THURSDAY, MAY 1

I think the clouds are following us – we woke up this morning to overcast skies and a cooler temperature. Even the driver of the tour bus commented on the fact that it was cooler than usual. For a change, it didn’t get blamed on the Canadians – there were a few couples from Victoria State on the tour and the weather was blamed on them. *s*

The tour driver was a lot of fun – he was knowledgeable and had a lot of interesting anecdotes. First stop was the Underground Serbian Church – there are 3 underground churches in Coober Pedy – two were made from old mining caves, but this one was built specifically as a church. It was beautiful inside – the walls and ceiling look almost like marble because of the veins of different rocks.

After the church tour, we went “noodling” – searching for opals on the ground. The only rules are no mechanical equipment – we were shown what to look for – and what not to look for (gypsum) and sent off for 15 minutes of exploring. Surprisingly, John found a small rock with the colour of opal showing – he thinks it was because of the rain the day before, the stones were a little cleaner. Most of us didn’t find anything – I did find some potch – which is an indicator of opal but not actually coloured opal.

Next was the

Coober Pedy 18-hole golf course

– the first thing we saw on the way in to the course, was a sign saying “keep off the grass”. Everyone was laughing then because this course is made of dirt and the “grass” around the holes is oil covered sand. The first tee is at the top of a hill –

it has a good view of the town.

. We drove through an active opal mining field – and George, the tour driver, explained that there is no obligation for miners to fill in the test holes. There are piles of sandstone taken out of the test holes all over the place.

They are cone shaped and varying colours – the lighter piles usually indicate that there is no opal there – the opal usually is found in the darker coloured rock. Apparently, a claim costs $160 for a year – the only stipulation is that you must work at mining it for 20 hours a week for 9 months of the year. The initial hole is done with a machine, and you can use dynamite and machines in the caves but if you find opal, it will blow the opal to pieces so the actual extracting of opals is done by hand with a pick.

We drove through the town – which isn’t much to see as most residents live underground. They do have a radio station – Dusty Radio, a bank, a few gas stations and a hospital though. The next stop was the

Umoona Opal Mine and Museum.

There we were treated to a fascinating 10 minute documentary on the finding of opals in Australia before we were led on a tour of the museum and mine. The first thing we saw was an old dugout home – it was pretty bare and small. Then it was on to a modern dugout home (70% of Coober Pedy residents live in a dugout) – the walls and ceilings of the dugouts (which are inhabited by 70% of residents in Coober Pedy) are spray coated with a sealant and then are maintenance free forever. To wire the dugouts for electricity, they dig a gouge in the sandstone and run the wiring and then cover it with a mixture of sandstone and sealant so it isn’t visible. You can keep adding as many rooms as you want (as long as you’re within your hill), and if you’re really lucky, while you’re renovating you might find some opal. Then it was down into the former opal mine – lots of tunnels and the guide showed us where opal had been found – and then showed where there is still opal in the walls. It was really interesting – and gave quite an insight into living in Coober Pedy.

Oh – and about the spaceship – it was in a movie called Pitch Black. We were both wrong *s*

After the tour was over, we headed north on the Stuart Highway again. We made it to Erldunda – just inside the Northern Territory border where we stayed at the Desert Oak Caravan Park. This is a really nice set up – lots of space, pull through parking spots, tavern, restaurant, store and they had happy hour at the tavern there – so we went and had a beer and socialized with other travellers. We saw a

kangaroo in the caravan park
but I’m not sure it could be classified as wild – we walked right past and it didn’t move.

Temperature: 31 C (at Erldunda where we stopped for the night at 4:30 p.m.) – sunny except for the above mentioned cloud in the morning

FRIDAY, MAY 2

It might have been hot when we went to bed last night but it got cold during the night – guess it’s to be expected as we are on the outskirts of the Simpson Desert but it was a shock. It was 11 degrees and felt even cooler after the heat of yesterday. It soon started to warm up – we were on the road at 8:30 and by 11:30, the temperature was reaching the high 20’s. Our wildlife spottings for this drive included numerous wedge-tailed eagles and a camel – still no live kangaroos.

We reached Yularu (Ayers Rock Resort) at about 11:30, and checked in to the campsite before we did anything else – that turned out to be a smart move as the number of campers checking in after the sunset viewing of Uluru was huge.

After scoping out the campsite, we headed for Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) – it’s 200 metres taller than Uluru and is very impressive. We had thought about doing the Valley of the Winds walk but it was too warm out for a 4 hour hike so we settled for the Walpa Gorge hike – just an hour long. It was amazing to be walking beside such huge rocks – the trail ended at a thicket of ironwood trees and we stopped for a photo.

When we got back to the van, we drove to the Valley of the Winds for another view of Kata Tjuta and then started for Uluru.

What can you say about Uluru? It’s every bit as impressive as photos make it seem – the walk around the base is 10 kilometres. And it seems massive – but most of all the colour just keeps drawing you back to look again. Of course we stopped for a photo opportunity there too.

Chris and John in front of Uluru

We drove around the base and then went to the cultural centre for a while. It was interesting – but one story from the legends of the Anangu (pronounced arn-ang-oo) was repeated many times. I would have liked to hear other stories as well as we saw artwork depicting other legends.

Back to Ayers Rock Resort to look around the shopping center and then out to the sunset viewing area. We got there about 45 minutes before sunset and the lot was already filling up – can’t imagine what it would be like in the high season. Watching the sunset was phenomenal.

The rock seemed to glow just before it went dark.

John and I both took too many photos but it was so easy to just keep pushing the button. We talked to a girl wearing a Vancouver 2010 Olympics t-shirt – we thought she might have been from Canada but she was from Japan and plays ice hockey.

All in all, we love Uluru and Kata Tjuta (even though it’s pricey – campsite $36/entry to park $25 ea/diesel $2.06 litre) – but hate the flies (so if we have funny expressions on our faces, it’s probably because the flies were attacking). They don’t bite but do try to fly into eyes, nose, mouth and ears at all times. I see now why people wear fly nets over their hats.

Tomorow, back to Uluru to do a short walk and then off to King’s Canyon.

Temperature: 33 C – sunny

 

SATURDAY, MAY 3

Didn’t get up early enough to catch the sunrise viewing so we headed to Uluru at about 7:45 a.m. for a walk on the Kuniya (Woma Python) Walk – which was posted as an hour walk. It was a really easy hike along boardwalk to a

watering hole – probably took 25 minutes at most (and we stopped to look at the viewpoints) but it was in the shaded area and the temperature was already climbing so we didn’t look for another walk.

We left Yulara at 9:30, heading for King’s Canyon. It took about 4 hours driving. Still no kangaroos but we saw two herds of camels and some horses. Once we arrived, we got a camping spot at King’s Canyon Resort and then walked out to the sunset viewpoint to check it out. After that, it was back in the van for a trip to the King’s Canyon Park – we had thought to do a hike there but this was the temperature

so we decided to try it tomorrow morning. When we started back to the van, there was a

dingo in the parking lot. There are signs everywhere asking people not to feed the wildlife but this one seemed to be expecting a free meal.

On the way back to the campsite, we spotted these flowers

Sturt Desert Pea

After that, it was R & R time – we had a shaded campsite and the flies weren’t too bad so we put the lawnchairs out and had a beer and some corn chips. Before long, we were surrounded by birds – crested pigeons, miners, a white-winged triller and crows (they were in the tree). The miners were very interested in the corn chips and one actually kept flying up and perching on John’s hand.

He fed them for a while and then, when we put the chip bag away, they headed to another campsite.

Soon it was time to watch the sunset

– our camping spot wasn’t far away from a vantage point that was just as good as the viewpoint. Not as spectacular as the sunset at Uluru but still pretty. When we started back to the van, there was a dingo casually strolling through campsites.

Tomorrow we leave in the direction of Alice Springs – after a walk at King’s Canyon. Hopefully will find internet access in Alice Springs so I can post this – or no one will have enough time to read all the entries.

Temperature: 38 C – sunny