Caution: Cattle Keeping it Real

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Bill Bryson says in Down Under that "the great virtue about driving through emptiness is that when you come to anything - anything at all - that might be called a diversion you get disproportionately excited." In my opinion, truer words have never been written.

Jesse and I and our new English friend Paul (our third English friend named Paul actually) embarked on a four day drive through the Outback from Alice Springs to Adelaide today.

Anytime we saw ANYTHING, including a passing car, a bird, a tree, and especially any and all roadsigns, we almost crapped ourselves with excitement. Some highlights include a cow crossing the road, a pile of tires and a series of roadsigns stating "Caution Cattle" to which someone had helpfully added creative verbs. The first was "Caution Cattle Jumping" then "Caution Cattle *****", and finally "Caution Cattle Keeping it Real".

After hours and hours of driving through nothingness, the sight of the hundreds of mounds of gravel and dust that are Coober Pedy was absolutely thrilling! I think this is the only circumstance in which I'd feel that way about such a sight. And that's pretty much all Coober Pedy is. Mounds of dirt. It's an opal mining town and that's the sole reason for its existence I think.

The big tourist attraction is the fact that almost everything is underground. We even camped underground which was pretty cool!

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Photos

Rachel Behind the Wheel
I couldn't pass up a crack at driving through Australia's outback! As you can see, I'm very at home on the road, especially on the left.

The Long and Winding Road
Uhhhh... not this one. This is the long and straight and very, very flat road.

Paul and Bread
Coober Pedy is apparently not just about Opals!

Pitch Black Ship Thingy
I've never seen Mad Max (starring Mel Gibson) but I was told this is a prop from the film and apparently that was misinformation! It's from Pitch Black! yes...

Camping in a Cave
This is our underground campsite! Jesse and Paul souped it up with cushions from our campervan :)

Warning
Dangers abound in Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy Landscape
Gravel. Dust. Lots of it. But a treat to the eyes after a couple days in the featureless desert.

Coober Pedy
This campervan cost us only $16 a day!! Relocations baby!

Glendambo Population
Needless to say, we only stopped here for petrol.

Comments

[Yrag Kansit]

There's More
Try the Coober Pedy News, http://www.cooberpedynews.com.au

[MARK HARMER]

MAD MAX SHIP THINGY.
Nah thats not of madmax it from STARSHIP , mad max 2 was filmed in BROKEN HILL.Mad max was in the future but not that far in the future! ALL THE BEST MARK.

[Stirringjoe]

The shiip is a prop from the American film Pitch Black starring Vin Diesel.

[Rachel of Oz]

Pitch Black!!!
Thanks for the clarification guys! Man, I wish I had realized that at the time. I would have taken more of an interest. I loved Pitch Black. I had no idea it was filmed in Coober Pedy. Damn....