None of us slept well, mainly because of
the mosquitos. At times the roadhouse was quite noisy too – when a road train
came in to get fuel, or a freight train went past on the railway line. In
between those times though it was very quiet.
The sunrise across the plains was quite
impressive. We started packing up pretty quickly and it was fairly easy as we’d
only got basic supplies out. Lots of the caravans hadn’t even been unhooked
overnight and were on their way again by 7am – we weren’t that keen and headed
off about 9.30.
We drove 40km or so up the road and stopped
at Lake Hart – a large salt lake. We had to cross the railway line to get to
the lake, which was a bit exciting – although some of the kids went through the
drainage tunnel underneath which was also fun. The edge of the lake was dry and
we walked out over solid salt crystals. After 100m or so we reached the edge of
the water which was very shallow. We walked another couple of hundred metres
and it was barely ankle deep. The salt crystals were solid enough to pick up
and hold. Any rocks or sticks that were in the lake were covered in salt. Our
arms and legs were soon covered in salt crystals – if we touched anything we
left a white residue. I’d scratched a mossie bite on my foot until it bled, and
now the salt water was making it sting! As we headed back to shore a train came
past which was very cool to watch.
We had an early lunch in the carpark then
got back on the road. I drove for a while and Tony had a nap. When I got tired
we stopped to change back over – it really felt like we were in the outback
now. Short, scraggly trees with black trunks and branches, rocky ground with
sparse bits of grass and bush here and there, and while it wasn’t hot, it was
certainly much warmer than anything we’d experienced so far. Most of the terrain was flat the sky looked
SO big. Every now and then the ground would drop away and there’d be some
hills. Any hill rising above the level of the road was visible for a very long
time before we reached it.
We arrived in Coober Pedy and were
fascinated by the mounds of dirt around the mines, and the signs warning of
mineshafts. There were some bigger mines as we approached town, but mainly
small ones as we got to the settled area. We drove through town to check it out
– it looked like no town we’ve ever been to before. We saw several underground
shops and houses, and signs for opals are everywhere. It looks fascinating and
I’m so glad we’re here – it’s somewhere I always figured I’d get to eventually,
and it’s cool that it’s happened.
We drove back out of town to our caravan
park and set up in a little bay surrounded by a wire fence – there’s just
enough room for us to get the tent up and walk down the side between the fence
and tent to get to our living area. Once we were setup the kids and I went back
in to town to Josephine’s Gallery where they look after orphaned kangaroos and
do a joey feeding. We listened to the stories of the kangaroos and were able to
help feed the bigger ones, then watch a joey be fed and then hop around the
enclosure, and then we all got to pat him. He was very cute and the kids had a
wonderful time. We looked at the art and the opals in the gallery – the paintings
were amazing and I’d love to be able to buy some one day.
Back to the campsite where Tony had cooked
pork chops and mashed apple potato, very very tasty. We ate in the camp kitchen
and chatted to some people from NSW. I had a shower and the kids and Tony went
and hung out in the underground TV room – there’s power and free wifi in there
too so we were able to charge all our devices and catch up on some email and so
on. Back to the tent to listen to Brisingr and everyone went to sleep pretty
easily.
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