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Published: April 15th 2008
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After Adelaide, we made our way to the Barossa Valley where our frst stop was at the Jacob Creek Vineyard and Visitor Centre. Here we learnt about the history of the Barossa Valley, we would have sampled some wine, but we refused to pay such a high price to taste it when we had to spit it out!
The next morning we headed up to Peter Lehman's Vineyard, where the annual Rolls Royce and Bentley meeting was being held. Although it was meant for members only (Doris did not qualify!) a steward advised us to pretend that we were the BBC, which enabled us to take lots of photos! That afternoon, after a spot of cheese and biscuits ( made for us by our lovely hosts in Adelaide) we headed to Port Augusta.....316km/195 miles North.
Port Augusta was the last chance to enjoy civilisation before venturing into the Outback. After discovering that tourist information centres like to close early, we made our way to the campsite. We had stocked up on food and were ready to head off early the next morning ( assuming Kayley didnt take too long getting ready as always).
Next morning we started our
Journey to Coober Pedy (537km/333 miles). This was really the start of the Outback and no sooner had we left than the desert appeared bringing with it countless roadkill (Cows and Kangaroo's and possibly a Camel).
Many people had mentioned how strange Coober Pedy was but nothing quite prepared us for probably one of the wierdest places in the world! The place looked like a thousand giant moles had come through, with piles of sanstone all over the place. These were the results of huge mines and shafts made by Opal Miners. In the full day we were there we visted an Opal mine dating back to the 1920's. This mine was hidden by it's occupants and seemingly forgotten about, until an underground house extension ( half the ppulaton live underground) creating a new bedroom, blew open a sealed shaft. The mine contained millions of dollars worth of Opals, and is now available for the puplic to visit.
After a quick trip around an Aborigional Museum, we went for a spot of 'Noodling'. This is a common past time of the locals, rumaging through discarded rubble, looking for pieces of Opal which the miners may have missed. After
an hour of this, we decided to give up and headed back to Doris where Kayley saw something shining by the Wheel. Having just found a small piece of Opal, James joined in the search, where we discovered quite a talent for finding small bits of Opal.
The next morning we slept in a little longer (08:00) and prepared ourselves for another long drive (419km/260 miles) to Kulgera. The drive seemd hard and tiring. Straight roads with no traffic really drains you after a while but with swapping over every hour we felt refreshed. Kulgera was only a roadhouse about 74km before the Uluru turn - off. A basic campsite for $11 was all we needed but Kayley met a little friend in the toilet, this was her first of many experiences with
Latrodectus mactans haselti (or the Redback Spider to everyone else). Kayley, not content with only one animal encounter, decided to wake James up screaming because a cockroach had just ran over her in the bed. Not being able to catch it meant a restless night fr both of us.
The fllowing day we covered 318km/197 miles and headed to Yulara, a small resort set up
only 10km from Uluru (Ayres Rock). We booked two nights and headed straight off to see the sunset. We got up early in the morning and made our way to Uluru for the 10km base walk. Although tiring to do in such extreme heat, it enabled us to see how amazing it really was. We decided to respect the Aboriginies wishes not to climb Uluru, even though we were really looking forward to the near enough 90 degree climb in the midday heat! As we were a "little hot" after our hike, we went back to the campsite for a swim.
That afternoon we went to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) for another walk (slightly easier than the first) through the Gorge. We then watched the sunset over these inspiring rock formations.
Not having had enough of big rocks, we headed to Kings Canyon 303km/188 miles away. We again checked into a campsite before driving to the Canyon itself. We knew it would not be an easy 6km walk over and down the canyon but we gave it a go. The first 200 meters was hard but it was all worth it for the incredible views and the beautiful
Garden of Eden hidden away at the bottom of the Canyon. By the end of the day we were ready for a bowl of pasta and sleep before our long drive to Alice Springs the next morning............... It seems that having driven nearly 4000km/2480 miles in only 2 weeks had taken its toll on poor Doris. She just wouldnt start and we were forced to try to jump start her. We realised it was not the battery so we called out a mechanic from 40 km away who diagnosed a leaking (trashed) fuel pump. We were forced to stay at Kings Canyon resort for 2 nights while a new pump was brought down from Alice Springs. Our Van was fixed yesterday morning and we have since made it to Alice Springs. We have stocked up on essentials and plan to head towards Queensland via the barkley highway tomorrow.
Hope you are all well, we have noticed a diminishing number of comments and we are considering returning home because of it so please leave lots of messages!
Take care, lots of love,
James & kayley
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Nikki Morgan
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this is not really a comment!
Helloooo!! I thought about not leaving you a comment so you would come home, which is completely selfish of me! Ha! So this is not really a comment, so you can come home, but I'll let you have the rest of your trip first!! Ah, it all looks so amazing still!! Doris sounds ace...I wish you could bring her back and give her to me....I'm finally booking in some driving lessons today! Argh! You have to bring your pieces of opal back and have some jewellery made...that would be ace! Don't bring the roadkill back tho..although you could have yourself a little BBQ while you're out there!! Hmm, I wonder how much meat you've eaten Kayley?!?!? Glad you're still having an amazing time and looking after yourselves! Love reading your blogs!! Can't wait for the next one! Lots and lots of love, Nikki! xxxxx