On the road again.....heading up the centre......

It must be time for more newsfromjude..........my apologies for the scarcity of posting recently. 

Last weekend we were packed ready to head up the highway again. This time our destination is north, up the centre of Australia. While Barry has made trip this before, he was keen to do it again, and this is my first time going north. We have no definite schedule except up the centre, so we will see how things go...........

The weather in Bordertown preceding our departure had been very cold and just before we left the top daily temperature was only 8deg!!! We were keen to get to warmer temperatures further north.........

This was the view as we went through the hills, just before Adelaide, so no sunshine to be seen yet.

We ended our day at CRYSTAL BROOK, where the caravan park is a pretty spot beside the river........we did not unhitch the van as we were only there for one night.

There are lots of large gum trees along the creek, and late afternoon we were "serenaded" ?? by a chorus of the local cockatoos.............and I have tried to upload a video for you to listen too.........not sure if this has worked or not??

......thankfully the chorus ended at dark when the birds must have gone to sleep?? We were able to sleep, although it must have been time for us to be awake at 6.30am when they started again!!!

Next morning we were off again, heading for Port Augusta, and we could see some blue sky ahead in this photo with the lower Flinders ranges to the right of the highway.

We fuelled up and a quick shop in the supermarket for a couple of things before leaving Port Augusta. 

This sign is just outside of the town, and we saw this last November when we headed West and this time we are going North, through the centre of Australia.

The vegetation had already changed after we left Port Augusta..........

Some say that the country is boring in the centre of our country, but I find it fascinating to see how it changes along the roads. 

We had hoped to make it to Coober Pedy by the end of the day, but when we stopped for lunch at the little dot marked on the map as Pimba, I noticed that we were only a few kms from Woomera. So there was an unscheduled detour to see what we could see at Woomera. A bit of info for you regarding Woomera...................

These were on display outside the museum...........

What was once a very famous town in Australia, with a population of 7000, and is a part of our history, is now a very quiet town with a population of about 150. We made lunch in the van and then headed back to the Stuart Highway and north.

Due to the unplanned stop, we knew we would not make our original destination before dark, so decided to make GLENDAMBO our stop. This 'town' consists of a caravan park, 2 fuels stations and a hotel/motel. It did not take us long to do a quick walk around the town in the late afternoon.

                                       

           

Once again, we did not unhitch the car, so it was ready for the next morning. It was a rather chilly night, although not as frosty as the weather was at home.

Next morning we kept up the highway.......The vegetation was changing all the time, and there were signs to watch out for stock on the road as there were no fences. I find it hard to see what the stock are eating, but they must manage, and we saw many sheep and even lambs along the highway. 

 Here we are on a bridge which goes over the railway line............ and we could see a train coming, so stopped to take a photo and wave to the driver. 

Further up the road we noticed more bridges that went over roads and we stopped again to we watched some road trains with the loads of ??? going to who knows where?? going under the highway. There is obviously mining happening somewhere along here.

You can see that the cloud had cleared by now and blue sky was visible. We arrived at Coober Pedy about midday and the temperature had risen to 19deg, which was double what we had left behind a few days prior.

COOBER PEDY

We booked into the Stuart Range caravan park for a few nights while we look around at what this town has to offer. The van was unhooked this time..........

We had lunch in the van after we set up and then went around the town to see what we could see.

Coober Pedy is know for houses being build underground (dugouts) and you can see a few photos below.......note the pipes, solar panels and aerials etc in the ground behind the entrances ...........

Around the town there are piles of soil that has been dug out of the ground in the search for opals. Coober Pedy is known as the Opal capital of Australia.

We also visited 2 churches which are underground.............it was so quiet in these and very dark with the lights on, and the temperatures are a constant 22 - 24 deg all the time................

Of course a visit to Coober Pedy has to include a tour of an underground mine............ we visited 2, the Old Timers Mine and Museum and Umoona Opal mine..........

these were both very interesting and the following photos could be from either................I can't believe how determined the early miners must have been to endure all the manual labour in their search for opals.............

Barry thought he would have a sit and chat to Ben and ask him about his day!!

The tour of the mine was very interesting ..........

This is what a kitchen in an earlier dugout would have looked like.........

....and this is a more modern dugout............

We were shown some opal on the wall in the mine, that has been left to show tourist what the miners are looking for!!

We have looked at a lot of opals for sale, and there are opal sellers shops all over the town. I have been tempted on a couple of items, but so far have not purchased.

I will finish this post for here for now, before it gets too long,  although we have a couple more nights here, so will be back with more soon.

Blessings, From Jude