Off to See the Wizard - Coober Pedy to Kulgera

Today was mainly a day of just driving.

As we left Coober Pedy we were surprised at the extent of the opal mining area.  It went for miles, then there would be nothing, then another cluster of piles of dirt in the distance.

I finally was able to get a photo of a noodling machine, although it is a rather poor photo.  This is where the miners search for the opals from the piles of dirt and stones that are brought up from the mine in the blower.  It is poured through a mesh to remove the largest rocks (to the left in the photo, then it goes through a tumbling process to break it down a bit and remove more dirt, then it goes onto a conveyer,  and  into the little room on the right.  This area is lit by a blacklight, which highlights the opals.  The miner sits and watches the dirt go past in the conveyer and picks out the opals.

As we travelled along the landscape changed constantly.  For a long way there was very little vegetation and the ground was covered in small stones.  They had obviously been used as road base at one section of the highway, as it was the same colour as the ground to either side.

For the last few days we have seen some grass growing at the edge of the road that reminded us of serrated tussock.  We have now learnt that it is called Bristle Grass, which is rather appropriate.  It really does look like a shaving brush or paint brush.

As always, we are on the lookout for our “Spotto” items.  I normally am the first to see a camel, but until today we still hadn’t seen any.  Mick ended up winning that Spotto.  The sad thing that it was four camels dead off to the side of the road, all together.  They make very large roadkill. Definitely no pictures of that. Hopefully, we will see some live ones soon.

Then it changed and there were lots of these fine leafed trees.  I’ve no idea what they are.

You realise you are in the land of really large cattle stations, as you now and then drive over a cattle grid and see one of these signs.

Our lunch break was at the tiny settlement of Marla.  There is a large roadhouse complex, but what surprised us was the grassed park like picnic area.  They obviously have a good bore for their water supply.

Every now and then we would be surprised as our phones pinged.  There are random mobile phone towers all along the highway.  We even had four bars of 4G internet at Marla.  Better than most places.  

What I had been looking forward to today was crossing the border into the Northern Territory.  We can now say we have been to every state and territory in Australia.

The Territory used to have unlimited speed limits in many places, but now it is 110kph unless otherwise stated.  Well, this area was 130kph.  The fastest of anywhere in Australia and there was a sign saying there are mobile speed cameras.  Well, I can assure you we won’t get arrested for speeding, as we plod along at about 90kph with the van.

Our destination for the day was Kalgera Roadhouse, about 20 kms into the Territory.  We even have a powered site with water at the bargain basement price o $28 per night. We even have four bars of 4G internet here too.

On the other hand, the fuel is the most expensive we have encountered so far, at 304.9 cents per litre.  It was only 243.9 at Coober Pedy. It will be even more expensive over the next few days.  That is called supply and demand and very remote locations.  It is what it is.  Otherwise, you would just stay home.

We popped over to the pub here for a quick drink this afternoon with some people we had met on the tour at Coober Pedy.  

It is a rather quirky outback pub.  

They are good for a chuckle.

We will travel to Ayer’s Rock (Uluṟu) tomorrow.  We had tried to book the campsite some months ago, with no luck and had been told that you couldn’t book the overflow campground.  We learnt today that they have changed their policy and now take bookings.  We quickly got on the phone and have successfully booked in for the next four nights.

The highlight for the day for Mick was the lunch stop in the park at Marla.  For me it was entering the Northern Territory.