South Australia Diary
25-9-2013
Wednesday
After driving 250 kms east this morning we arrived at the town of Ceduna (SA)
and the Big 4 Caravan Park for 3 nights. We went through the quarantine
checkpoint without a problem (I'd cooked up what was left of our fresh veges a
couple nights ago so we wouldn't have to hand them over or chuck them out). The
landscape slowly changed on our drive as we got closer to Ceduna, to farmland
which indicates the presence of water, unlike the area we've crossed over the
last few days. A sign also of water being around, were the many windmills near
the town of Penong.
A few days ago we'd been seeing a few road signs, warning to be watchful of
kangaroos, emus and camels (we never saw any stray camels and only 1 live emu on
the roadside). Now they warn of kangaroos and wombats and unfortunately today,
the only wombats we saw were some road-kill ones. We've been seeing quite a lot
of Bob-Tail Lizards (like the Blue Tongue Lizards but darker and some have a
green tinge), dead and alive. They are so slow crossing the road and actually
stop when the vehicle approaches, so it is easier to straddle them.
On our travels from Kalgoorlie, we've been seeing signs to do with Nullarbor
Links. A round of golf on the Nullarbor Links see's you teeing off on
outback-style natural terrain fairways. Each participating town or roadhouse
along the Eyre Highway and part of the Coolgardie/Esperance Highway, hosts a
hole on the 18-hole par-72 golf course. The course adds a different flavour to
the existing attractions for travellers along the highway. Imagine teeing off in
Kalgoorlie WA, knowing that the 18th hole is some 1365 kms away in Ceduna SA -
interesting concept.
26-9-2013 Thursday
We put the boat in the water today as it was a good day for it, and the boat
ramp was very good. The town of Ceduna sits on Murat Bay, which is protected
from the Southern Ocean, much in the same way Moreton Bay in Brisbane is
protected from the Pacific Ocean. It was a lovely day and fairly calm - it was
nice being out on the water. We tried a couple spots and eventually caught 4
whiting called King George Whiting. They're spotty and are probably as big as
the whiting we catch at home in summer. We'd been out about 4 and a half hours
and as the wind started to get up a bit we decided to get the 3 crab pots and go
- but we couldn't find them, lost amongst the white caps, and 2 belonged to the
manager of the park who was kind enough to lend them to us. Oh well, will just
have to buy him some new ones.
Dave cleaned the fish at the boat ramp and there were plenty of birds waiting
for the offcuts - 4 big pelicans and plenty of seagulls. While we had Casa out
we did some grocery shopping on the way back to the park. We invited a young
German guy (who is also in the park) to dinner. Dave had been talking to him
yesterday and found out he was the cyclist we've been seeing on the highway.
He's cycling from Perth to Sydney to raise money for some orphaned children. He
was a nice man and spoke very good English. He was knocked off his bike
yesterday by a road train that came a bit too close to him. Luckily he wasn't
hurt badly and a passing car stopped and loaded his bike on their trailer and
took him to the local hospital. He said he has found Australians very helpful
and friendly on this trip and when he's been here on previous trips.
27-9-2013 Friday
Rest day with the usual jobs of washing, etc. Later we rode to the Ceduna
School, which appears to have both Primary and High School students. We were
told you can buy smoked fish there as the end product to an extra-curricular
activity they run for the interested students, and they do tours for the public.
They buy in live baby Barramundi and Jade Perch, grow them in several large
special aerated tanks and then smoke and vacuum package them for sale. The staff
member gave us an unscheduled tour and then a taste (can eat it hot or cold and
no need for cooking). It was really nice, so of course we had to buy some. The
water the fish swim in, is recirculated out to an organic vegetable garden in a
locked greenhouse outside, and then it is recirculated back into the fish tanks.
The veges are growing in leaps and bounds because of the good nutrients in the
fish water. The students who do this activity end up with a Certificate II in
Agriculture which is wonderful if that's the direction in which they're
interested. Wow, wish we had that when we went to school!
Then off we went to Baldy's Seafood business not far away, where we
bought some fresh prawns (for prawn cocktails for lunch) and for dinner, some
oysters kilpatrick to go with the fresh whiting we caught yesterday - big
seafood day today - YUM.
28-9-2013 Saturday
We left the park today with the intention of driving about 220 kms, halfway to
Port Augusta, but in the end as there wasn't much we wanted to see on the way,
we drove the whole way - 466 kms on the Eyre Highway, south east for the first
half, and then back up north east, to the town of Port Augusta (SA) and
the Shoreline Caravan Park for 2 nights. The town and the caravan park
are very close to the water, the Spencer
Gulf. We would've liked to have gone to
Port Lincoln, right down the end of the Eyre Peninsula, but time constraints
have prevented it. The drive here included very long straight roads with some
hills in between, and as we came within about 50 kms or so of Port Augusta, the
awesome Flinders Ranges came into view - such contrast with the flatter
surrounding environment.
Along the higway at the town of Wudinna, we came across the impressive 8 metre
tall granite sculpture, titled Australian Farmer. It took 2 years to
complete (finished in 2009) and was funded entirely by the community and its
pioneering families. It celebrates the spirit of Australian farming communities,
from pioneering days to the challenges of rural living today. Further along in
the town of Kimba was the The Big Galah - quite appropriate seeing as
they are found throughout Australia. We (in Australia) are known for our 'big
things' - the Big Banana, Big Pineapple, Big Gum Boot, Big Guitar (at Tamworth),
Big Prawn, Big Cow, Big Etc, and here the Big Galah.
29-9-2013 Sunday
We had to move to a different site in the caravan park this morning so we could
unhook the boat and put it alongside us for storage. We'll be leaving early
tomorrow starting our long trip on the way to Coober Pedy, Uluru (Ayers Rock)
and a few other places, so are leaving the boat (Dave's Joy) here for that time.
We expect to be away for about 9 days - I feel like we're leaving our child
behind as she's been with us for the last 5 months.
Rode 2.5 kms into the town centre of Port Augusta. For the first time we did the
Heritage Walk around the town as there wasn't anything else we
particularly wanted to see. There were many old beautiful historic buildings
dating back to the late 1800s. Some were, and still are churches, and others
have been reused several times over for different businesses. The Mural on
the Hill artwork, on the outside of a church property's fence wall, consists
of 2500 colourfully painted tiles - surprisingly they haven't been subjected to
any graffiti or damage in 14 years. Taking 8 months to do and finished in about
1999, it depicts the history from when only Aborigines and native animals
inhabited the land, to modern day with trains, road trains, and planes. It was
fairly warm and the flies were bothersome so we decided to visit one of the
items on the Heritage Walk - The Tassie pub for a drink, a modern pub
built in 2009 and named after Alexander Drysdale Tassie, the first British
settler in Port Augusta.
30-9-2013
Monday
We drove 540 kms, both sharing the driving, north west through the Simpson
Desert to Coober
Pedy (SA) and the Opal Inn Caravan Tourist Park for 2 nights. It
was very windy on the way and we noticed how we were chewing up fuel as we drove
into it. At one time we saw what appeared to be rain
falling in the distance, running parallel to us, and as the road curved
around, we drove straight into it. It turned out to be a mixture of rain and
dust, being strong enough that we had to slow down. Luckily it didn't last for
too long. The scenery for most of the way was flat with low shrubbery, and even
a couple lakes with some water in them. Along the way we were accompanied by the
Ghan
Railway line which runs from Adelaide to Darwin. It runs parallel almost all
way with the Stuart Highway.
Coober Pedy is the Opal capital of the world, providing about 85% (although
another sources said 92-94%) of the world's opals. It has a population of about
3,500 and is situated upon the edge of the erosional scarp of the Stuart Ranges,
on beds of sand and siltstone 30 metres deep and topped with a stony, treeless
desert. Very little plant life exists in town due to the region's low rainfall,
high cost of water, the sandstone and lack of topsoil. With determination,
residents have been able to grow some trees and shrubs, but mostly the place is
a mixture of the light and rust coloured gravel/dirt. There are 4 main
industries - opal mining, tourism, primary production and their support
services.
01-10-2013 Tuesday
This morning we rode the scooter around the town and saw many underground
dwellings. It is estimated that about 50% of the population live underground
now. Most dugout
homes are excavated into hillsides rather than dug from shafts. The soil in
the Coober Pedy hillside is stable enough to allow huge ceiling spans in rooms
and it is not unusual for a mining family to buy an adjoining property and
tunnel to link two dwellings, or even three or four. Some mansion style homes
spread up to 450 square metres underground. These are bought and sold just like
any other house. No matter how harsh the climate, the underground rooms maintain
a comfortable, even temperature ranging from 23 to 25 degrees C, day and night,
throughout the year, saving on heating and cooling bills. Temperatures here get
up to in excess of 55 degrees C in summer, in the shade, (although it's a dry
heat and a bit better to tolerate than the humidity), and minus 5 in winter.
It is believed that the soldiers who returned from the trenches of France during
the First World War introduced the idea of living underground in homes, commonly
known as "dugouts". The miners quickly discovered the advantages of
living underground to escape the heat of the summer and winter's cool desert
nights. They look amazing from the outside - just a front door and windows
facade at the front of the hillside, like someone drew it on there. The colours
of the rock inside the houses are beautiful, something for which you'd pay a lot
to have in a conventional house. The rock has to be sealed to cut down on dust
and little bits of rock falling into your dinner. If it's a lovely colour you
can just use a clear sealant, or you can paint whatever colour desired.
On the downside your junk (that you don't want to throw out but don't want on
show) has to be stored in the front yard, not hidden round the back of the
house, like the rest of us. When we drove up the elevated roads we could see air
vents, chimneys, aerials and satellite dishes sticking out of the ground and
realised we were looking at the roofs of these dugouts. It looked really funny -
things just sticking out of the ground, like an alien planet. Water is a rare
and precious commodity here (as in so many places in the outback), and it took a
long time to establish a good supply. They have a bore which the government sunk
about 25 kms away, and it is treated and piped in, and tastes quite good. You
have to buy water here - 20c for 4 min shower here at the park (which is not
expensive). Travellers can fill up their tanks at a black and white bowser (like
a fuel bowser), available for 24 hours in a public spot in the main street, and
costs 20c for 30 litres. Miners who live on their claims drive in to fuel up
their vehicles and fill up their water tanks/jerry cans.
We visited the Catacomb
Church, developed from an old dugout and opened as an underground
Anglican church in 1977. It is cut out of sandstone in the shape of a cross. It
was named after the Catacombs in Rome, where early Christians buried their dead
and met undisturbed in times of persecution. It is adorned in a simple and
natural way befitting the outback fields - cross, lectern and communion table
(altar) fashioned from local mulga wood and an old miner's winch. There is a
drive-in theatre here which is still in operation and when the show starts,
before the usual advertisements and the movie, used to be a drive-in
warning sign - "PATRONS, EXPLOSIVES ARE NOT TO BE BROUGHT INTO THIS
THEATRE". In days gone by, miners could buy their explosives in the
local supermarket with the rest of their grocery shopping! Miners who drove
their work vehicles to the pictures, needed the reminder! Apparently there had
been explosions because people forgot about the presence of these explosives and
were careless where they threw their cigarette butts.
The town is surrounded by a moon like landscape, dotted with shafts and mullock
heaps from opal mining activities, with opal workings extending for nearly 40-60
kms around the town. Commercial opal mining by big companies is not done because
the supply is not guaranteed. The 'finds' can't be scientifically researched and
the goods assured, so a big company will not take the risk. Finding opals is a
pure luck thing and everyone who tries it, has just as good a chance of striking
it lucky as the next guy. This is really good because anyone can have a go,
stake a claim and try his luck, without having to have big capital and backers.
It does cost money to work your claim with time saving machinery so if you don't
find some of the good stuff, you can be quite out of pocket. There is a thing
called 'Noodling' which is the process of searching through heaps of discarded
mullock for pieces of opal missed by the miners. Many locals make a living from
this method and it is also very popular with tourists. There is even a
designated 'public noodling' area. As long as you don't use a pick, shovel or
any digging device, a permit is not required.
In the early afternoon, we went on a 4 hour tour with a guide who was very
knowledgeable for the area and the opal mining process. We visited the hollowed
out foyer of Umberto's
Desert Cave Hotel and Restaurant, a 4 star establishment built by a man
who thought there would be travellers who would appreciate a more up market
style of accommodation, but still in the underground tradition of Coober Pedy.
We were shown through the inside of an authentic
underground home, which provides an insight into the unique way of
'dug-out style' living - and it looks very comfortable! Renovations are so easy
- just get a pick and start chipping away! We were taken down a former
working mine right in the middle of town, where mining is not allowed
anymore. This mine would've been dug before the main part of the town was
established above it. Next we were driven 32 kms north of the town, out to the
magnificent Breakaway
Reserve, a low range of colourful, exposed sandstone outcrops which have
broken away from the Stuart Ranges hence their name 'The Breakaways'. This area
has been used in a number of films including 2 Mad Max films, Beyond Thunderdome
and Ground Zero, as well as Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
We journeyed onto a working
opal field which looked for all the world like a bunch of pyramids out
of Egypt. The triangular mounds are the dirt and rocks that've been brought out
of the mine shaft and as this is a working field, there are holes everywhere,
mostly beside the mounds - the bigger the mound, the bigger the hole. They don't
have to fill the holes back in and there are signs advising people/tourists to
be careful of falling down the mineshaft which can be 20 metres deep. These
fields can only be viewed on a guided supervised tour as we were doing. If
someone did fall down a hole, there is a local Mine Rescue Squad on call. Our
guide told us when a miner dies his ashes are taken out to the fields and blown
up - an honourable way for a miner to pass over to the other side. Over the
years many things have been blown up, including the police station!
There was a makeshift fence pointed out to us out here in the middle of nowhere,
a 2 metre high wire barrier that stretches for over 5,300 kms across 3 states,
to protect the sheep country in the south from the native dog, the Dingo
- the Dog Fence. (not to be confused with the rabbit proof fence) The
sheep are south of the fence and the cattle with the dingoes are north of the
fence, but the cattle aren't as susceptible to being killed by the dingoes. The
fence is maintained (and baits are put down) by the pastoralists through whose
properties the fence passes. Lastly we were taken to the underground Serbian
Orthodox Church - a spectacular excavation incorporating traditional
Serbian Orthodox architecture and fascinating sandstone carvings. The high
ceiling has been bored in 3 cornice-like curved shapes and the whole church is
just a beautiful unbelievable sight.
We really enjoyed our stay here and can understand how people get drawn here and
never leave - not us though.
2-10-2013 Wednesday
We left the caravan park this morning, fuelled up and drove 413 kms north east,
crossing the border into the Northern Territory, to the Kulgera
Roadhouse (NT) for 1 night. There was no physical quarantine checkpoint
at the border, just an honour system, so you're supposed to get rid of anything
you're not supposed to take across.
NOW TO THE NORTHERN TERRITORY FOR A FEW DAYS - ULURU etc
After our diversion to the Northern Territory we returned to South Australia to continue our journey.
12-10
-2013 Saturday
Today we drove 596 kms south east to a free camping spot at Lake
Hart Lookout (SA) located 71 kms south east of the town of Glendambo
for 1 night. Our parking spot looks out over a large salt lake - Lake Hart. It
is massive and testament that there was a large inland sea here many moons ago.
We remembered seeing this place when we drove past here on the way to Uluru and
Alice Springs nearly 2 weeks ago, and thought it was a big lake, with water in
it - not so. We decided we'd stop here on the way back if it fitted in with our
plans. The Ghan passenger railway passes by the lake. We didn't see the Ghan but
a freight train motored past this afternoon.
Dave walked down to the lake to take some photos and saw a sign that said
"if you find anything unusual, don't touch it and contact......."
which some official military contact. The area beyond the lake, and a large area
to the east and west of Coober Pedy (a little bit north of us), but not
including Coober Pedy, is a Woomera Prohibited Area. We are going to the
town of Woomera
tomorrow.
Our round OZ trip is nearing an end - we've been away 6 months and expect to be
home by this time next month, November.
13-10-2013 Sunday
This morning we drove to the town of Woomera,
about 50 kms from our last night stopover. Once a place that was harder to get
into than North Korea, Woomera now welcomes visitors with open arms. During this
time Woomera was a covert town, closed to the public and cloaked in secrecy.
Today it's a different story. The Woomera Test Range remains a vital defence
site, but now the public can be in the loop and learn all about the town's
history at the Woomera Heritage Centre.
The town's name of Woomera was derived from the Aboriginal
woomera, an item fashioned from wood and
having several uses. When used in conjunction with a spear, the woomera enabled
the spear to be thrown with much more force and accuracy - an apt name for a
rocket/missile testing area. The Woomera Prohibited Area which today covers an
area of 127,000 sq kms, is still a prohibited area, as it is still an active
testing range. Persons wishing to travel through it, apart from via the Stuart
Hway, must first obtain a permit.
Following World War II it became evident that a rocket testing area was needed
and a search began. England, Canada and Australia were considered. In 1947 it
was decided that Australia best suited the bill, as most of the population was
found around the coast, and the centre had a low population, which made it ideal
for security reasons. Today, Australia, Britain and the USA are finalising a
trilateral memorandum of understanding that will allow multi-nation
collaboration on GPS research and future trials in Woomera. Woomera provides a
large uninhabited area that is ideal for trials, which do not impact on civilian
users of GPS systems. Consequently the Woomera test field is becoming quite
attractive to the British and the US military who are finding it increasingly
difficult to conduct these trials in their own countries.
This vast area has always been Woomera's drawcard, so with the right backing
Woomera should be able to maintain its rightful place in the international space
directory as a full-scale satellite bearing rocket launch facility. The outdoors
Missile Park is situated near the Heritage Centre and allows free public
viewing of many rocket and missile related exhibits.
Afterwards we drove 212 kms south east to the town of Port Augusta (SA)
and the Shoreline Caravan Park for 2 nights - back to where we left the
boat. We'd thought we'd be away for about 9 days but it turned out to be 13.
14-10-2013 Monday
Rest day today with a few odd jobs being done, and stocking up on provisions and
fuel, ready for our move tomorrow.
15-10-2013
Tuesday
We drove 309 kms south on the Princes Highway to Semaphore Park, a suburb
of Adelaide (SA) and the Discovery Adelaide Beachfront Caravan Park
for 4 nights. On the drive here we passed a lavender-coloured lake! It
was called Lochiel and was beautiful! Never seen anything like that
colour before. We have blue lake and brown lake on Stradbroke Island but not
lavender. After googling it we found it was called Pink Lake, the colour
coming from beta carotene that's produced by a live algae. That process forms
the pink colour. We also saw lots of yellow wildflowers, fields and fields of
them, so much more than we'd seen previously. It almost looked like canola but
we saw the plant on the sides of the road, and it was the yellow wildflower we'd
seen elsewhere.
16-10-2013 Wednesday
The wind has really blown up this morning. We rode Harley down along the
esplanade of the nearby peninsula and saw many old houses and a big
hotel/restaurant in good condition, (Largs
Hotel) built in the late 1880s. A nearby sign said
it had been built for accommodation for the ship travellers and had '....hot and
cold salt water...'(?) Across the road was a long wooden jetty, Largs
Jetty and we decided to walk out on it, wind and all. It was hard going out
but we had a tail wind coming back in, so made good time. The area is very
pleasant for visitors. Further along the esplanade are a yacht club, a marina
full of lavish boats, and beautiful homes, and as with any waterfront real
estate, they looked quite expensive.
We then rode back down the peninsula to Port Adelaide, South Australia's
maritime heartland. The ornate buildings tell a vivid story of colonial maritime
life. We walked around the town and along the docks, to the iconic, red metal, Adelaide
Lighthouse. It is now decommissioned, moved from its original 'workplace', and
done up as a tourist attraction. You can climb up the spiral staircase inside,
then up a few narrow ladder steps, through a 'squeezy' square hole cut into a
metal floor, before stepping out onto a viewing deck, which gives a good 360
degree view. (The climb didn't have as many steps as the lighthouse at Augusta
in Western Australia - that one you needed a cut lunch and a water bottle!)
There were several museums too, a Railway, Maritime and Aviation, but we decided
not to visit these today. After our walk we rode home to get out of the wind.
17-10-2013 Thursday
It was quite windy and rained heavily on and off through the night. We had a
rest day today, and as the rain cleared I could do the washing. In the afternoon
we walked to the back of the caravan park through a gate, out to the beach. Semaphore
surf life saving club was right there outside the gate and we booked in there
for dinner tonight. We then walked along the beach pathway which is parallel to
a miniature railway, that starts near the surf club and finishes at the jetty.
We didn't see any sign of the train though.
18-10-2013 Friday
We rode Harley about 16 kms into the Adelaide
CBD this morning and did the Heritage Trail Walk which takes
roughly 3 hours. Much thought must have gone into designing Adelaide and
choosing its location. Nestled between rolling hills and beautiful beaches, the
city is surrounded by parklands and backed by a grid layout, complete with wide
streets and large squares. It was easy to navigate around the streets on our
walk. There was a lovely open feel to the streets as we walked through the city,
but there are narrow side streets too that reminded me of Brisbane CBD.
There were many beautiful old buildings of the 1850s era onward. The Royal
Adelaide Hospital is located right at the edge of the city, next door to the
beautiful spacious Botanic
Gardens. We only took a short walk through the gardens to have a look
around. I went into a glassed pavilion where the temperature was kept quite warm
for a few plants, but its main inhabitant was in a large pond, the Victoria
Amazonia, a water lily with a big white flower whose lilypads would be about
1 metre across! They were huge! An impressive National
War Memorial stands in an open area surrounded by lovely gardens with
many cycads. Other beautiful old buildings were several Universities
Adelaide and South Australia; South
Australia Museum; Scots
Church; the State
Libray of SA; Ayers
House - once Premier of South Australia and after whom Ayers Rock
(Uluru) was named; Government
house; Ruthven
Mansions - Adelaide's oldest apartment block, built in 1911; and the Railway
Building which also houses the Casino, where we went for a nice buffet
lunch.
19-10-2013 Saturday
This morning we drove 50 kms east, much of it along a scenic, albeit hilly and
winding road, to the National
Motor Museum at a quaint little village called Birdwood
(SA). You don't have to be an enthusiast to appreciate Australia's
biggest motoring collection of more than 300 vintage, veteran, post war, classic
and modern cars, commercial vehicles, and 100 motorcycles. Specimens ranged from
the early imports of the 1920s-30s, to the rise of Australian manufacturing from
the 40s-50s, sleek designs of the 60s, muscle cars of the 70s, to the latest in
modern engineering and high performance racing. There were even a couple old
small caravans, with one having two fold down parts making it quite small when
it's folded, supporting a marketing strategy that it could be towed by a normal
small car of the time. On display was a car called the Talbot,
the first car to cross the continent in 1908, from Adelaide to Darwin. This
was no easy feat at the time as there was no bitumen road all the way, and some
of the way there was no proper road at all. In 1987 when a sealed road was
finally completed all the way, this vehicle was the first again, to travel this
whole route from Adelaide to Darwin.
After lunch and a walk around the village, we drove a
further 80 kms south-east to the town of Tailem
Bend (SA) and the Rivers Edge Caravan Park for 1 night. On the
drive here we continued to enjoy the scenery of rolling hills, sheep, and many
vineyards. This caravan park is located right on the banks of the Murray
River and pumps water up from the river for use in the toilet/shower
block and sprinkling the grass. The Murray River is the world's 16th-longest
river at 2,520 kms from its source in the Kosciusko National Park. It is fed by
several rivers on its journey from the Australian Alps. The main feeding rivers
are the Darling and Murrumbidgee Rivers.
Millions of people rely on the Murray as a source of water for domestic,
agricultural and industrial use and it plays a significant part in Australia's
economy. Measures put in place to protect irrigators from droughts include a
series of dams and weirs. Unfortunately now only a small percentage of natural
flow (36%) now reaches the Murray Mouth via Lake Alexandrina and the Southern
Ocean. These water management measures have ensured that constant flow of water
is maintained in the river system yet has come at a price for the ecology and
environment.
Some Murray facts:-
· the third longest navigable river in the world, after the Amazon and Nile
· continuously navigable for 1986 kilometres from Goolwa to Yarrawonga
· spans three states - Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia
· has 4 major dams, 16 storage weirs and 15 navigable locks
· the major domestic water supply for over 1.5 million households
· along with its tributaries, the Murray is part of the third largest water
catchment on earth
· for half a century from 1853, the Murray was a virtual water highway
· the world's largest canoe race is held each year on the Murray
· Murray Cod can easily grow up to 1.8m in size
· is a mecca for golfers with 37 golf courses along its banks