Touring Knights

Today we explored Coober Pedy and it’s immediate surrounds. In the morning after a bit of shopping and opal browsing we headed up to Faye’s house. This home was commenced in the 1960’s initially by Faye and later she was joined by two female friends. Together the three of them used picks and hand excavated their home. The home consists of three bedrooms a kitchen , lounge and dining room and of course a bathroom.  It was an amazing achievement. Above is an image of a new home in progress, fortunately these days machines are used and the above home which was HUGE will be featured on Grand designs Australia. We did a trip to the opal fields, these mounds are a constant feature of Coober Pedy and look like a million ants nests.  I was lucky enough in the above photo to capture a magnificent wedgetail eagles inflight. The breakaways are located kms from central Coober Pedy, the colours in these rocky outcrops change constant...

Today we did a trip out to Williams Creek and Lake Eyre.  We travelled with a wonderful Coober Pedy local, who was just one of those salt of theearth type of men.  The trip all up was about a 470kms round trip ondirt roads . . .  This post is what remains of the Australian overland Telegraph line.  The telegraph line was a 3200km long and connected Port Augusta and Darwin and eventually was connected to London. The overland telegraph line was completed in 1872 and was recognised as one of Australia’s greatest engineering feats of the 19th Century Kati- Thanda / Lake Eyre That shimmering in the background is water no a mirage .... lol it was really hard to capture the vastness of this lake. Lake Eyre is the lowest natural point in Australia at about 15 - 20m below sea level.  When the lake is full it has the same salinity levelas the ocean , however as the water evaporates the salinity level gets higher.  We got to walk out o...

We arrived at Woomera mid afternoon, we managed to drive straight past our caravan park, straight into the middle of town and into roadworks...lol A few detours and u turns later we made it back to our destination for the evening. To be honest we didn’t do any exploring of Woomera that evening, it was another long drive andwe were ready for a few drinks at the caravan park bar and bed.... The next morning though we headed into town and had a quick look around. Building at Woomera commenced in the late 1940s to house the people moving to the area for the Anglo-Australian defence project.   At its peak the population reached approx 7000 people. Up until the early 80’s Woomera was a closed town with the General public not being allowed to visit. However since 1982 the public can now visit , however only members of The Australian defence force can permanently reside in Woomera. Sadly we missed out on visiting the museum as we had to get back on the road. ...

This morning we left Broken Hill, heading west with the planned destination of Port Augusta  We crossed into South Australia at just around 9am. Neither of us even thought about bio laws and we had to sadly dump the fruit and veg we had just purchased in Broken Hill. I have to say I did down s few apples in pretty rapid succession.... lol But I understand the importance of these laws and respect the law... so it looks like fresh fruit shopping at Coober Pedy.  As we travelled along the Barrier highway we passed through some super cute little townships.  These trucks loaded with Feed have sadly become a common site as they travel from South Australia into New South Wales to help keep our farmers stock  alive. This truck driver was telling me he does this trip at least once a week.  Crossing over the  ranges we soon found the landscape change to lush green and in the image above you can just make out the blue waters , our l...

This morning we headed out to see the fabulous Broken  Hill sculptures.  Despite the gorgeous blue skies it was absolutely freezing....  Which was a little sad because it was hard to stay and study the carving. Thank goodness for our trusty wind proof Kathmandu jackets.... and my camera soo can study the Images in the warmth of Bridget  The sculptures are located on a hilltop, with fabulous views to the surrounding countryside. they each tell a story. There are 12 sculptures in total. Each of them were stunning, this was one of my favourites and represents a mother and child.  Other sculptures represented the moon goddess and the rainbow serpent. After the sculptures we headed to the flora and fauna sanctuary.  Unfortunately but not unexpectedly it was very dry, but still incredibly interesting.  The above is a reproduction of an aboriginal shelter. After the 1 1/2 hr wander through the reserve where we encountered a fe...

Today started with a visit to the miners memorial and cafe. The miners memorial sits overlooking the town and was dedicated in 2001. The memorial was dedicated in 2001 The memorial lists the 800 names of miners who have died since mining started in Broken Hill in     1883.   The mines in Broken Hill mainly provided Silver and ore and Broken Hill was the birthplace of BHP. After the pretty cold visit to the memorial we headed to the Bells milk bar. Bells milk bar is the oldest continuous running milk bar in Australia. The owners still produce and use the original recipe’s used when the cafe was first opened.  The cafe also has a museum with memorabilia from the 50’s and 60’s.  I had a cherry ripe milkshake it’s was really good. After the milk bar we headed to the silver city mint and art centre to see the largest acrylic painting in the world. There was no photography allowed so I can’t sha...

Yesterday morning seen us on the road at 3:30am. Apparently gadget ( my husband) had been  awake for 1 1/2 before he woke me , which means by the time I was woken he had a thermos in the car and my travel mug had freshly made tea. We travelled to just after Denman and admitted defeat and pulled over to a roadside rest area and had a snooze in the car. All I can say is that the car seats are a lot better to snooze in then aeroplane seats.... lol We enjoyed the sights of Dunnedoo whilst enjoying breakfast, it was pretty cold so it was a quickstop and we were back on the road Our aim was to spend our first night in Cobar.  We arrived about 1:30 pm and were both feeling like continuing so we fueled up and kept moving. Another fabulous roadside area hosted us for lunch and we were off again.... From Cobar to Broken Hill the view was pretty much the same with some variation in the types ofplants and the occasional sighting of wild goa...