THE REAL OUTBACK. WOW

My last entry came from Coober Pedy and what a strange town that proved to be. About 8,000 people live there and 50% of them live in “dug outs” which are homes that have been dug out under the ground. The original idea came from returned soldiers from World War 1 who had become used to living in trenches. The climate in Coober Pedy is very cold in winter and very hot in summer so the underground homes keep the temperature at an even 25C all year round. We visited a couple of these homes and also some shops, churches and an hotel which are all built underground. The only sign of any habitation from above the ground is either a chimney, vent or TV aerial poking up through the dry soil. Some of the homes are quite large with 3 bedrooms and even billiard rooms. They use the ceilings as chalk for the billiard cues!! There are no gardens or lawns so no outdoor entertaining is done and no lawns to mow. We went for a drive out to The Breakaways which has a rocky landscape and is dotted with thousands of mines. This was the venue for one of the Mad Max films. The area is bounded by the Dog Fence which is a 5300kms long fence built to protect sheep stations in South Australia from dingoes and wild dogs. It goes through 3 states. Opals are the main source of income for the inhabitants of Coober Pedy and there are opal shops everywhere. I mentioned in my last blog that we had met up with friends that we had been with in Hall's Gap. Well Kathy and Neale from Tasmania were travelling the same way as us so we have spent time with them in Woomera, Coober Pedy, Ayers Rock, Kings Canyon and Alice Springs. It has been great to have someone to share a drink with at night and to compare our photos. While in Coober Pedy we went to the pizza shop attached to the caravan park and the owner's wife came from Bulls in New Zealand. It is certainly a small world.
Our next stop was Uluru (Ayers Rock) where we stayed at Voyagers Ayers Rock Resort. This is the only accommodation available in the area so they have a captive audience. This is the most expensive camp we have stayed at so far and by no means one of the best. The whole complex has hotels (4); motels; restaurants; supermarket; post office; shops; bars; tents for backpacking tours and a caravan park. There are no other houses in the area although there are Aboriginal areas that were off limits for us. Of course the rain had to arrive about the same time as we did so that put a curb on our sunrise and sunset viewing of Ayers Rock. We managed to find a 5 minute block when the sun shone and the whole road to Ayers Rock was lined with cars and their occupants standing on every vantage point with their cameras. There is a famous Australian photograph, by Steve Strike, of Ayers Rock with waterfalls cascading down the sides of it, well we saw that in reality. I know there are thousands of people who would love to have seen that but I would just have liked to see it in some warmth! We walked around the base of the Rock, a distance of 9.8km, one day and we were told it was the coldest day there for years. Trust us to be there for there that! It is definitely a fantastic icon though and we have got some great photos, rain or no rain. The climb to the top was closed the whole 5 days we were there owing to the rain and wind, but we wouldn't have done that anyway because it is actively discouraged by the local Aboriginal tribes and it is far too steep for us. We also visited the Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) a group of remarkable rock formations with lovely walks and views. We walked to the Waipa Gorge, a distance of about 2.6km return and intended to do the Valley of the Winds which is a little more challenging and longer but it got very cold and we had left our water in the car so we only did about a third of that.
It was then on to Kings Canyon which was even more spectacular than Uluru. We walked the base of the Canyon on the afternoon and the next morning we set off in brilliant sunshine to walk the rim of the canyon. The start of the walk is really difficult and it is suggested only the very fit and healthy consider doing it. We thought we were in that category so off we went. It was really difficult for the first 25 minutes climbing very steep rock faces but we just took it slowly and were rapt with the views when we got to the top. The rim walk is over 6kms and it took us just over 3 hours and that included a lunch break and numerous stops for photos. We felt really proud of ourselves for even attempting it, let alone for accomplishing it. The leg muscles the next day let us know we had really extended ourselves!
Alice Springs was our next stop and once again the reality was so different from the imagination. Alice Springs has some very serious social problems with the Aboriginal population but the town has so much to offer with scenery, history and of course the Ghan railway. We had booked into Wintersun Caravan Park on the Stuart Highway and we were lucky to get a site as there was a big motorcycle race on in Alice that weekend. The town was really busy. The shops are really spread out but everything we wanted was there. Vegetable prices were a shock though. Lemons 38 cents each, kiwifruit 45 cents each, spring onions $3.28 bunch and lettuces $4.20. You have to remember everything has to be freighted in to Alice so nothing is cheap. We had paid $1.65 a litre for petrol in Uluru and it was $1.39 a litre in Alice Springs. We visited the School of the Air where we watched an aerobic class being taught to the 143 pupils who are spread across an area of 1,300,00 square kms. The closest students are 80 kms away and the furthermost is 1300 kms away. The last radio broadcast was made in 2005 and now all the pupils are supplied with satellite and computer equipment at a cost of $10,000 - $15,000 per site. The pupils are not on line for more than an hour per day and the rest of the school day is spent on correspondence material that is mailed out to them on a regular basis. The school is in the top 10% of the education system in the Northern Territory. We also visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service; the old Alice Springs Gaol and Pioneer Women's Exhibition. The hardships that these pioneer women endured are unbelievable. We read of one women who was having complications with the delivery of her first baby and her husband laid her on a board on the back of a cart and drove her 600 miles to a doctor. She went on to have another 4 children! We drove out to an historical town called Hermannsburg which was a missionary station started by Lutheran ministers. The original buildings have been restored and look very smart in the clean white paint. This is where the Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira was born and did most of his famous paintings. The rest of the town is an Aboriginal settlement and I'm sure that the Lutheran ministers would not be very pleased to see how the town has progressed. Alcohol is a huge problem for the indigenous populations and in Alice Springs everyone, and I mean everyone, has to produce a form of ID when buying liquor and the times of sale are strictly regulated 2pm – 9pm Mon – Fri; 10am – 9pm Sat. and noon – 9pm Sundays. Sales of cask and fortified wines are limited and takeaway port is prohibited. You still see drunks on the streets at all times of the day. It is a huge problem but I can't see anything changing even though the Government is trying all sorts of ways to sort it out.
We are now in Wyecliffe Well and on the road to Darwin. We have had to book ahead as the V8 car races are in Darwin the week we are going to be there. We don't really like doing that as it ties us down but we have no choice at this stage if we want to keep to our schedule.
One or two little notes of interest I have recorded for the blog during the past 6 weeks. Lake Eyre in the centre of Australia is filling up and this is the first time in over 100 years that it has been totally full. This is the lowest point in Australia and when it rains in Queensland it flows into Lake Eyre. I knew we had struck a wet time. So much for global warming!
We had dingoes all around us in Uluru and Kings Canyon and we could hear them howling most nights. They sound like wolves. In Kings Canyon the toilets all had huge steel gates on them to stop dingoes coming in and we were warned not to leave washing outside or the dingoes would tear it to shreds.
In both of these places the temperatures that we had to endure were most unusual and the shower and toilet walls didn't go up to the ceiling. It wasn't the best wake up call to be standing in the freezing cold with nothing on and the wind and rain whistling all around you. One morning I looked up to see a magpie standing on the wall looking down at me. Not a pretty sight for the magpie!
The Royal Flying Doctor Service performs a great service to outback Australia and most of the big sheep and cattle stations have their own air strip. We were very surprised to find an air strip on the main highway just south of Coober Pedy. It is all marked out and if there is a serious accident, the police close off the highway to allow the plane to land.
The distances between towns is amazing by New Zealand standards. To drive from Coober Pedy to Uluru we had to drive 740 kms. in one day. In that stretch of road we would only have passed 3 townships which consisted of a road house; petrol station and maybe a pub. There is just nothing for miles but it doesn't get boring; there is always a change of scenery around the next bend or over the next hill. We are loving it.