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.