It was great not even having unhitched the car this morning, to just put things away in the van, and head straight out of the roadhouse. We headed straight to Yulara. David loved tricking the kids on the way. (To the untrained eye, Mt Conner looks surprisingly like Uluru from a distance!!)
It is a lovely camping ground with great facilities. We did some shopping at the supermarket (yes, they have a supermarket here now!!) and then went out to Uluru to the Interpretive Centre which was so interesting. Bridgie took great delight in dragging me to a spot she had decided was a great view of the rock!! The guy on the checkout at the souvenir shop was the grandson of Cassidy Uluru, a famous personality around Uluru. I was talking to him about our trip and he said he would like to do that one day. He had lived all his life with his mother’s tribe in Carnavon and moved to be with his father’s tribe eleven years ago. He had never been out of the Northern Territory or W.A. It occurred to me how similar we were in the sense that I had never BEEN to the Northern Territory or most of W.A.
Saw a glimpse of the famous Ulura sunset from the viewing point at the caravan park before settling in for dinner and a drink with the Parsons! Can’t wait for tomorrow. Up early for a walk around the rock!!
Up early and off to The Breakaways, 30 kms north of Coober Pedy, which used to be an inland sea, and what we now call hills, were once islands. This was one of the scenes from Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert. Just stunning scenery.
Then off for our trip to Kulgera Roadhouse, halfway point between Coober Pedy and Yulara. We had happy hour in the pub with the kids all writing in their journals watching the little mouse run back and forth. We had heard there were mice there (like the plague at William Creek) so Mummy decided all the children had to be in the caravan with us. So all six of us slept together. We did not leave the heating on, thinking that with six bodies is such close confines we would be warm enough, but it was freezing. The kids don’t seem to mind. They slept! But David left his shoes outside and in the morning they were frozen!! The kids all thought this was very funny!
Coober Pedy is a much smaller town than I had anticipated; less than 2000 people, of which 15% are Aboriginal. We had a beautiful relaxing morning – our first morning without having to move out!! Hubby cooked up a beautiful breakfast of bacon and egg muffins on our little BBQ plate. We then went into town and visited the St Peter and St Paul Catholic Church, which was the first church built underground in Coober Pedy. As with all traveling, we managed to meet two couples there. One was a solicitor who has a brother who trains horses in Mornington. David loved telling him that he gets caught behind Patrick Carey Racing Stables van every morning on Racecourse Road on the way to work! The other gentleman was a Clerk of Courts at Moe Magistrates’ Court for many years, and although was not there when I worked there, knew many of the people I worked with, and in fact saw my old boss, Mark Woods, at a funeral recently!! Such a small world.
We then managed to do some opal buying, before heading into the Coober Pedy Hotel for an underground look at the history of Coober Pedy and the sealing by 1987 of the Stuart Highway. Thank God we are not traveling on dirt roads!! Then over to Josephine’s Gallery and Kangaroo Orphanage for some joey feeding and a great talk by the guy who runs it. Of course this was a highlight for the kids!
The afternoon was spent at the Old Timer’s Mine where we had a demonstration of some mine equipment, and Bridget almost lost her arm up the blower!! The mine display was excellent, and the kids loved seeing how the miners climbed in and out of the mines. The “dugout”, or underground home, was just fascinating. It was largely built by Ron and Jenny Gough, including a bedroom for their daughters which Ron dug by hand. The even had an ensuite and great kitchen area and lived there until 1990. The kids were just upset that apparently they had the same spice rack as we do at home so they immediately demanded that I get rid of it “because it is too olden days”!! We learnt about Mrs Halliday, the first miner’s wife to arrive at Coober Pedy in 1921. Mam, what a woman!! Not the life for me! Women today are much too soft!! It is enough of an adventure for me to do what I am doing now with all the creature comforts that we have. She did it by coach with hardly any food!
Our good friends, the Parsons sent us a photo of their new car, complete with smashed windscreen so when they limped into Coober Pedy it really WAS time for a quiet ale or two. This was really needed when hearing about the mice plague they dealt with at William Creek. Thank God we decided NOT to see Lake Eyre full for the first time in 25 years! Was a great night, swapping stories and hearing about their nightmare night on Lake Eyre. Kids had a ball and had traditional Aussie BBQ and beer.
Left Port August early this morning. Not a great deal to recommend it!! Off to meet the Parsons family in Woomera. Emus were abundant along the highway which made the kids’ day! So great to see animals in their natural habitat. Even a Wedged-Tail Eagle having a breakfast of some roadkill, refused to budge as our Prado and caravan thundered by!
Woomera was not far off the highway at all and has had a checkered history with US bases, rocket test range and immigration detention. The Museum was interesting, although you can imagine our seven children seeing the photographs of the young people protesting the US bases at Nurrungar in the 1970s, with naked bottoms displayed to the world. There was much tittering !!! The kids found the film about the bombing of Brittain in WWII very interesting as it sparked the start of the research into rocket design.
After a few moments of Rob and David comparing vans and Pauline and I discussing caravan waving etiquette (and lunch being over) we both headed off – the Parsons to Lake Eyre and the Hansens to Coober Pedy!!
Again, I just have so few words to describe the vastness of the land we are experiencing. And we aren’t yet really in the middle of nowhere! The immense distances we are travelling see dwarfed by the infinite horizon which just always seems out of reach. Each part of the day seems slightly different in the way the sunlight reflects off the land. The landscape seemed to change today from very rocky to very red sand.
The fascinating thing upon entry to Coober Pedy this afternoon was the fact that there is no one big company mining for opals here. Rather, there seems to be hundreds (in fact at last count, more than 250,000 mine shaft entrances with each prospector allowed a 15 square metre claim. With a population of only 2000 people it was much smaller than I had imagined. And no water to the vans in the caravan park – a new thing for me – so all water has to be carried to the van or dishes etc have to be washed in the camp kitchen. Yes, all you smarties who are telling me this is how 80% of the world’s population lives!! I know that! And it isn’t fun. Really makes you think about how many times you run the tap when you are cooking dinner and how you really take that convenience for granted.
For those Trivia buffs among you, Coober Pedy has been the scene of filming for Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and The Amazing Race. It was also the scene of the filmclip for INXS’s “Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain)”.
Tomorrow is our first day without driving and I must admit we are looking forward to it. Intend to celebrate with a sleep in and bacon and egg muffins!! We will wander around the town and see what mischief we can get up to!
Man! This is impressive! Three states in three days!! Just keeping up with the time zones is a job and a half!!
David and the kids all went off on their morning walk while I had a long hot shower and fixed up the van. Even though we are on a time schedule, just the ability to do what we want to do when we want to do it is so freeing!! At the moment it is so dark in the mornings – I am looking forward to that changing – but the night skies are just stunning. No wonder so many songs have been written about stars. It is so clear and every star seems to have its proper place, even though it seems God just threw them all up there in a chaotic mess!
We went out to the Living Dessert Sanctuary about 12 kms north of Broken Hill this morning which was spectacular. Being the only people there was so special. You could really imagine what it was like for explorers like Sturt who could look for miles and not see any sign of civilisation. The Flora and Fauna reserve involved a walk of a couple of kilometres around rocky outcrops. There were stops along the way with information for the kids. There were Sturt Dessert Peas growing in their natural habitat which even David had never seen. There were reconstructed Aboriginal branch dwellings which sheltered them from the wind and the sun. The kids were amazed at how they lived. There were loads of Red Kangaroos, Blue Fliers and Wallaroos (again a few Japanese tourist moments where the children were clicking nineteen to the dozen!!) We climbed to a lookout which pointed out we were 831 kms from Melbourne and over 3000 kms from Darwin. It was an absolutely amazing view – just as far as the eye could see rolling acres of untouched country. So special. We also saw some disused mine shafts where unsuccessful miners carried out work in the 19th century.
After that, we made our way through Manna Hill and Peterborough to Port Augusta by about 5:30pm – quite late for us as it is difficult to put up the van in the dark.
Everyone up early this morning, except Tessie – good to know some things don’t change!! But my husband started his health kick with a 14 km walk this morning. AND he is eating fruit!! We should have done this trip years ago.
The drive from Mildura to Broken Hill is amazing! Quintessential Australian outback. Just kilometres and kilometres of flat, open spaces as far as the eye can see. The sense of vastness – emptiness – peace, is profound. The kids are so enjoying listening to their music and watching the beautiful landscape pass by. Beth in particular keeps saying how much she loves it and how much more this is ‘the real’ Australia for her.
We arrived early into “windy Broken Hill” – so windy that we could not even put up the awning. Hopefully the kids won’t blow away tonight. We have put the tent in between the van and the car so they shouldn’t blow too far!
We went out to try to find David’s great-grandfather’s grave at Broken Hill cemetery. It took much looking but finally found Maurice Hansen, who died in 1917 and his two year old son, Frederick, who died in 1919, in the “Catholic part” of the cemetery! Very moving to stand there and pray with Maurice’s great-great grandchildren.
Off to Silverton after that and what an amazing drive! I suppose I have never been to this part of our country before so I am finding all the new vistas just so inspiring. The word that just keeps coming to mind is vast. It is just so expansive, this country. Driving to Silverton, as far as the eye could see was just flat red dirt, spinifex, tuffs of grass and the (very) odd small tree. We stopped just short of Silverton for some photos of a herd of brumbies grazing beside the road. Not worried by us at all, they looked at the kids taking photos like they were a pack of Japanese tourists! Just on the other side of Silverton is the Mundi Mundi lookout, where many of the scenes from Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert and Mad Max movies were shot. It truly takes your breath away – the immenseness of the outback. It gives you a real sense of the spirit of the land.
The old Silverton Gaol is now a museum housing memorabilia from all aspects of the relatively short life of Silverton (1884 – 1896) which is now a ghost town. The educational, sporting, and domestic odds and sods were amazing for the kids to see. They were not impressed with the little school satchel the school children used, nor the toilet for the prisoners!
The Silverton Hotel, where some of the scenes from A Town Like Alice and Razorback were filmed, was a great place to visit for a drink (or a hot chocolate and a warm up by the fire for Sarah) and the solving of puzzles for the kids on the bar! Looking forward to snuggling up in my nice warm bed and reading tonight – ok I do feel a bit bad about my kids out there in the cold – although they keep telling me: “Take a ‘chill pill’, Mum, we are fine!!”
How exciting!! After five years of planning our big adventure – HANSEN TREK 2011 – has finally arrived! So much excitement, so much preparation, so much trepidation!! We are so looking forward to this amazing opportunity to spend time in each other’s company and create beautiful memories for and with each other.
Of course, life is always exciting when my husband is around. Before leaving on the trip he did manage to destroy two jockey wheels, cut the 15 amp power lead and trip all the electricity to our home. But as Scottie pointed out, three things had gone wrong so the trip had been disaster-proofed!!
Up early on the first day – a 5:30am start. The kids were all so excited to be jumping out of bed. Just as the toast was being consumed, the beautiful Scott and Gab arrived to farewell us! What a lovely gesture at 6:15 in the morning!! A couple of photos and one or two forgotten items later and we were on our way … to the United Servo on Racecourse Road!! Just for a last “fill up” before the diesel gets really expensive!!
It was great leaving so early in the morning. Aside from no traffic, the sunrise was amazing. It reminded us that without life’s clouds, you can’t really appreciate all the beauty!
We stopped in Charlton for lunch at 11:30am and were able to see St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary school, to which St. Macartan’s donated money and items after the recent flood. It was great for the kids to be able to experience that this was a real place with real people. Then on to Berriwilluk to see Jo Dean’s home town and the place of her first alcoholic drink!!
Reached Mildura about 3:30pm and set up. The caravan park was beautiful with the enormous River Gums over our heads with their beautiful grey, mottled trunks. Had a kick of the footy and a good barbie for dinner. Our night time walk was so peaceful. The beautiful Murray was so quiet, so still. It was so strange to stand there and look at Victoria on the other side. The kids loved seeing a cheeky possum who kept peeking out from behind a tree at us. It was so nice just to go back and sit in the van, read and talk to my husband without any interruptions!
