Well we decided to sleep in this morning instead of heading out to the Rock for the sunrise. Plans change and so did ours for the day. We headed out to the Olgas, sorry they don't call them that anymore, it's now Kata Tjuta. Anyway  l won't go on about that.
There were not many places to stop and take photos of the Kata Tjuta except for the designated areas set aside for tourists. Sorry we were the tourists. Hey Tim I think one of those rocks would look good at the front gate. Just don't know how to get it back. Might have to watch Lucy's long trailer movie again. Oh we aren't collecting rocks.



Yes I'm pointing at you. This is a place you should come, the sights are good and it's a very quiet area. Well it was until we ran across a few Japanese backpackers. You could here them laughing and yelling whilst walking through the Kata Tjuta.

The Olgas (too much typing for the aboriginal name, hope I don't offened anyone). We decided to walk to the first lookout that was about 1.6klms away. This turned into a 7.4km walk through the Olgas along the Valley of the winds. Well I did make it but my feet were sore by the time we returned. It was a very nice walk with several climbs through the different rock mounds. The tracks used for the walks ranged from gravel to rocks that would move under foot making it difficult to get good footing whilst walking both up or down the side of these rocks. Gabriella didn't find it that hard as she is walks her dogs frequently.

This was on of the tracks we walked along with great view heading out of the gorge.

Looking back over the track we just walked out of earlier.


As we were walking out of the Valley of the Winds, this ghost gum caught my eye, the contrast between the rocks and the shadows are beautiful.

As we were getting to the final part of the walk we ran into two of the Japanese guys doing the same walk. They kindly obliged to take our photo. One of the other  Chinese backpackers walked this track with thongs on and if my feet were sore his must have been very very sore. Anyway that was the trek for today and tomorrow we head to Uluru for a walk around the base. Well maybe not the complete walk but some of it will be walked. Oh, by the way, the campground at Uluru is pretty good. The price is a bit steep but it's better than driving 100ks to get from the nearest camp ground outside Uluru. Fuel is a bit costly at $2:15ltr in Uluru and $2:36ltr at Curtain Springs.
Well I will be back tomorrow night, bye for now.

We moved on from Coober Pedy to a Road House in Kulgera. It was a pretty ordinary stop over night but they had a happy hour which we strolled over to early. The owner was a lovely woman who seemed to run the whole operation. The meals were good and the drinks went down well. These pubs are interesting with old time photos of past things that happened in the town. The funny thing in this place was that they had a police station with a couple of young blokes in uniform. Yep and this caught  the lady's eyes.( Namely Gabriella.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

They had a few interesting things with an old tractor out front and a boot tree. This wasn't the only tree that adorns the roads as we drove up. There was a shoe tree, a sock tree the bottle and a thong tree. The ones you wear on your feet. I threw out a pair of shoes that I could have contributed to the growth of these trees. You never know when you are going to see one again.

From here we headed to Curtain Springs Inn and camping ground. We passed Mt. Conner which got me a bit excited as I thought it was the Rock. I guessed wrong. This was our planned free camp for a few days but when we arrived the wind was up 

and the site was like a dust bowl. The station itself was very nice and probably should have stayed. They had an Emu that was very friendly and walked

 around while everyone did their thing.

Due to the wind and dust we decided to try our luck at the Ayres rock camp ground. Fortunately they had room and we'll stay three nights at the rock campground. As we were in early, we headed for the sunset at the rock. We got the camera set up and planted our bums in our camp chairs to watch the rock change colour.It was a worthwhile experience as it was fascinating watching the Rock change colours as  sunset approached.. Anyway we sat and stood for about an hour and watched the sunset. It was very nice and I got some very nice photos. It was worth the drive and I will be back tomorrow morning for the sunrise. After that we are going to do one of the walks around the base. Yep the short walk, not that keen an walking the 10k one. 

The above photo was taken just after we arrived. 

This was take about 30min later.

The last photo for the day. This was around 0640pm. The changes were very interesting and the different colour were astounding. 

It was interesting looking at the rock whilst driving around it, as it looked like it was getting bigger as you drove along the width of it. Anyway we're back at the van and just had dinner. Pasta. We are now sitting and watching the Bombers kick the crap out of Richmond. Go the Bombersssssssssss.

Oh the weather is great, after leaving Coober Pedy I decided that shorts were the go for the rest of the trip. I hope it stays this way and I can't wait for the sight of water so I can go fishing. Anyway we will enjoy what we have at the moment. Warmth and dust, lots of red dust. Bye for now.

Life in Coober Pedy is relatively slow. We had a late start this morning with a bacon and egg breakfast and yes a real coffee. The espresso machine was fired up and we kicked back and watched the sun head for the west. Once we finally got going we found the local church which is built into the side of the hill, oh pretty much all the houses amd buildings are built in the same fashion. The strange thing is that every thing you touch has a coating of dust. The waste heaps sit in plain view of the roads and could be seen at every turn of your head. Oh we did go inside the church.

This sign was just outside near the parking area. I'm not sure if the pastor was a homie (homeboy ) and played a bit of rap music but the sign said God love Yo. Anyway we didn't see the pastor as he may have been somewhere in his crib.
We drove around  the town and surrounding areas looking at the way some of the miners live and the left overs of the ones that have left.

This was a bit of an oddity in the town just near the underground motel. It looks like something that George Lucas sent here to rust away. Someone probably brought it as a tourist attraction. I was waiting for Luke skywalker to appear.

Whilst heading out of town to do the scenic tour of the Breakaways we come across this working mine. Well we couldn't find anyone working but it was interesting to see some of the machinery they used. It seems that anything that can be driven can be used to move the removed rock/dirt into those waste heaps.



The old Holden ute was being used with a winch system to pull up the removed rock and then it could be checked for opals. The old truck below has a crane setup and would have been used for larger removals from the mines.

These vehicles are everywhere you look and can also been seen wherever the waste heaps are.







A seventy km round trip through the Breakaways was next on the tour. This was on  a dirt road and as they told us we needed a four wheel drive. That was a little over the top. We saw camper vans heading round the same area. The scenery was beautiful, with the colours of white, oranges, ocra and the odd bit of greenery scattered throughout the area.

The photo below is of the Castle and salt & pepper.

 This mound was used in the Mad Max movie The Thunderdome.

 The dog fence that runs 5300klms. Keeps those nasty dingos away from the cattle.

The sun starts to set over the waste of Coober Pedy 

 The sun goes down on day four of our trip.

We head off to Kulgera tomorrow and hopefully an easy days drive. Will keep in touch as we go along.



We left Port Auguta for Coober Pedy with a long drive today. 540 klms of what was a pretty boring drive. We noticed all these mountains as we drove along, and as it was a boring drive, started to think that one of them could have been Uluru. Anyway that's how we amuse ourselves when things are a bit slow. The landscape changes from flat, open ground and very little life.

The funny thing is you occasionally come across some stray  cattle, luckly we didn't have to get out of their way.
Stopped to get some fuel at Spuds roadhouse in Pimba but to amazement the price of fuel was was $1:80 ltr. Luckly we had enough to get us to the next stop in Glendambo, 6cents a litre cheaper but when your're running into a head wind and only getting 19ltrs-100klms every bit helps. The thing is when your're in the middle of nowhere and have no trees or grass to show which way the wind is blowing you don't relise if it is the wind or the gradient in the road changing.

One thing that did catch our eye today was the salt flats and how many there were. They seem to be every where you looked and wonder how they were formed. As you can tell I didn't do much in geography at school.

We eventually arrived at Coober Pedy with the mounds of dirt noticable from miles away. The colours of the soils change from every kilometer you drive.  We will venture out tomorrow to see what Coober Pedy has to offer. I'd be thinking opals.  Anyway bye for today and with a litle luck I'II find an opal. Haaaaaaaaaaaa



Yesterday we spent our first night free camping. The site was just off the Sturt Hwy with plenty of trucks driving past. Luckly they died off around 1100pm and we managed to sleep until they started up again early in the morning. Gabriella can sleep through a storm as she didn't wake until 0700am. How lucky is she to be able to sleep through any noise.
It was a bit fresh in the morning with several other overnighters getting ready to move on for the day. We were not far off leaving after these guys as we needed to get to our next destination to stock up on food due to the border crossing not allowing fruit and veg into S.A. As we were free camping it made it difficult to head back into town (Renmark) as we didn't unhook the caravan for the convienence of leaving early the next day.
What a drive from Renmark, the scenery was brilliant with rolling hills which were baron of anything but grass and the then you get the sun breaking through the clouds to give an unbelievable view. We stopped off to get some fuel in a town called MORGAN. To people who know me I thought I saw triplets walking down the street heading to school but I was mistaken. What happened to the Smorgan.

The roads have been good with little traffic, thank God as it giveS me a sore neck watching what's coming from the rear.
The last 20klms into Port Augusta was good with the scenery changing from hills to the river inlet that flows into town. As we got into town early we did some shopping but to our dismay the town was not something to write home about. Yep I new I should have left that part out. You could have fired a gun down the main street and not hit anyone. It was deserted, even Coles was dead with only a couple of people in the store.
Anyway stocked up with food had a coffee and headed back to the lovely Shoreline caravan park.
Went for a short walk to the river with one woman trying her luck fishing but didn't look like she was having any luck. I think she may have had that thought that its a bit of serenity.

Dinner time was approaching and the sun was going down, time to fire up the stove, grab a beer and stand and watch that sun go down over the horizon.No better place to be on earth than OZ.

Tomorrow we start heading north with our next stop in Coober Pedy. With the roads starting to get busy with caravans, camper trailers, buses and just the boys on their road trip we hope for some easy driving with some wind breaks and driving behind someone else.
Unfortunately we don't have any photos as everyone has seen a hill or baron land, but they will come and so will the FISH. To Deano, Brad & Katy we will find that big fish and Gabriella will catch that big fish. I know it will take her a bit to beat Brads whopper in Mildura but she will rise to the challenge and we will post it on line. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Time to kick back for the night, so to all who are working, plan that holiday around OZ in your down time.

Trip around OZ: Well we started off well with a nice drive from Sh...

Trip around OZ: Well we started off well with a nice drive from Sh...: Well we started off well with a nice drive from Shelbourne to Renmark S.A. We had a tail wind from pretty much all the way to Mildura. This...

Well we started off well with a nice drive from Shelbourne to Renmark S.A.
We had a tail wind from pretty much all the way to Mildura. This had a smile on my face until we hit the petrol station in Mildura. The tail wind didn't show at the pump.

Gabriella was at her best in the passenger seat. Observer. I can remember someone once saying what does an obsever do? Today I found out. 'Nothing' Oh, they have a little nap during that observing time as well. As the observer, it is my role to stay alert, look for any hazards, make sure that Rodney's eyes stay focused on the road and not on the local chicks, it is a tough gig and does occasionally require a power nap...........111111111

Using the Camps 6 guide and went to the first camp site that looked good on paper. Didn't look so good when we got there. The track going in didn't look very accessible for a big van. As I am a wimp I chose to find something else. We found a spot just up the road outside an old reptile park on the Sturt Hwy. A little bit busy with trucks going past but I think I'II sleep through that tonight. Several other vans and campers turned up so was a bit more secure than being alone. This was the idea of the trip, free camping were we could to save a few dollars.

Tomorrow were off to Port Augusta for the night. From what Gabriella has told me, theres not much  to do or look at. Well we have to stop as we need to stock up on some good food. (greens)

We will be doing this blog for the next three months so hope you follow us over this time.

Rod & Gabriella.