Glendambo to Cobber Pedy

After a great nights sleep listening to the rain fall onto the top of the van it was then followed by a nice relaxed drive of  257 kms to get to Coober Pedy. Once again there weren't many sights along the way. If anything the countryside was even more barren. I took this first shot at one of the rest stops. Overlooking Ingomar Station the land is so flat you can actually see the curve of the earth. I have actually never had this happen in any photo I've taken.

Before we knew it we were heading off the Stuart Highway and into Coober Pedy. With a population of around 3500, the town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is renowned for its below-ground residences, called "dugouts", which are built due to the scorching daytime heat. The name 'Coober Pedy' comes from the local Aboriginal term kupa-piti, which means 'white man's hole'.
Opal was found in Coober Pedy on 1 February 1915, since then the town has been supplying most of the world's gem-quality opal. Coober Pedy has over 70 opal fields and is the largest opal mining area in the world.

This piece of machinery is an example of some of their opal mining machinery. One part of it goes deep into the earth and sucks up gravel from under ground. It is then drawn to the surface and spat out of the bucket. Then the miners hope and pray they have found some precious stones.

 

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Port Augusta to Glendambo

This morning we started our long haul northwards up through the middle of Australia. If I can work it out I will add a map to my blog to show where we are travelling, could take a while though. We left Port Augusta at around 8-15am and once again we has some pretty sparse countryside to view. The first sign we were faced with was this one. Do you want to go East or North. Now for anyone who doesn't know Australia these locations aren't just a couple of hours away that are a long long way away! Like 1000's of kilometres!!



Sign to either ends of Australia!

Along the journey we passed lots of empty lakes -
well empty of water anyway but they all had lots of salt laying in them.
 It was a pretty amazing sight.

Salt Lakes in the distance

Off in the distance it looked as though a storm was brewing and it was, but luckily by the time we got there it was just ordinary good old rain. We would probably prefer it didn't rain but this part of Australia really needs some rain badly.

Storm in the distance

 The countryside had now turned to red soil and very hardy little bushes and trees,

I guess they have to be hardy trying to live in these conditions.

Countryside around Glendambo

Finally in Glendambo, where will lay our heads for the night.
The rain is still falling, but its not that cold and we have just had a
nice dinner and a nice cold beer, so all is good in the world.

This sign gave me a giggle - but its true about the flies!!

 

 

Broken Hill to Port Augusta

Today as in the next few days our aim  is to do quite a few kilometres on our journey to Darwin via Uluru, Alice Springs and lots of other townships. This morning we were up bright and early as our aim was to drive around the 400km mark, which we did, we drive 411km. Leaving Broken Hill the NSW landscape was extremely flat and harsh with only some tiny townships dotted along the road. Then we crossed the border into South Australia and gradually a few more trees started to appear. Before we knew it we were driving through the beautiful Flinders Ranges. As we neared our destination for the night - Port Augusta - the sight of the waters of Spencer Gulf was very refreshing to see. From what I can tell Port Augusta's main economy comes from the Electricity plants and tourism. I am now having an early night and climbing into my cosy bed. Tomorrow we head of into the unknown for both of us.

Menindee Lakes

Today is our last day in Broken Hill, and it has been a very interesting and informative visit. So we decided to go for a drive to the Menindee Lakes, about an hour east of Broken Hill. The township of Menindee is the oldest European settlement in western New South Wales, and the first town to be established on the Darling River. This is also the birthplace of the mighty Darling River. The first European to visit the area was the surveyor and explorer Major Thomas Mitchell in 1835. 

The Burke and Wills expedition camped at Menindee on their journey to cross Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They arrived here on 14 October 1860, crossed the Darling River at Kinchega Station and set up their thirty-fourth camp since leaving Melbourne. There was dissent within the party and the deputy-leader George Landells resigned. Robert O'Hara Burke split the party, heading north to Cooper Creek with half the men, stores and animals. The remaining men, stores and animals made a depot camp at Pamamaroo Creek and a sign and cairn now mark the site of the camp. This camp was used for the remainder of 1860 and for most of 1861. While in Menindee, Burke stayed at the Maiden's Hotel, which was then owned by Thomas Pain and was known as Pain's Hotel. The Maidens Hotel is still in operation to this day. The countryside between Broken Hill and Menindee is definitely the most barren I have ever been in. It is hard to imagine how hard it was for the early explorers such as Burke and Wills to even get from Melbourne to here. 

Part of the Menindee Lakes System

Shake, Rattle and Roll on this dirt Road!!

The barren countryside

Main Street - Broken Hill

After a lazy morning of trying to do an update on our satellite phone we decided to check out the Main St. and a couple of tourist attractions. Broken Hill has some amazing old buildings and almost every corner has a pub - some still running as pubs and some other businesses now. Next it was onto an attraction called The Big Picture. Photography wasn't allowed in there so alas no photo! But it is the largest canvas painting in the Southern Hemisphere. It depicts all the regions in thus area of the outback, with the foreground made to replicate the flora and fauna. Then it was off to Bells (old fashioned) Milk Bar for a good old spider. Well actually Shane had the Blue Heaven spider, I was boring and had a good old chocolate milkshake. Might be boring but it sure was yummy. We also visited the Royal Flying Doctors Base. They do such an amazing job so I was happy to pay for a tour, which was very interesting and informative. So now we have just arrived home after a beautiful meal with Zak - I had Scotch Fillet Steak with Garlic Prawn topping. Oh my it was so so yummy.

Silverton and Sunset

The car was having some surgery this morning - not that she is sick. The company Shane's nephew works for were fitting a snorkel. Now if your like me and have no idea what a snorkel is (other than the water type) it is a part that helps air run through the motor and also stops water and dust getting into the motor. We had planned to have this procedure done while we were here in Broken Hill. Luckily they were able to lend us a company car so we could do a bit of touring. First we headed west to the very small but historic township of Silverton. Once a bustling home to 3000 with the town prospering from the mining of Silver and Lead. But in the 1880's when mining commenced in Broken Hill the town of Silverton fell into decline with many of the buildings being moved to Broken Hill. Silverton now has a population of around 60, but is far from a ghost town. It's claim to fame now is that it has been the location for many movies eg. Mad Max 2, A Town Like Alice, Razorback and more.


Mundi Mundi Plains

Silverton Hotel

Silverton Main Street

Old Silverton Church

In the late afternoon we headed to a hilltop on the outskirts of town to see the magnificent Sculpture Symposium at Sunset. The sculptures were all produced by various artists from all over the world.