Coober Pedy - Oodnadatta Track - Maree

Coober Pedy is an Opal Mining town located in the outback and is the largest producer of opal in the world, producing more than 90% of the worlds opals.

The township of Coober Pedy has underground churches, houses and shops.  Coober Pedy population is principally European.

We did a tour on a "Old Mine Tour" which was very interesting. The girls loved the noodling and collected lots of nice opals.

Most of the residents live underground as the temperature is a lot cooler. Coober Pedy is a unique and interesting place to visit.

We also decided to stay underground to have a break from the caravan and it would be would be a bit of fun.

The girls also got a chance to feed a baby kangaroo with a family that look after orphaned kangaroos.

After speaking to a few people and checking the weather carefully we decided to hit the dirt again and travel the famous Oodnadatta Track and follow it south to Maree and back to the Flinders Ranges to save us retracing our tracks south.  The road we have been told has been regraded a few days ago so it was a good time to do it.

On the way to join the Oodnadatta Track we passed by the world famous Dog Fence, the worlds longest fence stretching from just west of the Gold Coast in QLD to the Great Australian Bight east of the WA border.

The Oodnadatta track follows the Old Ghan Rail line and many of the old buildings and railway sidings remain to give an insight into times gone by.

We stayed overnight at the William Creek Hotel before proceeding south on the track to Maree.

The William Creek Hotel is located on the worlds largest working Cattle Station, part of the Kidman empire.

About 60km from the William Creek Hotel you can view Lake Eyre. We had hoped to see water at the viewing area but we were about a week late as the water had receded several kilometers leaving a salty crust.

After our overnight stay and feed at William Creek we headed south towards Maree, we saw the largest number of dingo's/wild dogs that we have seen so far on the trip.



Dingo takes flight, early morning on Oodnadatta Track

We passed by several old Railway sidings and accommodation, some of them remarkably well preserved and suitable for an overnight camp.


Beresford Railway Sidings Ruins

Along the way we took time out from the road to have a soak at the natural spring bath at Coward Springs.

There is a great campsite at Coward Springs with toilets and hot showers available to campers, there are also a number of historic railway buildings and fantastic wetlands created by the overflow from the spring.

Kings Canyon

Even though we are a little pushed for time my brother told us not to miss Kings Canyon so that's were we are heading.  While driving I still can't believe how big and vast this country is, it just blows my mind. When people told me you needed a few years to travel this country  I never believed them.

Kings Canyon is also known as Australia's Grand Canyon and is rapidly gaining a reputation as an essential element for a holiday in the red centre.

The main attraction is the 6kms rims walk which we decided to do separately as it was a bit too challenging for the little girls. 

Emily and I headed off early on our 1st morning.  It's a breathtaking walk around the rim of the canyon which allows you to gaze down in awe at the sandstone and venture down into the depths of the chasm. It also had some great waterholes in the exotic Garden of Eden.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta for New Year

We are now back on the Stuart Hwy but at the other end.  We have decided  to head back up to the Northern Territory.  The kids are having a good day in the car after 12 hours yesterday we are so surprised that they are not complaining.

People complain that the trip up to Uluru boring.  We are finding it the complete opposite.  We are listening to some great music, everyone is quite.  Hundreds of birds flying around and also butterfly's.  I think its been one of favourite days in the car. 

It doesn't matter how many pictures you see of Uluru nothing quite prepares you when round the corner and Uluru comes into view for the first time. 

The rich red plains of the centre, the power of its ancient spirit has overwhelmed us all.  Even the girls are screaming wooo.

Arrived at the Uluru campground where we have decided to spend the next 4 nights.  Its so hot its already over 40% and getting hotter. I leave Nathan to set up and take the kids for a swim. The pool is like a hot bath.

Tonight we made a bit of an effort and put our best frocks on and headed to the outback hotel for a seafood buffet to start celebrating for new year.  The food was surprisingly good. After dinner we headed to the outside bar with had a great atmosphere of tourists and locals.  We all headed to the dance floor where the girls showed us there dance routines. 

A lovely young lady keep dragging our girls on the dance floor so we got to sit down and have a quite drink.

After midnight with 2 asleep on Nathans legs we decided to head home.  We had to drag Emily off the dance floor she was loving the music.

The next day the girls sleep to 10.00am and they were so cranky we decided to have a quite day.  Our resort was so crowed with hungover backpackers we decided to head to the sails resort for lunch and a long swim in there pool.

Nathan and myself have been to Uluru before but it was over 17 years ago.  The rock then was known as Ayers Rock.  Only  about 50% of tourist now climb the rock and the number is dropping every year.  The Anangu people (which are the traditional owners of the land including Uluru and Kata Tjuta ) want all tourist to respect their culture and not climb uluru.  We decided that we wouldn't climb the rock.

The sunset viewing is unbelievable with all the different colours changing over the rock.

On our second afternoon there was a huge electric storm over the rock. 

It seemed that everyone got in their cars and drive to see this amazing storm over the rock.  It was also a great time to do some of the walks around the Uluru and Kata Tjuta as it was a lot cooler.

Flinders Ranges

27th December 2010

On the way to the Flinders Ranges we stopped at a lovely little town called Carrieton to take the kids to a real outback rodeo.

We found a little caravan park in town which used to be an old school.  The school has now closed but all the locals bought the land and its now a lovely caravan park. You can also stay in the old class rooms if you choose.

The Rodeo was heaps of fun but the atmosphere was a bit flat. This was the first year that they have separate areas for the people that want to have a drink which kids were not allowed to go in to so most families were separated if you wanted to have a few drinks.

Everyone was complaining that it was the new cop in town who hated Rodeo's and they were having a big whinge. The huge police presence and licensing conditions placed on the rodeo would have had a big impact on gate takings and drink sales (the profits would have gone to local charities and the RFDS).
Another very late night with the girls falling asleep on there chairs and had to be carried home.

The next day after a sleep in we made it to the Flinders Ranges, after a bit to eat at the Prairie Hotel at Parachilna where they had a lot of different meals on the menu.  Nathan had the Kangaroo Burger they also had a Feral Plate which had a bit of everything on it.  Emu, Kangaroo, Crocodile and some other interesting things.

Stayed 2 nights in the Filnders Ranges at Wilpena Pound Resort.  Which had great campground and facilities.

We did a few drives to the different Gorges but the girls had a few melt downs and didn't want to see any more Georges (I think they mean Gorges) and wanted to have a swim.  It was really hot we turned back and spent the rest of the afternoon around the pool so the girls could chill out.

We did manage a 6 kilometre walk to an old homestead where we had a change to see the most ancient and vast landscapes on earth. The cattle stations in the area are bigger than some European countries. That night we stayed up just stared at the lovely sky with beautiful sky.

Christmas In Adelaide

24th December

We spent a couple of nights at the Hahndorf resort in the lead up to Christmas. Hahndorf is an old German settlement in the Adelaide hills and retains it's German heritage with numerous German Bierhauses and shops. Had a great meal of Pork Knuckle and Wurst with an apple strudel desert at the German Arms Inn.

We went out to Lobethal which is a small country town which really goes to town with their Christmas celebrations and is famous for the lights.

They even had numerous sessions of a nativity play featuring local kids and animals.

The kids first Christmas away from home and we are staying at a van park in Adelaide right near Glenelg.
Arriving at Adelaide Shores Caravan Park on Christmas eve, it was so busy with nearly every site taken. The Caravan Park is huge with a Golf Range, Putt Putt and some lovely swimming pools. Apparently people book 10 years in advance to reserve their favourite spots, there are even people staying here from only a couple of kilometers away.

We headed for the shops, not wanting to go as we knew it would be crazy but the girls were worried that they had not found Santa to tell him not we were not going to be home at Christmas and what Caravan Park we are staying at.  Poor Santa was still in David Jones so we got our photo taken as well.

We had a lovely small tree that the girls decorated and Nathan bought some fairy lights for the front of the van.

Christmas day was a quite day, probably the quietest Christmas we have ever had, where the girls opened up their presents and we had a lovely day around the pool and having a lunch where we all picked our favourite food. The girls chose the three desserts which was pavlova, strawberries dipped in chocolate and biscuits,  We also cooked some lamb chops and had some lovely prawns.

Streaky Bay 17th December 2010

Stayed at a great park a was lucky to get a site right on the beach with another great playground for the kids. A lot of people told us about Streaky Bay, its on the western side of the Eyre Peninsular in South Australia.

We decided to stay 5 nights while Nathan went into hiding and to recover from the spots. (Sami is still trying to find the chicken that gave daddy the chicken pox).

Had a nice time meeting new neighbours and walking along the beach.  Didn't get to see much as I needed to there for Nathan and his requests.

Nathan would of loved the fishing and its also a popular spot for catching crabs and crayfish.

There is a netted safe swimming area as the area is known for it's Great Whites.The Tourist centre has a replica of the largest Great White caught with a rod and reel on 20kg line.

Across the Nallarbor

After saying goodbye to Esperance and our friends we started the long trip over the Nallarbor Plain.

Nathan  was still was not feeling 100% but we need to make some tracks so that we can be in Adelaide for Christmas day.

After driving for a while a keep looking at Nathan and he was getting all of these angry looking spots over his head and body. I then took over the driving as he was starting to feel quite unwell and shaking with a temperature. I drove until dusk.  I don't like driving over 80 so the trip was going to take us a lot longer.

Stopped at a free camp on the side of the road because we couldn't make it to the next town.  During the night I thought I would have to get the flying doctor as his temperature was so high and I couldn't get it down.
After overdosing him with panadol he finally crashed and we all got some sleep.

We were lucky the next morning as there was a  nurse in Eucla that we saw and confirmed it was the chicken pox.  The lovely nurse gave us some more panadol and some cream for the spots.

We have crossed the border and it feels very sad leaving WA, we both just loved the beaches and the lifestyle and we are already talking about coming back.

I got the kids out a few times to have a look at the Bight which was amazing but I was still worried about Nathan and just wanted to get to Streaky bay so he could just lie down for a few days.

Made it over the Nallarbor. I'm quite proud of myself driving all that way with the caravan and all the huge road trains.