Outback Adventure 2019

Day 5

Woomera - Pimba - Lake Hart - Glendambo - Coober Pedy - Breakaways - Coober Pedy

The redness of the outback started to show its colours to us today. We awoke to some sunrise colours and got underway a little after 8am. Driving out past Pimba and Spuds Truckstop, we quickly rejoined the Stuart Highway heading North.

Today’s drive gave us 2 things.....a massive increase in the number of flies that serve only to annoy us, and we saw the most amount of wedge tailed eagles we’ve ever seen. The wedgies are about because of the vast array of kangaroo feasting available on the Stuart Highway roadkill smorgasboard. Again we spent the day slaloming around them! Most will work out where the wind is and then slowly take flight as we arrive, hover, one brave wedgie wasn’t budging. He stood solid on his roo carcus and wasn’t moving for anything! Sadly there were a heap of dead wedgies as well today on our drive.

We drove past Lake Hart, which is now a massive salt lake bed of whiteness presently - still great to look at - and continued onto Glendambo where we fueled and continued.

We stopped about an hour later for a stretch and a mandatory Stuart Highway photo. Big skies and long straight road all day today. We had some fun!

We rolled into Coober Pedy ready for lunch. We’re staying outside of town at Riba’s Underground campsite. You can camp underground in a tent, but the vans stay on top. We will do the underground tour tomorrow night.

We set up the van and had lunch and then drove out on the dirt top 33ks to The Breakaways which were formed shortly after the massive inland sea receded. Must have been last week as there was no water about out there. Just a beautiful landscape they reckon is the closest thing to what Mars is like. It borders the dog fence as well and we drove along its border for a good while. The views are spectacular. It was 37 degrees this afternoon out there and the flies were plague like! Took lots of panoramas - but this app wrecks them so I won’t post them here.

Coober Pedy is a place where people go to dissapear, hide, seek their fortune and is a haven for weirdness, wierdos and the truely eccentric. Mix this with the local aborigine population and Coober Pedy is what you come out with.

We went to Josephine’s Opal Shop and kangaroo sanctuary (see only in Coober Pedy!) The shop has an aboriginal artist in residence from Alice Springs who entertained us with his artistic skills in both painting and digeridoo playing whilst we perused their opal selection waiting for the kangaroo feeding. All these Roos are orphans - either resulting from the highway or ‘donated’ by the locals who hunted their mothers. Everyone enjoyed the interaction. There was a donated 5 month old that was being bottle fed and was very wonky on her feet. She enjoyed the attention she was given.

Leaving the Roos, we dashed up the hill to the Big Winch overlooking the township. We watched the sunset from the top enjoying a sneaky beer and contemplating what to have for dinner. The local Johns Pizza won out tonight. Pretty decent pizza as well - and expected as they recently came 5th in Australia for the best pizza!

We drove 385 kms today and tomorrow we will explore the eccentric township of Coober Pedy and the locals in more detail.