Alice Springs NT

King Canyon NT

Taken from the road showing the ranges

Jan and Hady on the walk in the creek

Its great to be back in civilisation again. We have spent the last few days without phone coverage. We parted company with John and Carol and again in convoy with Russell in the lead we left Marla and our first break after crossing the NT/SA border was at a roadhouse at Erldunda. After they assured us that our big rigs would fit into their caravan park and after we did a walk through and seen that it was impossible. We asked them if we could stay outside on a dirt clearing opposite. We were told that it would cost us $20 to park there with no power no water no facilities at all. So undeterred we decided we would have a coffee before travelling on. We ordered the coffees but were told that the urn was cold so no coffees were available. So again we thought we would get an iced coffee out of the fridge, but the last straw was when their till was down and they were unable to process any purchases. So we and several other customers put our goodies back and jumped into our motorhomes and headed off to the next stop. On the road out to Ayers Rock we stopped the night at Mt Ebenezer for $10 a night for power and facilities or free with no power.

Parked up at Mt Ebenezer

Wednesday morning saw us driving up towards King Canyon and we booked into the King Canyon Resort. A lovely little oasis. Several Restaurants, Motel Units and Caravan Park. They parked us in a coach bay so we had our own patio and sink facilities. We drove out to Kings Canyon and did the walk into the gorge. Very spectacular I chose a few photos for you to view. We camped Thursday night at Mt Ebenezer and rejoined John and Carol. We ate in the restaurant then settled around the bonfire that we lit. Friday after a brief stop at Erldunda for an internet fix and catch up on our phone messages, we set off for Alice Springs. We arrived in Alice mid afternoon after a brief lunch stop at Stuart Well. We are parked in the showground on a beautiful grassed area. Plenty of room, power, water etc. We intend to spend a week here. Happy Mothers Day everyone for tomorrow.

Jan Hady and Russell in the gorge

If you look closely you can see Jan & Hady waving

Talk again soon

Our Flight over Lake Eyre

Underground Houses in Coober Pedy

The Terrain

Lake Eyre

Stuart Range Caravan Park (we are in the right hand corner)

Bill & myself Russell, John & Carol in front of the plane

Inside the William Creek Hotel

The William Creek Hotel

We left Coober Pedy today and traveled 246km to Marla. We stopped briefly at Cagney Homestead Roadhouse about half way for lunch. The photos enclosed are from our flight over Lake Eyre, Anna Creek and into William Creek and back. I had a hard time deciding on the photos as we took about 100. Lake Eyre is a dry salt lake that occasionally floods and it was here that Sir Donald Campbell once set the world land speed record of 645km/h in a jet powered car. The best way to get to there is by air or 4 wheel drive when the road is accessible. Coober Pedy reaches temperatures of over 47degrees so a lot of the houses are built underground for coolness although there are some now above the ground. Tomorrow we will be travelling North again and should cross the border into the Northern Territory we intend to stop at Kings Canyon overnight

Talk again soon

The Breakaways Coober Pedy

I have a fair bit of editing to do with the photos we took yesterday on our flight so in the meantime I will show some photos we took on Friday of the Breakaways. By the way I survived the trip. The Breakaways Reserves lie 32km north of Coober Pedy. It consists of colourful low hills which have broken away from the Stuart Range, hence their name "The Breakaways". I have only selected a couple of photos but hopefully they will highlight the open space and colourful environment, leaving an impression of the long gone inland sea our early explorers dreamt of. The white and yellow outcrops are locally called the "Castle" or "Salt & Pepper" the aborigines call these outcrops two dogs a white dog and a yellow dog.

Some of the outcrops have been used in movies such as Mad Max beyond Thunderdrome and Ground Zero. On the return trip we went via the dog fence. This 2m high barrier stretches for over 5,300km across three states to protect the sheep country in the south from the native dog the dingo.

Coober Pedy is well known for its Opal Mining. Pricilla Queen of the Desert was also partly filmed here. I did my share of digging for opals and purchased a lovely solid chrystal pendant. Very nice.

Talk again soon

Pimba, Roxby Downs and Woomera SA

The Map showing the road through the centre of Australia

We arrived in Pimba about 160 kms from Port Augusta at lunchtime Tuesday to a perfect day, the sun was shining but gee the terrain is very barren.

The local Terrain taken through the bus window

You can tell we are nearing the desert, the ground is very flat with not much vegetation.

Pimba lies at the junction for travellers going to Roxby Downs

Roxby Downs Main street

The Opal Mining town of Andamooka or the famous Oodnatta track.

Both the Indian Pacific and the Ghan Train pass through here on their way to Alice Springs. There are also several salt lakes nearby such as Lake Hart and Island Lagoon. After lunch we swapped the bus for the car and drove off to Roxby Downs (about 82km)which is a fairly new modern town created around the BHP Olympic Dam Mine. It was rather like a Oasis in the middle of nowhere. Gold some silver, nickel and copper are mined here.

A wedged tailed eagle paused on the side of the road

On the way back we called into Woomera which was established in 1947 as a site for the launching of British experimental rockets. NASA also operated a Deep Space Tracking Station at Island Lagoon between 1960 and 1972. The defence Department did operate a communication facility and testing range at Nurrungar, which is a prohibited area.

Wednesday we packed up and drove to another free camping area called Bon Bon Camping Spot about about 160 kms south of Coober Pedy. We joined fellow travellers we met in Port Augusta namely Hady and Russell and Carol and John. We are now travelling in a convoy and we arrived in Coober Pedy Thursday and are staying in the Stuart Ranges Caravan Park. We ate the famous Pizzas for our dinner and they weren't too shabby. Saturday we are taking a flight over Lake Eyre and the Oodnadatta Track about 4 hours in total.

Talk again soon

Round Trip Thru Flinders Ranges

The Map showing where we went

The Flinders Ranges

The weather is still very miserable here, so yesterday we did a round trip through the Flinders Ranges a total of 300kms. We drove up through Wilmington to Orroroo, then up to Carrieton,

St Cecilias Church in Carrieton

Cradock and met up with dear friends Andy and Marg (fellow travellers from WA) in Hawker then back down to Quorn and home again. Some of the towns were where the original old Ghan railway went through and also the Pichi Richi Railway which still has tours from Quorn to Port Augusta. We stopped for morning tea at Orroroo, a lovely quaint little town. There was a resident artist in Hawker where we had lunch and a beautiful exhibition of photos and paintings in the Panorama theatre. Quorn was a lovely little town, obviously years ago it was quite thriving but now it is mainly known for its tourism. They were putting the Trains away when we arrived (too late for the tour) It actually looked a bit like Thomas the tank.

The railway station has been restored and now houses a museum.

It boasts three hotels and there was a lovely two storey building (badly needed restoration) which still had the original signs e.g Antiques, Hats & Apparel, etc.

The Old Ghan Restaurant

Talk again soon

Photos

One of the guns on the Whyalla

Another gun

Thats me looking very excited

Another boat in the Museum

The sign says it all

Port Broughton Hotel where we stayed for a family reunion in the 80's it has recently received a nice coat of paint. The lace work looks fabulous

It is Anzac day today. The day we remember our soldiers who went to war. The weather is still very miserable here so we caught up on all our washing etc. Tomorrow we are driving in the Jimny to Quorn and Hawker and hopefully will see more of the Flinders Ranges. Here are some more photos, I may have to sack the photographer he seems to be getting a bit slack lately, spending too much time chatting to the people we have met in the park. Yesterday Sue pulled in with her motorhome from our hometown and we have spent many happy hours with Pam, Margaret, Ron, June, Hadie and Russell, Carole and John.
Lest we forget.

Talk again soon