Day 9 - Coober Pedy to Somewhere beside the road 80ks from Kulgera

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We had breakfast at the Cafe in our motel. The coffee was the most disappointing so far, but the lady was very nice. We headed out of town via the road to Oodnadatta, despite the lack of streets in Cobber Pedy I managed to do an entire circumnavigation of the town before I found the road which was just down from the motel. As we drove out we saw the various opal mine workings. Basically these guys just drill a shaft, put in a tunnel digging machine and mine along the "opal line".Judging by the caravans I don't think there's much money in it. As you leave Coober Pedy there are a few breakaways (little hills rising up out of the landscape), but generally it is flat and scrubby. As we drove along the track we passed various properties. Then the Chief Navigator began to plot out a new route. Prior to leaving Sydney, in addition to the map reading training, we also had a compass reading session. I have been disappointed that Becs hasn't got the compass out as often as I'd like but it has been used. We took a new track through Ackaringa Station to Oodnadatta via the Painted Desert. This road was a little trickier than the previous. On the way to Lake Halligan we got the manual out and I checked out how to engage 4wd, but you have to go really slowly. We've been doing about 100-110kph along these tracks with only a handful of near misses. This track had some very steep "dips" which required quite a bit of concentration and unparalleled 4wd skill and also a lot of sand which led to some minor loss of control when you hit it. The key is to always look like you are totally in control. Fully laden Toyota Land Cruiser completely airborne, yep just what I intended. This track also seemed to pass more creeks so in general the flora was more substantial. It also passed the Painted Desert which is a collection of hills which have various patterned layers . They are where they have been eroded away, it is quite beautiful and this route provided some great photo opportunities. We had been told that the Ackaringa Homestead which we passed has some great camping, but we need to get to Uluru. After about 250ks we rejoined the Oodnadatta track and came into Ooodnadatta. What an amazing town. Looks to me like it's probably double the size of William Creek. It has 2 roadhouses and a pub and a Museum. We would have had a quick look in the Museum but you had to get the key from the Pink Roadhouse where we had lunch and we couldn't be bothered. We took a photo of the outside which is almost the same. There was an indigenous man playing guitar and singing and I was tempted to get mine from out of the car as it was also out of tune and my voice is crap as well. We continued on the Oodnadatta Track to Marla. We came across a huge Wedge Tailed eagle and some hawky looking things feeding on a big carcass (possibly a German backpacker but hard to be sure). After another 200ks and some serious road dips we arrived at Marla which was as expected not much. It had a dire looking campground but it did have Diesel. Accommodation on this leg was a little problematic as we had already decided that Marla wouldn't be any good and figured it would be dark before we got to Kulgera. We joined the Stuart highway (our first tarred road, other than the entry to towns for a number of days). There were couple of overnight camping spots on the route. We checked out the first one and it was everything I'd dreamed of. About 20 caravans with grey nomads out the front reclining on deck chairs and drinking tea. They had effectively turned a roadside overnight area into a caravan park. It seemed clear we would have to get more innovative. A bit further along the highway we found a dirt track which we headed down and lucked upon a pretty good campsite. It was close to the Stuart Highway but we discovered that hardly any traffic goes here at night. In a jiffy we were cooking and drinking red wine. The issue seemed to be that it was some sort of non-signposted cattle meeting spot. So from about 10pm all you could hear was mooing. Spag Bol and Caramello.

Things we learnt:

- Looking like you know what you are doing is better than low range

- Becs' navigation skills have been exceptional

- Oodnadatta is nice but I wouldn't want to live there

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