Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Port augusta to Coober Pedy

Hi everyone
I did stay another day in Port Augusta as the weather had improved and I decided to wash and clip the dogs, much to their disgust!! It was something that had to be done and I'm sure deep down they thanked me.
I drove to Woomera and boy is that a dead town, sorry Woomera. I know it was Sunday but gosh I managed to drive around the town, take photos, visit the information centre, all in 5 minutes. The park only cost me $15, including power, and now I know why, there's nothing here. They only had 4 T.V. stations, one was channel 7 the others ABC/SBS!!! I know they do have good programmes.
 I left the next morning for Coober Pedy, and if you thought the Hume Hwy to Melb. was boring, try the Stuart Hwy from Port Augusta to Coober Pedy. The land is so barren and thank god for CD's, not that the dogs got out as much pleasure listening to my singing as I did listening to the CDs!!
Arrived here safely, and I know I'm a winger(?spell.) but I'd forgotten about how bad flies can be. They are in abundance and sticky ones at that. The temperature is pleasant at 30 degrees, and I do have the air con going.
The next day (29th) I'd booked a tour from 1pm. I left the dogs in the home with air con going, of course, and hoped they behaved. In the mornings a lot of Parks empy out so a dog barking is not disturbing too many people.
The guide, Jimmy, is greek but has lived here for 47 years. It was well worth it ( $62.20) and there is so much I learnt. Opals are not find more than 30metres below ground, and once you have dug a deep hole looking for them, you don't have to fill in the hole once you've finished! Public are not allowed onto the "fields" where mines have been dug, because a tourist was killed when she fell in a hole when taking a photo.
The underground houses, motels and churches are amazing. The temp. is always between 21-25 but you have got to get used to having no natural light. I have no idea how much it costs to build underground, I forgot to ask!
We then went to a place called Breakaway which years ago ( and I mean  millions of years ago ) was the bottom of the ocean. I'm not sure how they work all this out but I'm not going to argue! The aborigines class it as sacred ground and so you are not allowed to take any stones etc from there. We were allowed to take photos, which I did and the landscape was quite spectacular, but you had to be there to appreciate it all
Next was the Dingo fence which is the longest fence in the world and runs through 3 states, Qld, NSW and SA. Of course there's nothing but a fence but you still have to take a photo.
There is a Plain called The Moon Plain but because of all the rain that fell last month everything is green, and instead of the appearance of the moon, which I assume is greyish/brown, it's not. Anyway worth a photo!
Now I know you are asking 'What about the dogs?' Well they stayed in the motorhome with the air con going so they, hopefully, were enjoying the comfort of camping!
Tomorrow I'm going back to Port Augusta, ( which is 530kms of nothing)  for 1 nite and then I'll go to the Eyre Penninsula, which is Port Lincoln and Coffin Bay
Hope everyone is well.

Road to Coober Pedy ( Stuart Hwy)

Main Street Coober Pedy

Part of Breakaway
Breakaway, another view

Well that's it. Hope everyone is well

Love
Jo, Kaiser and Chardy

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