Day 8 Woomera to Coober Pedy (370kms / 4.5hrs)

We were all set for an early departure but Papa had other ideas. He was pretty much hitched on but the ball hadn’t quite connected so he thought if he could just jog the car slightly it would all slide into place. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case and the va fell off. Thankfully no one was injured and no damage. It didn’t take long to get the van jacked up and back on the car. We hit the road at 8:45am then stopped at Pimba for fuel then kept driving. We saw lots of wedged tail eagles which was great. We had a better driving day today as we were able to sit behind a truck. We arrived at Coober Pedy at 1:15pm. We fuelled and then checked into the Big4 Stuart Range Outback Resort. The kids went straight to the playground then rode their bikes around. We had lunch and then some downtime. Then Mum & Dad took us on a tour of Coober Pedy. First stop St Peter & Paul’s Catholic Church. Wow, this was our first experience of an underground building and it certainly didn’t disappoint it was very nice. We then went next door to Radekas Motel & Backpackers Inn. They had an underground shop which the kids were in heaven over. They especially thought the ‘willy washer’ was very funny. We dragged the kids out without buying anything and drove to the Big Winch Lookout which is 8m high. Such a beautiful spot to look out over Coober Pedy and all the mounds of dirt and vents (pipes) everywhere. There was also a tree made out of steel from a truck which had burnt out and a father made it into a tree so his kids could climb a tree (as back in the 70’s there were no trees in Coober Pedy’. The kids had fun climbing the tree, the mining bucket truck and having a look at the big winch. We then drove around town and then to Josephine’s Gallery & Kangaroo Orphanage. We looked around the gallery and then at 5:30pm we got to feed the 3 big red kangaroos and learn all about the work they do rescuing and rehabilitating the kangaroos. They were very friendly and enjoyed eating wasabi peas and dried banana chips. They were very soft to pat and had a soft tongue when they licked you. They then brought out a 6 week old Joey and we got to watch it drink it’s milk and then we got to pat it. It was so cute and was a bit scared at the beginning but by the end it loved being patted. We then went to the famous John’s Pizza Bar & Restaurant. John’s is the 5th best pizza place in Australia. The 6 of us shared a large BBQ meat lovers and we couldn’t even finish it. While we waited for the pizza to arrive we walked around town and walked up a look out to admire the views and watch the sunset. After dinner it was back to the caravan for showers, movie & bed.