Day 8 - Halligan Bay to Coober Pedy

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The kiwis were up early and got away just ahead of us. I started the Land Cruiser and the message “Oil Maintenance Required” came up on the dashboard. Now if I was in Sydney I’d happily drive with an assortment of these messages over a few months admiring new ones as they appear (eg Fuel Filter Replacement Required), however at Halligan Bay it just didn’t seem the same. Also it seemed unlikely that there was a Toyota dealer at William Creek. There was no option but to head off. I checked the oil at William Creek (all good) and went into the pub for a coffee. The kiwis were there (not surprising as kiwis are basically everywhere). For some reason we got into a conversation about some part that had fallen off their camper trailer on the way to Halligan Bay which they had found on the way back. In full retribution for my personal failings with regard to Lake Eyre, I had promised Becs that we would head across to Coober Pedy and stay in a motel. So we drove the 160ks of dirt and sand from William Creek to Coober Pedy, needless to say we saw the kiwis as soon as we got there. I left Becs at the underground motel (more on that later) and went to the RAA mechanic. I told him the story about the Landcruiser. He took the keys and went to check it out. I was feeling slightly guilty that I didn’t know more about my vehicle especially given that in my youth I actually knew something about engines. After a few minutes I went over to check how he was going. He was sitting in the driver’s seat watching a youtube video on his iphone titled “How to Reset the Oil Maintenance Message on a 2013 LC200”. I kid you not. Anyway he fixed it. Becs and I had lunch at John’s pizza across the road from the Desert Cave Motel and then we went on a tour of the Opal museum which I thought would be rubbish but was actually quite interesting. The whole area was an inland sea and when it drained, opal was formed from the silica (sorry expurgated version). We also checked out a mock up of an original dugout and a modern Coober Pedy home. Apparently 60% of the population live in dugouts. I’d been told by Ian and Sue that the IGA was really good so we went over to check it out. It had everything (including a 3 gun locker on special). I have to admit that Becs and I have been drinking cask wine as it is more compact than bottles. The Yalumba ones are actually not too bad. It was because of this I truly experienced racial prejudice. Becs and I went into the Cellarbrations store but we couldn’t find casks so we asked the guy. He just pointed at the sign “No cask wine in Coober Pedy”. It explained why all the beer and wine pallets were surrounded by nets. I have a particular sense of achievement tonight because I convinced Becs to eat at the Outback Bar and Grill at the Shell Service Station (they do a great Piccolo Latte) and bizarrely the waiter was the same as John’s pizza. Admittedly we had to dodge a bunch of drunk indigenous people who have clearly discovered that bottles work as well as casks.

Things we learnt:

- Youtube is just as reliable as Google

- Coober Pedy has a great IGA, where you can buy gun lockers but not cask wine

- Becs’s standards have lowered

Footnote: Becs wanted me to mention that one of the issues with Halligan Bay was the memorial to the Austrian backpacker on the way in. Got there but never made it out. It’s an interesting story so Google it!

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