A long day on the road after a big day at the rock. As always happens, on a big day of driving with 750kms to cover, we couldn’t get the kids out of bed!! Even the Waldron kids who are usually up at the crack of dawn, got up went to the toilet and went back to bed!! Why can’t the kids do this on the days we don’t have to get up????
I think Zac was exhausted after his big climb the day before, so in the end I simply had to pack him in the bed. We let him out when we stopped for lunch….
Just kidding, as he realised I was serious, and the roof coming down might get a bit squishy he decided that maybe it was a good time to get up after all.
We were packed and on the road by 9am. Not our best time, but not the worst either and with a lot of k’s to cover, we hit the road leaving Ayers Rock behind.
Stopped again at the Erldunda roadhouse to get ripped off by the price of fuel, although $2.08 seemed so much better than the $2.22 per litre I had to pay at the rock. Fi went looking for bread for lunches on the road but in the end came back empty handed 🙁
We pushed on to Kalgera which is the first and last pub in the NT (depending on the direction of travel of course). Mark and I headed into the roadhouse where Mark asked if they had any bread. “Only frozen” he replied.
Mark’s face screwed up in disappointment, “Can’t do frozen bread, I was scarred by it as a child!!!” – Geez Maz, you really created some long term psychological scarring by giving Mark frozen bread everyday for lunch!!! Not the first time on this trip I have heard him say this!!!
The guy in the Roadhouse just laughed “We’re in the outback mate… it gets shipped here frozen… what do you expect???”
Reluctantly, as I said “I’ll take a loaf”, Mark gave in grumbling something about “…the kids will eat it”, and he ordered a box of hot chips to see him through.
With nothing but frozen bread for lunch, we decided to push on, leaving the bread in the hot van to defrost.
About 20kms down the road, we made our fourth border crossing for the trip into South Australia. Had to stop for the photo of course…
…and seeing as the kids were out of the car, we had better get one on the other side as well…
The kids were amazed as I told them that if you stood with your legs apart you could be in two states at the same time… for about all of two seconds that was… seems this grasshopper was way more interesting that silly Dad jokes!
Anyway, back in the car we pushed on for another 100kms before stopping for a late lunch about 2:30pm in a dry, dusty, and hot rest stop. Bread wasn’t quite thawed yet, so we popped the top on the caravan so Fi could make toasted cheese sandwiches in the frying pan, and the Waldron’s made a dent in their Fruit and Veg that we couldn’t take across the border.
We had a discussion around if we should throw our Fruit and Veg in the quarantine bins in Marlo another 80kms down the road or risk it. Was tempting to try to take it through, but in the end as we were fuelling at the roadhouse in Marlo I said to Fi and Kate “Just chuck it! Not worth risking an on the spot fine, and it is the right thing to do!”
Reluctantly I reckon about $50 worth of fruit and veg purchased in Alice Springs went into the bins. You would think with all the border crossing we have done that we would know better!!
Anyway, we pushed on arriving in Coober Pedy just before 6pm. Coober Pedy supplies 90% of the worlds Opals and as we approached the town the country side was littered by white dirt mounds from all the mining. Mark commented that it looked like a giant gopher had been busy digging!
Fi tried to get a photo from the moving car, but we were too far away. Hopefully the Waldron’s had more luck.
As we got closer to town we were suddenly distracted by a phone ringing!!! Not a sound we had heard alot in the past few weeks. It was Mike making a FaceTime call to Fiona as they packed to catch a plane back home themselves. Was great timing as we had only come into Optus coverage moments before!!! The kids were all very excited in the back seat yelling “I want to talk to Grandpa…” before we told them all to shush so we could hear. Was only a quick call, ending just as we were pulling into town…. Now… where to stay??
We headed for the Big4 as per usual, but as I pulled in the driveway I said “This doesn’t look like the park for us…”
Was best described as a compound around a car park! Not very kid friendly, and with the caravans so close, our noisy kids would have had us run out of town in no time!
I remembered seeing a sign as we came into town for the Stuart Range caravan park, which was rated four star. While it could have been a self rating, I suggested we go have a look there.
Turns out it was a good idea, we have two spots right next to the playground, although with no running water it is lucky I topped up the tanks up North! Also, due to the scarcity of water (we are still in the dessert after all), the showers are 20 cents for 3 minutes. The Waldron’s scrounged up all their 20 cent coins, Mark raiding the kids wallets for all the “shrapnel” that he had previously thrown away! I’m sure the kids will be pleased to see their silver coins turned into gold!!
Times like this I am glad we have the shower in the van although will have to be short showers to ensure we can make it last!
So, as I sit here writing, we have just survived our first night in Coober Pedy! I say survived, because I was woken around 6am (actually it was 5am, but with daylight savings being last night the clock showed 6am) by the annex bouncing in the wind. Hmm, I thought… I forgot to tighten the screws that hold the annex in place!!! I leapt out of bed and was greeted by the Waldron’s who were doing the same thing!
Quickly back into bed and wouldn’t you know it… the wind died off! Grr…well back to sleep I thought, but no… the wind had only paused and about 30 minutes later as the van was really rocking and rolling, both Mark and I were out there again as dawn lit the eastern sky, to roll the annex away.
Well I’m awake now, so with nothing better to do, I made a coffee and sat down inside the van to write. The wind is still howling, and while I have memories of our disastrous trip to the Wilson’s Prom in April 2012 (check the archive if you don’t remember…) at least I don’t think the wind is quiet that strong….yet! Have been gusts of 22 to 25 knots since 6am.
Hopefully the wind dies off again, as today we are going Opal shopping for Kate before heading off on a bus tour around Coober Pedy, including a visit to a working Opal Mine, and the underground houses and church.
Oh, I finally realised yesterday that now we are in SA, the trip is coming to an end 🙁 From here there will be one more random stop, probably around the Clare Valley, then a final stop in Renmark before aiming for home.
I know Mark and Kate are keen to get home and start looking for a new house (and I would too in their position), but me I just want to keep going… We have all had such a wonderful trip I just don’t want it to end!!! If anyone has a spare couple of million dollars so I never have to work again and can just keep going, please let me know and I’ll send you my bank details…hehe…
….umm…. no really! 😉
4 Responses to Coober Pedy