Day 14: Coober Pedy

Whole day at Coober Pedy today - the Opal capital of the world. Started with Old Timer's Mine, which was an old opal mine, now a tourist display. It has Opal still in the tunnel wall, tunnels showing the old mining techniques, an old underground home (now connected to the mine tunnels), and also an area where you can go noodling (searching for Opal in the old mine tailings).

In the afternoon we also looked through and underground church and then went off to Josephine's gallery, which is also a kangaroo orphanage. They take in Joey's where the mother has been hit by a car or shot. They hand rear them before releasing back to the wild.

Day 13: William Creek to Coober Pedy

Oh didn't mention I fried the trailer plug coming into William creek last night so no lights or trailer brakes today.

Left William Creek and travelled west for Coober Pedy. On the way we passed the entrance to Anna Creek Station, the world's largest cattle station, covering 6 million acres (how's that Ox family).

Got to Coober pedy without too man dramas today and dropped the girls at the supermarket while Richie and I hung out with the local auto electrician while he re-wired my trailer plugs - both car side and van side.

Day 12: Coward Springs to William Creek (via Lake Eyre)

We packed up camp and pushed further up the Oodnadatta track to the turn off to Halligan's bay, which is on Lake Eyre. We were told the lake was in a rare state - full of water, so we were planning to camp the night there. It was 62 kilometres in from the highway and the dirt road was heavilly corrugated and potholed. After 2 hours we finally reached our destinated, somewhat rattled and shaken. We climbed over a sand dune and found the lake. Unfortunately the water was about 70m from the high water mark on the shoreline, and when we tried to walk out it got too muddy. All in all not that much of a site.

One interesting thing was the kids found a big lizard - can someone tell me if this is a sand goanna (Hunter / Leroy - I think you guys would know). You have to look closely at the picture.

Well now what - 1pm, the sun beating down, hot wind, no shade and water activities out of the equation. We decided to head out the 62 km's back to the Oodnadatta and then stay the night at William Creek. On the way out I came over a rise - didn't see a rather large pothole and popped the van off the towbar - was that a shock. Thank god for safety chains.

That night had a few well deserved beers in the William Creek Hotel, but couldn't have too many after filling up for $2.20 per litre for diesel.

Day 11: Arkaroola to Coward Springs

Well we left Arkaroola after only one night. I could have stayed much longer - you could spend weeks exploring that place - in fact I think I liked it better than Flinders Ranges.

We headed west from Arkaroola towards Leigh Creek (dirt road, but much better than yesterday). Drove past the Leigh Creek coal mine - now that's big. It just seemed to go on forever. We then moved on to Maree where we stopped for some biscuits and cheese. Maree is at the south end of the Oodnadatta track and was a significant township on the old Ghan railway, that I assume got it's name from the Afghan cameleers that assisted in transporting goods from the rail line to various stations, etc.

Anyway from there onto Coward Springs, where we met up and camped with our friends we met at Wilpena Pound. Coward Springs is a man made Artesian bore that was was originally sunk when the Ghan railway was constructed. It's quite a little oasis where they have refurbished the ruins of the old train station and homestead and have created a nice little camping ground in the middle of the desert. They've set up a little spa that we all piled into - it's warm and has a surprisingly large amount of spring water flowing through it (was really good for Bridget's eczema)

Day 10: Wilpena Pound to Arkaroola

First thing today before breaking camp Richie and I got up at 6am to walk up to the top of Mount Ohlsen Bagge with the the other families we met (1000m climb). It was a great walk with early morning views in all directions. On the way up we saw a wild goat with a kid, that provided a moment for a photo.

We then started our drive to Arkaroola. It was a rough dirt road with lots of dips where we crossed dry creek beds. I noticed that the trailer seemed to be pushing us down into the dips, so I pulled over to check the trailer brakes. Unfortunately I found the trailer plug lead dragging in the dirt with no end on it (oh well - press on). Twenty minutes later I blew the back right tyre and some colourful language was accidently released in front of the children (I had to reprimand Penny for that).

Anyway, eventually got to Arkaroola, which is a starkly spectacular spot. I was pleasantly surprised to find I could get a new tyre there and the trailer plug too.

After we set up camp we did a short trip down to the Arkaroola water hole as the sun was setting, which was a beautiful gorge. We drove most of the way and then walked in the rest. When we got in ther we spotted in total about 6 yellow footed rock wallabies, which are apparently quite rare.

PS - some guy told me the uranium used for the A Bombs in World War II came from Arkaroola - how about that? (I'm sure someone can confirm or deny that).

Day 9: Wilpena Pound

We are at Wilpena Pound for the day today, so we decided to walk into Hill's Homestead in the middle of the pound. For those not so familiar with the pound it's a ring of ranges around a beautiful flat plain in the middle . No, it wasn't formed by a volcano, but rather the movement of plates / fault lines, etc. The aboriginal people say it's 2 serpents that joined together head to tail to form the ring.

Anyway the Homestead was  built by a family who initially ran sheep in the pound, but then switched to wheat. There is a documented story at the homestead told from the point of view of a young girl who looked after her father and brothers in the homestead from age 12. In one part she talks of the numerous dingoes in the area who she could hear crunching bones outside at night.

From the homestead we walked up to a lookout within the pound, which was great to give you an overall view of the area.

For the Ox's: As an aside, we met up with 2 very friendly families. One of the dad's use to farm cattle and sheep in northern Queensland. The say how it was really hard to farm sheep, particularly due to wedge tail eagles who would swoop down and take the lambs (apparently they'd have a crack at claves too - fancy that)

Day 8: Broken Hill to Wilpena Pound

(Sorry - it's been a long while since we updated the blog - been out of range.)

Started off this day packing up and headed to Broken Hill Woolworths to stock up, before making our way to Wilpena Pound (Flinders Ranges). Just after we crossed from NSW into SA we had to pull over into a quarantine checking station, that we weren't aware of. So we ate as much as we could and gave the man the rest of our stock (not a good start to the day). Got about 15 minutes down the road to Peterborough and Flickie couldn't find her finger pricker - thought she had left it at the quarantine station. We did a U turn, went back and couldn't find it at the station. Subsequently found it in the car!

Arrived at Wilpena Pound and set up camp, but we opened the van we found the fridge door swinging open and some of the food on the floor. We had to throw out various meats that got too warm - Well they say things come in three's.

Really nice camp ground at Wilpena with plenty of trees and wildlife - see below.

Day 7: Broken Hill

Big day today.

First off we toured the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which was founded by Reverend John Flynn with the first flight in 1928. Three nice looking planes were in the hanger when we went through, each of them costing $1 million to fit out after they've bought the plane itself. We then checked out the museum of RFDS gear.

After that we drove out to Silverton, a really old town that appears to have largely stayed as it wa s 100 years ago. We had fish and chips at the Silverton Hotel, which has lots of photos on the walls when various movies were filmed out there including Mad Max 2, A Town Like Alice and Razorback (they even had the 'Last of the Ford V8 Interceptors' parked next door to the pub.

Coming back in to town, Penny and Felicity went to the Pro Hart Gallery who grew up and worked in the mines out here, whilst Richie, Bridget and myself went to the top of the lode line / Mullock heap to see the miners memorial that pays tribute to more than 700 miners who have died in the Broken Hill mines (one I noticed was 12 years old).

Tomorrow we head west to the Flinders Ranges.

Day 6: Menindee to Broken Hill

Camped at Pamamaroo Lake at the Burke and Wills camp site last night. Getting good at packing up now. We were on the road by 9am and even had a fish before we left, but only caught some carp. A short time on the road and we were in Broken Hill. Strange looking place with the main thing you see as you approach being the massive mullock heap. We set up camp and then headed into town and checked out the minerals museum.

For those who are interested Broken Hill was founded by a boundary rider named Charles Rasp. He noticed the rock formation on a broken ridge and pegged out the first mining lease. He then formed what was the syndicate of seven which consisted of various partners (including other station hands) and went on to discover the area was rich in Silver, Zinc and Lead - this company now known as BHP.

Anyway, the minerals museum had all sorts of minerals on display that are found in the area (even some that glow in the dark (Fluorescence). The kids got check them out under a miscroscope and Bridget was given free samples of different minerals, now she picks up every second rock we see walking around the hills. I think she's going to be a Geologist.

We also walked around town and checked out all the old buildings - built in the late 19th century. Then back to the park

Day 5

We arrived at Mungo National Park last night and came across a few emus, wallabies and stumpy tail lizards. This morning we headed over to the Visitor Centre to learn all about Lake Mungo's ancient history. Lake Mungo has been dry for thousands of years, but once was a huge lake with sandy shores. Lake Mungo is famous for 'Mungo Man' and 'Mungo Lady'. These were two Homo Sapien skeletons found at the lake dated as being 40,000 years old - some of the oldest burial sites of this kind in the world. A time line shown to us at the centre showed Neanderthals still existing in Europe up until 30,000 years ago. Also at the centre was a lifesize model of a variety of Mega Fauna - a giant wombat, called 'ziggy', who stood about 4-5 foot tall. Bones of these creatures, giant kangaroos and thylacines (Tassie tigers) have also been discovered here.

We then jumped back in the car and headed for the Menindee Lakes via Poncarie. We came very close to running over some emus on the way out but made it to the main road okay.

Bye for now,

Richard

Day 4

Today we left Mildura and headed for Wentworth just down the road. Wentworth is where the Darling River travels all the way down from Queensland to meet the Murray River. You can tell where the two rivers meet as the water is two different colours. We also went to Wentworth Gaol which was built in 1879. Dad locked me in one of the cells and I was lucky to get out. Captain Starlight, a famous bushranger was a prisoner here for a few days.

Felicity under arrest !

We then left Wentworth and drove to Mungo National Park.

By Richie.

Day 3

Today we went to a vineyard, called Trentham and bought some white wine for Mum and Dad. Then we went to the shops and bought some things and then we saw BIG LIZZIE.  Big lizzie is a spectacular and huge tractor. It was built in 1915 in Richmond and driven up to Mildura at 1 mph. It was used for transporting wheat. We went to Woodies Gem Shop, where there was a  maze. The Maze was made from plants. It was a lot of fun running around looking for each other. After that we went home to the caravan park for a swim. We did our homework and watched a DVD then went to sleep.

See you tomorrow bye

Flickie

Day 2

Got out of the Oxley's bright and early (about 10am). We realised we had been to Lake Boga many times before, but we had never been through the Catalina Flying Boat museum, so we stopped and checked it out. It's all about when Lake Boga used to have a secret flying boat repair base during World War 2. There is an underground bunker that houses heaps of old photos, maps, memorabelia, etc. All up 416 aircraft were serviced there during the war including Mariners, Kingfishers and of course Catalinas. We then checked out the Catalina in a big shed next to the bunker.

Also saw our first emus between Robinvale and Mildura - about 10 in total. Then of course had to buy some oranges on the side of the road.

Till next entry......Richard

Day 1

Yippee. Got away at 2:30. Roof rack came loose at Marong (Penny was driving - must have been the cause). Crashed sister Trisha's place at Lake Boga. Kids fed the baby lambs there with their cousins. First meal on the road was roast pork, tough going. Well I guess this means we are actually doing this. Planning to head to Mildura tomorrow then onto Mungo National Park.

Richard