South Australia & then back to Western Australia

Woomera, Andamooka, Roxby Downs, Port Augusta & Ceduna

The Great Australian Bight & Nullarbor Plain

N.T./ S.A Border & Coober Pedy

Almost half way between Ayers Rock and Coober Pedy is one of the nicest rest stops set up for 24 hour stays that we have come across. We decided to stay here as it is also an opportunity to swap some fruit and vegetables with travelers coming out of S.A. That is if you can find someone kind enough as to accommodate you because people traveling south (us) have to dispose of all of theirs. Once into South Australia it is immediately evident that their rest stops are no where near as nice as those we have become used to in the north with most not having toilets or being maintained. Sunday 29^th June. As we came into Coober Pedy it is like driving through giant ant fields for kilometre after kilometre. On arrival we checked into “Riba’s Underground Tent Camping & Tourist Park” which was recommended by all and sundry that had found it in their travels as an experience not to be missed. The caravan parks in Coober Pedy do not supply water connections at any of their sites but Riba’s does supply free showers, which make it unique in Coober Pedy. It’s real feature though is the uniqueness of its underground, constant temperature sites (for camping), and our powered site comes with a large shade cloth enclosure which dampened some of the very high winds that regularly came and went. Monday we decided to spend the day looking around Coober Pedy. The trip into town was interesting in that we ran into a dust storm that left us with almost no visibility and driving very slowly with our hazard lights on. The storm went on for some hours but Mary didn’t let that stop her from looking in the shops. There are also many free attractions to look at whilst shopping and yes Mary accidentally acquired another piece of Jewelery. Wednesday we are off to Lake Eyre, which is detailed below then, we are back here for Thursday. On the 2^nd of July and it is back into town to pick up Mary’s new earrings that have been made to match her pearl & opal pendant that was purchased in Broome. Mary was so pleased with them that a photograph of the proprietor of Umoona, Mr Yanni Athanasiadis, was taken for all to see. We also visited the only international standard underground hotel “Desert Cave Hotel” where they have an extensive display of mining information etc for all to view at no charge.

William Creek & Lake Eyre.

Waking at our usual 9AM on a brisk Wednesday morning (this trip was taken inside our Coober Pedy visit) we leisurely prepared for our drive to William Creek. It is 166 km from Coober Pedy on an un-surfaced road of a reasonable quality and although you don’t need a 4wd vehicle with all terrain tyres a normal tyre may be a little vulnerable on it. Once at William Creek we could not believe the amount of people that were there to do one of the flights on offer over the lake. None of the businesses in the area (Coober Pedy or William Creek) are coping very well with the inundation of clients that they are experiencing but rather seem to be muddling through with most getting to do roughly what they wanted in the end. As an example we had booked a hotel room before booking our flights a week earlier only to be told after it was all done that our room was sold and we couldn’t have it. Further our flight was an hour late although in fairness we were given a small discount on our airfares to compensate us for this. This was not all bad as we were able to enjoy a drink at the William Creek hotel which is as it happens on the August Bash route so we left a note for Wayne & Rob who are participating in car .05 this year. The bad part of the late flight was that as we decided it was too cold to camp at William Creek we were forced to drive back to Coober Pedy in the dark which somewhat daunting. All was well though with us driving cautiously and arriving back very tired at around 8:30PM. Overall the experience of seeing a vast lake in the middle of Australia was unforgettable. Time is running out for other travelers as they told us it would probably be mostly empty of water in about three weeks

Woomera, Andamooka, Roxby Downs, Port Augusta & Ceduna.

Friday morning we set off for Woomera. It is yet another trip where all of the terrain changes slowly to being totally new by the time you arrive at the destination. Our nextG Phone coverage is extraordinary from within 50km of Woomera (we are told that we will have cover for all but 50km of the trip towards Augusta). On arriving in Woomera the displays of rockets and other military paraphernalia are everywhere. We had a quick look around before settling down at the local caravan park and eventually enjoying a very economical meal at the local sports club. Saturday we took a drive to Andamooka and Roxby Downs. Andamooka is a smaller version of Coober Pedy apparently much like Coober Pedy was in the 1960’s. It is worth a visit but not a long one. There are some old huts preserved for tourists but not much of anything to do other than drive around for a look. Roxby Downs is a lovely mining town in the style of Newman (in W.A.) with all the facilities that miners and their families need but there is nothing there for the tourist if you miss the mine tour. From there we headed back to Woomera to look at more of the open air displays there. In addition there is an excellent museum in the Information centre where for $6.00 per person it is easy to lose a couple of hours whilst being dismayed at just what Australia and its many partners have achieved at the range. Sunday morning we are off early to Port Augusta. On arrival we set up before going to the information centre to find out what to do in the area. Not a lot but there is an arid area botanic garden worth a visit and a couple of lookouts that can’t be missed. We also collected all of the information on the Wilpena Pound ready for our trip through here next year on the way to Tasmania with David & Merrilyn. Monday was a long drive to Ceduna where we were surprised with the never ending green fields of crops providing pleasant viewing most of the way. We arrived and checked into our favourite caravan park in Ceduna, “Shelley Beach Caravan Park” at 5:00PM. We rushed to set up before heading off to Baldy’s Seafood to buy some of his local oysters. They are fresh and shucked on our arrival at his outlet, huge at around four times the size we are used to and with a dozen (costing $11.00) easily feeding us both when cooked as Mary Kilpatrick Oysters. Tuesday - Ceduna is a great place to take a break at before heading west but we prefer to stay out of town central, which is why we stay at Shelley Beach. It is into town though for lunch at the Ceduna Foreshore Hotel after which Mary has a fling on the pokies. Bubbly on the hotel veranda viewing the ocean is more my style so a separate hour or so ensues after lunch. Final shopping then back to the caravan park for vehicle checking is done before heading back to Baldy’s to purchase the ingredients for a final feed of his oysters which are farmed here at Smokey Bay or Denial Bay.

The Great Australian Bight & Nullarbor Plain.

Wednesday morning we woke early to head off across the Nullarbor Plain towards home. On the way we stopped at the “Head of the Bight” to do a little whale watching. To our surprise there are lots of whales drifting around in the bay where they breed and get there young started each year.

Unfortunately it is a fair drive to the Head of the Bight so we arrived in the late afternoon and our day pass at $24.00 for the two of us is probably not good value as it turns out to be a one hour pass for us. If we had been able to camp overnight it would have been a much better and more enjoyable experience as we could have enjoyed it for much longer. From there we continued westward until we arrived at a Great Australian Bight lookout that was around 500 metres off the road and we stopped there for the night. The roadside campsites are often a better choice than the roadhouses as they are always occupied by a group of travelers by the late afternoon giving security for all and are generally quieter than the roadhouses that are usually right on the main road. Thursday and we are off again now heading towards the Western Australian Border.

Western Australia & on Home.

We crossed the W.A. Border early on Thursday morning with the usual thorough checking over by the quarantine people. It is always sad to see the fruit and vegetables going I the bin but it is necessary to protect our farmers. Once across we decided to drive on until we were tired or saw another nice camp site. It was a pleasant drive as we had last crossed the Nullarbor in a December which was dry but this time it was quite wet with an on again, off again drizzle happening. Eventually we came across a nice campsite between Caiguna and Balladonia and with the Western Australian government supplying toilets at their rest stops they are much better than the South Australian ones for campers that do not have their own. One of the caravaners here had built a large camp fire so we along with many others joined them before eventually heading home and having a warm shower in our caravan before retiring for the evening. Friday and we were off early simply heading for home as we had seen everything on this run before with the exception of the entire trip being greener this time. We stopped to fuel up at Balladonia and were hit with a very expensive fuel price (we should have used our reserve supplies as the difference between here and Norseman was 40 cents per litre). It was quite late when we pulled into Merredin and in retrospect we should have stayed in another roadside stop as the caravan park is right on the main road with trains and trucks keeping us awake all night. Saturday morning after a pleasant drive in past Northam on the new roads in to Perth on the 11^th of July and we are home from this our latest adventure!