Broken Hill to Coober Pedy

What a week!

Dirt roads, red dust, kilometer after kilometer, crazy camel owners, flat tyre, pubs and even a spaceship! We are having quite an adventure and have seen so much. Every town I come across I think "there is nothing here" and then the next town has even less! The remote conditions and harsh climate is astounding and fascinating.

We left Broken Hill and hit the dirt for the next week. Our first stop was Tibooburra which was very well serviced for a town of 150 people - two pubs! From here we took on the rough dirt road to Cameron corner which is a road stop that covers QLD, SA and NSW, apparently there is even a golf course that covers all three states and two time zones. Very isolated and the road varied from undulating dunes, corrugated red dirt, sandy creek crossings, "bull dust" and quite smooth. I was quite relieved to reach the Strezleki track which is a major dirt highway that runs from Innaminka and Lyndhurst. The road was in much better condition and even had some tar stretches to service the traffic that moves fuel and equipment to the gas fields. The track was originally created by a cattle rustler that stole a mob and moved them from QLD to Adelaide. He was caught but not sent to gaol as the jury were so impressed with his achievement!

We spent a couple of nights in Marree so we could take a flight over Lake Eyre. Not a lot there but it did provide us with some entertainment via a local named Dino who showed us his camels which he single handedly caught, trained and then proceeded to ride across Australia on. A rather passionate fellow who also trains sheep dogs for the local stations and dabbles in some photo journalism for several large newspapers, rather versatile fellow! Marree was once a thriving stop off on the original Ghan railway line, the old trains are all still there and ran until 1980. The flight over Lake Eyre was excellent, it is truly enormous and the only way to see it. The boys enjoyed the flight as did Jase and I although although I was a little nervous when I spotted our pilot who looked about 14! However, we survived and enjoyed his tour of the area.

We are now in Coober Pedy. Charlie and Gil are fascinated with the underground dwellings and were even more impressed with the spaceship which appears to have crashed landed in the main street. It was used in "Pitch Black" (possibly went straight to DVD?) and was just left there at the completion of filming! It is a very strange place but actually quite a melting pot with over 44 nationalities residing here. Opal mining and tourism seem to be the main draw cards and due to the availability of explosives it is best not the insult the locals!

From here we head north to Yulara and Alice, very much looking forward to Uluru. Will report again soon and get some photos up too. I hope this finds you all very well,

Chippy.