Ayers Rock to Coober Pedy

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Ayers Rock to Coober Pedy

The morning started at the fuel bowser – filling up 80.5L @ 180.6c/L. Shortly after leaving Yalara we came across Mount Connor – around 3 times the size of Uluru, easily mistaken by many overseas tourists on their drive in! The top of the mountain appeared so flat compared with Ayers Rock, as though someone had compressed it down as flat as the surrounding land.
Further down the road there were many wavy red sand dunes which seemed stand out from the saltbush and Spinifex planes alongside the road, with various types of animal footprints and tracks to be seen.
This day was a long drive along some very flat and open land, so we travelled big distances requiring a few fuel stops; Kulgera- 15L @ 190.0c/L, Marla- 90L @ 181.1c/L, Coober Pedy 91.7L @ 163.9c/L.
Although not travelling at the speed limit, it was a shame to see the end of Northern Territory’s infamous 130km speed signs.
On our way into Coober Pedy the flat planes became white dunes of gypsum. Later we joined a guided mine and museum tour of Umoona Opal Mine, where we learned the art of locating opals is very hap-hazzard, with no organisation which was reflected by the dunes we had passed earlier. You just dig until you find a seam within the quartz, if no luck - dig a few metres away!
Around 80%!o(MISSING)f the population in Coober Pedy live underground to escape the 56 degree summers and minus 5 winters. Funnily enough ‘Coober Pedy’ is an Aboriginal term meaning white man in a hole. After reading the local paper we noticed the big difference in ‘house’ prices – an underground 4 bedroom 2 bathroom dugout costs around $200,000 – very different to the usual $400,000+ property on the eastern coast!
We tried our luck at ‘noodling’ – where you fossick for opals in the molehills but with no good fortune we headed to the underground bar to play a game of pool before driving to our free-camp for the night along William Creek Road.

778km’s this leg of the journey
Km’s so far this trip 17,386

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