The Rock

ULURU This morning was fine with a little bit of sunshine and we headed off and did the walk around the base of the rock, 3 hours. It sure does look great looming out of the ground on the drive out there and walking around it is surprising the different angles, textures, rocks and caves. It was great seeing some water trickling down and some water in the Kantju gorge. You feel that photos do not do justice to what Mother Nature has created.

Now in the Northern Territory

MT CONNER Yesterday we crossed the border so now in the Northern Territory, haven't encountered any warmth yet. Today we travelled the Lasseter Highway to Ayers Rock with the main rock now known as Uluru. Mt Conner is the first mass that you come across and rises 350 metres above the desert, commonly mistaken for Uluru as you can imagine.
ULURU Our first view of the great rock, it sure is spectacular. It has clouded over this afternoon so fingers crossed that the weather clears in the next couple of days so that we can do some of the great walks. Couldn't get over the pink colour without the full sun so must look fabulous at sunrise and sunset which we hope to experience. It is 3.6 km's long and rises 348 metres above the desert and apparently has another two thirds below the sand.

Lake Eyre

WARBURTON GROOVE Today we did a flight from Coober Pedy up to the northern part of Lake Eyre where the water is flowing in from Warburton Groove with all the water from the floods up north earlier in the year. It is a rarity for the lake to have water as it is usually a salt pan. There is now a lot of bird life in the area and we got to see several flocks of pelicans. How does word get out there about the amount of water and fish?
OPAL MINES AND TAILINGS they look quite eerie from the air. WILLIAM CREEK HOTEL After flying over the Lake we landed at William Creek to have bit of a stretch, naturally we went to the hotel, which is quite famous as the only tin shed hotel in Australia and one of the top tourist spots in South Australia. We ordered a drink, looked at the clock and it was only 10.00am, went down well I must say as we got up at 5.30am. Please note that the pilot only had a coffee.

DESERT COLOURS The colours and shapes change as you travel and quite surprising the number of creek beds. A lot of rain is predicted at the weekend so some of the creeks may soon have water running.

Spectacular South Australia

SERBIAN UNDERGROUND CHURCH Sunday we did the town and mine tour, unfortunately it was raining, pretty sure Coober Pedy received half it's annual rainfall which is a whole 5". A lot of homes and business's are in dug outs, the church is very impressive, note the shape of the ceiling.

WILLIAM CREEK Yesterday I did the mail run day tour - www.mailruntour.com which as you would guess you go with the mail man as he delivers mail to the outback cattle stations, one of them is the largest in Australia. The scenery changes as you go around and we also got to see the dingo fence, the longest man-made construction in the world. Dingos are one of the largest killers of stock. We left Coober Pedy at 9.00 am and I got home at 10.00 pm, Paul did not fancy having that amount of time sitting in a vehicle.

THE BREAKAWAYS Today we drove back out to this area as it was part of our Sunday tour and it was too dismal to get out due to the weather. It was great to have time today to have a really good look around. The colours and shapes are just breath taking.
THE BREAKAWAYS

THE BREAKAWAYS

COOBER PEDY CEMETERY Karl found out that he only had a couple of weeks to live so he went to the local Westpac - only bank in town and got a loan for $10,000.00 then put the money on the bar, even the bank staff partook. This is a photo of his headstone and the bank apparently never recovered the money, he was a very popular man around town as you can imagine.

Where not to live

ANDAMOOKA Wow, prime real estate with this fabulous view. This is an opal mining town so as you can imagine no vegetation and houses that are shanty's. A lot of the backyards are just tailings. Only 30 km's away is the thriving town of Roxby Downs, it has a population of 3,500 with 3,000 people being employed at the BHP Billiton Mine at Olympic Dam. Roxby Downs has some trees, grass, new homes and a bustling shopping centre so a real contrast to Andamooka. LOCAL ENJOYING LUNCH AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD This wedge tailed eagle certainly is very impressive looking and when flying has a wing span of at least 1.5 metres.

Up the centre

SALT LAKE Today we left Port Augusta and headed north towards Darwin about 3000 km 's away. This is no doubt one of the many salt lakes that we will pass along the way. It is very interesting scenery, mainly flat with scrubby salt bush. A GROSS SIGN THAT IS ALONG THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN HIGHWAYS

WOOMERA A very desolate town just off the Stuart Highway, guess it's claim to fame is the Woomera detention centre and the home of rocket launching. There are only a few streets and lot's of housing similar to housing commission homes/units. One shop that sells groceries and alcohol with a post office next door. Reckon that the busiest place would be the caravan park with people heading north or south.

Now at the cross road

UP, UP AND AWAY Our morning flight got cancelled again due to some cloud coming in but we took off in the afternoon and it was fabulous. Great to see from the air the areas that we had walked and driven. Our pilot was 23 years old, what a great job!
PAST QUORN Leaving Wilpena Pound today the scenery changed and we started to see some sheep and a few cattle and at one stage these dead trees. As you can see, very baron land. Shortly after leaving we were delayed once again while some scenes were shot for the the movie "Road Train", every second vehicle was towing a caravan, it sure is staggering the number of caravans on the road. Close to Port Augusta the scenery was quite spectacular being surrounded again by the Flinders Ranges.

PORT AUGUSTA This is the lovely sunset view of the Flinders Ranges from our site. We have been to the supermarket and bottle shop and stocked up again before we head off up the centre north.