Blogs from Coober Pedy, South Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 2

Hi everyone, big day today so i apologise now for writing so much. Today was a day of mixed speeds. We had a very slow morning. No hurry to get up. Plenty of time to shower, go for a walk to the local servo for coffees and no hurry to come back. Laying in the sun was the order of the morning. I kept blocking the sun from Tracey and she was not happy. Such a great morning. Half the park checked out and they were predominatly large vans and their work horses ( Xavier was happy because he is seeing lots of Rangers). Not seeing many Hi Lux's pulling vans. We had a very light lunch. Tracey is still complaining that she has not been able to find any cream buns. Boy she is annoying ... read more

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 ... read more

Wed and Thursday, 16 & 17 November 2016 The name of the town was approved by the Geographical Names Board on 13 May 1982 and was derived from the Glendambo Homestead. Glendambo is a comprehensive roadside stopping point with a caravan park, a hotel-motel, a licensed restaurant, roadhouse and general store. The hotel was certainly worth stopping for as it has extensive memorabilia from the wool industry. It was then onto Coober Pedy, the town which is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is renowned for its below-ground residences, called "dugouts", which are built in this fashion due to the scorching daytime heat. The name "Coober Pedy" comes from the local Aboriginal term kupa-piti, which means "boys’ waterhole" or ... read more

Thursday 12 November continued We arrived at Coober Pedy bus station and were very pleased to see that the hotel shuttle was there waiting for us. Pat had asked if this was possible in the booking process, but we weren't sure if it would happen. Turns out that the town centre area isn't that big and everything is only 5 minutes away. That said our arrival greeting and journey to the hotel was very helpful and informative. Just in case you don't know by now the town is the Opal mining centre of the world, and Pat likes Opals. There are small and large spoil heaps for mile after mile of the drive in to town. After plenty of information was given to us about the hotel and opal mining, we were taken to our room. ... read more

Continued from previous entry... Day 4: We “sleep in” till about 9 in the van. It’ still raining so we decide to get outta here and head north towards the desert, assuming it won’t be raining up there. Our destination for today is Flinders Ranges National Park, about 2.5 hours north of where we are now. We hit the road and drive through a little bit of rain before arriving in the little town of Quorn. Sounds like “corn.” Nimarta has spent two nights here before on her previous trip to the Outback. In fact she celebrated her New Year’s 2012 here. It’s a bit more vibrant than the other little towns we passed through yesterday, but still not much going on. We use the public bathrooms to wash up, fill up on gas, and get ... read more