday tomorrow so that will have to be Monday! Steven rang us and we explained our problem and it turns out to be the same problem that he encountered and was why he had the vehicle serviced only two days before we left home and the mechanics said they had fixed the problem. Since they would have replaced all filters this could be why we had no problems until today. The vehicle must have been filled with contaminated fuel at some time.

Woomera - used to be where Great Britain tested rockets so there is a rocket on display at the entrance to the town.
Once our vehicle was unpacked for the night I took the tripod and camera and dragged Colin out for a walk – I wanted to catch an outback sunset without power lines so I had to cross over the road. It got colder and colder as we waited for the sun to go down – but it was worth it!

This is one of the many shots I took. Its a big sky out here!
Incidentally you may have found out already , but if not, click on the picture and it will be shown larger. Hit the "back" arrow at the top of the screen and you will return to the blog.

AJ