Issue 4 Oct 2017
Brodie’s next 15,000 klm
On th e road again
Brodie’s next 15,000 klm
Tuesday 24th Oct
The blue line covers this issue while the green line covers previous issues
Who’s been to Kings Canyon? We got a early start from Alice.. breakfast was at McDonalds and headed down the Stuart Highway, once again we were impressed by the vast openess of Central Australia and the subtle Foliage covered sand dunes changes that sneak up on you and you suddenly realise the landscape had change completey .. we had reached the red sand dunes covered in greenery ... there must have been quite a bit of rain recently as it was the greenest we had seen since we left NSW. The road was very quiet and we cruised happily at 93ks as this gives the best fuel consumption. Once again there was no wildlife or road kill but we did notice a lot of abandoned cars. We had to take the long way to Kings Canyon as it was all bitumen and we were told that the gravel roads were a bit rough at the moment. Wikicamps comments suggested that the Kings Canyon Resort was a bit rough and to stay at the Kings Creek Station, when we realised this was 40k from the canyon we decided to try the resort and it turned out OK.. On the way to the resort we detoured via the canyon, only the creek walk was open, this took us about 45 minutes, when we got back to the motorhome the computer was showing 50 degrees .... the walk was so so, the temperature horrendous and we drove 250k for this!! I hope the main walks are better than this ..................and they were!! The resort wasn’t very busy and we got a huge drive thru site and they had a nice pool .. bonus. We met some nice Kiwi’s from WA and watched the sunset over the canyon with them before an early night as everyone wanted an early start to beat the heat
Kings Canyon Views from the walk
More vie Kin
ews from the rim ngs Canyon
We had a late start, so the sun was well in the sky by the time we had ďŹ nished the rim walk and headed towards Ayers Rock................ Just as well we found CAMELS IN THE WILD!
Off to Ayers Rock We turned on to the Lasseter Highway just after we saw the camels and then pulled into Curtain Springs for fuel $1.86 a litre! wow! Jan asked for loaf of bread $7.00 .. she turned that down.. One of the traps for new visitors heading to the rock as they drive along watching the fairly featureless landscape a huge mound appears on the horizon ..... Look! Ayers Rock! .........alas it is Mt Connor.
Mt Connor
Ayers Rock
We were in the pool shortly after check in to the park, lots of different nationalities and lots of motorhomes, mainly whizzbangs. We booked in for 3 nights (pay 2 stay 3) for $90 not bad value, we were given a smaller site ..... plenty of room for us but you wouldn’t have fitted a car, caravan and awning!. The park came alive about 5am, people chasing the sunrise I suppose .... don’t they realise the same sun will shine in there window about 2 hours later! The last time we came here we weren’t really impressed as few Australians would go a week without seeing the iconic photo of the rock and it looked just like its photo. This time we brought our bikes and 5 minutes into the base ride we were impressed, forget the common iconic photo the rock is so more than that as the next lot of pages will show ..I hope
And THE O
d Next OLGAS
The Olgas Once again by the time we were up and around the caravan park had emptied out .. for goodness sakes it was only 8am! Well we showed them ..we were on the road by 9am. It's a bit over 45ks to the Olgas and at our normal cruising speed we are using between 10 and 11 litres per hundred, so with 10,000 ks on the clock the motor has loosened up. When the Olgas come into view it is an impressive sight, we (I had decided “we” just came along) decided to do the “Valley of the Winds” walk about 8ks wandering through and over the domes. The first k was all up hill and part of “we” was having second thoughts especially with the comments from passerby about how hard and hot it was, but undaunted “we” pressed on. The walk is classed as moderate and we passed a lot of people who had only gone to the second look out (about 3 k) and then turned back, this was probably the most rugged and scenic section. When we reached the lookout we met a Spanish lady who said the rest of the walk was mainly flat and quite easy, so “we” decided that we would continue and the lady was right, it was fairly easy (except for the heat), not quite as pretty but scenic in its own way ...it was grasslands surrounded by domes. By the time we got back to the car park, the last part was quite steep, we were worn out, even so the sign suggested it was a four hour walk and we did it in 3. At the car park we discovered the toilet cassette was full and most unusual the park didn’t have a dump point, we had to travel out to the industrial area and use the bus one, fortunately there was a bus there and we saw how to remove the steel plate in the middle of the road and empty the cassette, not as convenient as the RV type but one load of wee gone. It was back to the park and you guessed it .... into the pool. Even though it is not super hot today we might leave it till about 5pm for another ride around Ayers Rock OR NOT!
Just up from car park, and we are feeling ďŹ t!
Decision time do we press on?
And we pressed on, the top of the grassy section was where our photo was taken, before the 200 metre and steep scramble to where I took this photo.
Random “Valley of the Winds” scenes
Heading to Coober Pedy via Marla We left Ayers Rock around 8.30am with first stop Kulgera, this is the first/last pub, roadhouse in the Northern Territory, it being closest to the border with SA. I picked this for a refuelling stop as it was 10 cents a litre cheaper than the Yulara and when your taking 100 litres it adds up. Although all the savings and more was lost with $33 worth of hamburger, bacon and egg roll and drinks. We met a Dutch couple at the rock and they said the drive to Coober Pedy was really boring and they weren’t far off it .....2 roadhouses, one small village in nearly 600ks, the landscape did change over the time but remained fairly featureless Although we spotted a huge lake not far from Curtin springs, all that water in the middle of basically desert. We stayed the night at Marla, a little village where the highway, the railway and the Oodnadatta track all passed. It was quite nice there with grassy sites but no tv or internet .. we had to talk to each other! scintillating conversation about the featureless landscape!
Near Curtin Springs
Marla
From nothing to full scale mining as we approach Coober Pedy
Like Meteor Strikes .. shafts dug and
abandoned in the middle of nowhere
The original Coober Pedy cemetery, from 1921 to 1975, although there is a very recent and ornate grave from 2004' Evidently each grave site had to be checked for opals prior to the interment
The The Breakaways were part of the Stuart Ranges but erosion separated them thus their name. We did a sunset tour and enjoyed the changing spectacle form various view points. I wasn’t sure whether the road was suitable for the M5, it probaly was but we may have missed some of the lookouts.
e Breakaways at sunset
Coober Pedy town After a disturbed night, I had an upset stomach and when the toilet is 47 metres away it gives a whole new meaning to having “the runs” fortunately the door was unlocked!, on my second visit I had mixed up the code and had to wake Jan to get the correct one, no point only one of us suffering. Anyway the tour bus left at about 8.30am and we were driven around as the town woke up, if you call 7 people moving about woken up then the town was bustling. The guide basically pointed out the usual features of a town and then got to the more unique .. the dugouts! These ranged from a one room shelter to palatial mansions, originally the dugouts were an adjunct to the mine, just somewhere to live, until 1973 when Coober Pedy was declared a town. Mining was banned within city limits and living on the opal fields was discouraged, the locals quickly took to carving up the hills to build their underground homes. Now there are homes, hotels, B&bs, business’s even museum all underground, all taking advantage of the year round 21 -24 degrees climate.. In fact they have just about run out of suitable land for new dugouts so they are now developing “semi dugout” which are conventional homes on top of a cellar like system of bedrooms so you can sleep easily in temperature extremes. We were shown a very informative video and driven through some opal fields. Very few are being worked now (tourism is the big industry) but the place still looks like a quarry, there are open mine shafts everywhere, evidently the miners are not allowed to fill in the old shafts, as if not done properly they can be more dangerous than an open shaft as it can’t be seen and could collapse.
Inside aa Dugout Dugout Inside
Jan Jan looking looking fo f
for for the the million million dollar dollar opal opal