Cobar to Coober Pedy

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The first part of my trip involved a 1500km drive starting at Conar Outback NSW to Coober Pedy Outback SA with a one night stop over at Peterborough being a half way point.
I took only two days to get to Coober Pedy, I should have taken my time as there was much I saw along the way that would hve been interesting to photograph. I wanted to get as far as Coober Pedy then spend time in the middle of Australia, which is where I am more interested in exploring.
I spent the first night in a cabin at the Peterborough Caravan Park. It was clean, comfortable and the park reception was very friendly. The park was nice and quiet, the way I like it.
The first leg of the trip I where I had been before. I had travelled through this part of the countryside when I visited the Flinders Ranges. Travelling along the Barrier Hwy from Cobar starts out with the road lined with scrubby vegetation and red dirt. It stays this way for 200kms.The landscape opens up before getting to Wilcannia where you start to see the vastness and starkness of the land.
I continued onto Broken Hil, a long stretch but I like the views. It was much greener than when I had been before, the land had been drenched with rain and now resulted in the landscape coming to life. I had not seen any animals along the way but there was much road kill scattered along the way.
After refuelling I continued on to Peterborough. The sun was starting to head over the hills and I wanted to get there before dark, which I did. There were so many opportunities to get some shots, the light was great for landscape images but I had to keep going.
I arrived at Peterborough driving directly into the sun, bug guts on the windscreen made it hard to see, so I drove slow until the sun went down. The town had a main street that was tidy and full of old buildings that were well maintained, the caravan park was well sign posted and away from the main street.
The 2nd leg of the trip was Peterborough to Coober Pedy. I studied the map and also booked accommodation at the Coober Pedy Oasis tourist park the night before. I decided to go through Quorn to see what was there, I heard it was a good place to take photos. I left Peterborough at 8am, arriving at Coober Pedy at about 6pm. The tourist park reception was busy and the receptionst was having trouble getting the computer to work and print receipts. I settled into a cabin, it was comfy but not the cleanest. The cabin had a TV with Austar but I couldn't get Austar to work, which didn't really concern me, I was tired and hungry.
Throughout this leg of the trip I really enjoyed the scenery. Beautiful landscapes between Peterborough and Port Augusta,open planes and mountains, part of the Fliders Ranges. Travelling through Quorn was lovely but the area was covered in cloud, so I didn't get any shots but enjoyed the winding roads.
Travelling through Port Aususta was great, a busy looking place with road taking me straight through without much delay. I easily found the turnoff to Coober Pedy and darwin which took me straight out onto the open desolate flat landscape, flat top mountains springing out of the ground in the distance. It looked fantastic. The road seemed to go on forever.
I stopped at Woomera, an old military base where atomic weapons were tested. The place reminded me of a large army base and small town. There was a baseball field and American flags flying, a reminder that this was an American joint operation. Plenty of missiles, rockets and aircraft on display with a museum that I did not get time to look at.
I kept going along the long Highway which became scant of trees the closer I came to Coober Pedy. The landscape changed into a moonscape as mounds of dirt dug up from opal mining led me to the opal mining capital Coober Pedy.

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Photos

Peterborough
Just out of Paterborough I stopped to enjoy the scenery

Flat top mountain
Taken north of Port Augusta SA

Woomera
Part of the display at Woomera