Uluru, I made it. This is a rather long entry due to not having any signal for the last 2 days.
It's been an interesting trip getting from Port Pirie to Uluru, not so much eventful but there are definitely some interesting towns in outback South Australia. Leaving Port Pirie I travelled north through Port Augusta then onto the Stuart Hwy to Coober Pedy. On the way I stopped in at Woomera. This area was a rocket testing range back in the day and as you turn off the highway into this very small town it feels like it's been frozen in time. It was a Saturday that I was travelling through here but despite the other tourists I did not see a single local. People did live there, there were houses with cars in the driveways and washing on the line but absolutely nothing going on. I went into the information centre which tripled as the bowling alley and Westpac bank and then found it to be unmanned so like the other travellers I went and had a look at the rockets displayed in the park across the road and after some lunch I moved on.
I continued north watching out for cows along the unfenced highway, noticing the road kill had changed from roos to cows and also saw some dingoes trotting along. I made my stop for the night at Coober Pedy. I pulled off the highway and straight into the caravan park, still being drizzled on by rain and set up my tent on the rock hard ground, no tent pegs this night. I had decided to spend the morning at Coober Pedy before continuing north. After another damp night I went into the town and was again amazed by the place and wondered how anyone could possibly live here and no they weren't all underground. I found a place that was actually open and did a mine tour walking underground and discovering how the opal made it's way into jewellery and so on and also how homes were set up underground. This was interesting and I looked at the jewellery but I have to admit that opal is not to my fancy. I then had a look the the big winch where I spoke to some other travellers who explained that people go to Coober Pedy to disappear and you don't ask too many questions, so I drove back through town again. After spending 2hrs wandering around, mostly aimlessly, I decided that was enough and continued north.
My next stop was to be Marla but as I had spent less time than expected at Coober Pedy I pushed on and stopped at Kulgera, a roadhouse, come campground, come pub with a small store. Population probably about 5.
The things that have struck me on this part of the journey has been how large the sky can appear when you are in the outback and the country is fairly flat and treeless. The sky felt like it wrapped around you on all sides creating a dome over the land. The other amazing site was the stars, last night there were more stars than I think I have ever seen, the darkness and lack of buildings helped this and I was truly amazed at what I saw.
The next day I made my way to Yulara where I am writing this blog post, I have set up my tent, seen an Aboriginal dance, done my washing and got groceries. Tomorrow I will enter the national park and explore this icon of Australia.