COOBER PEDY - SA, YULARA & KINGS CANYON - NT

We left Port Augusta on the Stuart Highway (runs from Port Augusta to Darwin) knowing it will be quite a while until we see the sea again. On the way to Coober Pedy we stopped at the Government Defence town of Woomera and took a pic of the old relics (not Greg of course!). Coober Pedy, as well as supplying 80% of the World opals, is also one of the driest places on this continent. Well you wouldn’t have thought that if you were there at the same time as us! It rained for 24 hours straight and the town turned into a mud slide. It is very quiet for tourism in this area at the moment and the rain didn’t help that a bit. We did make the most of our 3 day stay and managed to have a tour of the Old Timers Mine (original mine established in the 60’s with underground house included), visit a few of the many opal shops, drive about looking at the underground houses & church’s and feed some kangaroos (orphans left for dead after their mothers were hit and killed on the road).
There was endless km’s of driving involved to Coober Pedy through generally flat terrain with lots and lots of salt bush. From Coober Pedy the drive was more of the same until we hit NT when the terrain becomes more undulating with a bit more to look at – the improved weather helped also. On the way we noticed the wheels on the right hand side of the caravan were getting very hot. I assumed it must be the wheel bearings. We stopped often to make sure they didn’t overheat. Just across the NT border we stopped at the Kulgera Roadhouse. Les the owner was very helpful. He said it is easy to change wheel bearings and suggested we stay the night and that I should have a go at it! Well I did have a go and I am pleased to confirm I managed to change one bearing and re-grease the other. Since then they have been running cooler again – thankfully.
We turned off the Stuart Highway and headed west to Yulara. We had a lovely 4 day stop over there in the resort caravan park. While there we did the obligatory Uluru sunrise, 10km walk around the base and sunset experiences. We decided to respect the traditional owners wish not to climb the rock (it looked to steep anyway). We also saw the sunrise over Kata Tjuta and mastered the 7km walk called the Valley of the Winds. These places are magic and full of Aboriginal history plus fantastic flora and fauna, not to mention the vistas.
Our final stop before Alice Springs has been Kings Canyon, and yes you guessed it, we conquered the 7km walk around the rim of the canyon. The views from up there were spectacular. Our caravan was parked overlooking the canyon so we could sit watching the sunset over it without moving a muscle. This place reminds us of the Kimberley with its sandstone structures resembling places on the Gibb River Road and the Bungle Bungles.
As mentioned in the last blog, Ingrid starts work on Monday here in Alice Springs. Once we’ve had a chance to catch our breath after all the travelling to get here, we’ll blog again with our impressions of the place.