Day 35 / 2025 - Port Augusta to Coober Pedy

Leaving Port Augusta we headed on our Northward leg of the journey towards Darwin. I did note that Port Augusta was the most eastern point we would travel to and the rest of the journey will take us back in a westerly direction. 

Heading back along the Ayre Hwy about a kilometre, we then turned right onto the Stuart Hwy and started heading a Northerly direction. Winding our way along the Hwy the landscape started to change to wide open plains. There were next to no trees, this was more of a nullarbor plain than the 'Nullarbor Plain'. after about 170 km and about 2 hours of travelling we pulled into Spuds Road house for a coffee and bit of lunch. The caravan overnight area had definitely changed since the last time we were there with the addition of bollards to define parking areas, more toilets, showers and the addition of 2 more picnic shelters.

Moving on we travelled about another 40 Km's up the road to a rest area called Lake Hart. This was a popular stop with travellers already stopped and setting up camp for the night. Lake Hart is a large salt pan with no visible water. There was the remainder of what appeared to be an old jetty that went partially out. There were lots of flys which is to be expected for this region, we managed them by using fly nets over our heads and tropical strength personal repellant sprays. The northern railway line traversed along the edge of the lake separating the camping area from the shoreline. You can access the lake by either a culvert pipe or just cross over the line further down. As the evening approached we sat outside to watch the sunset with a few drinks. The fly's had also disappeared with the setting of the sun and were expecting an onslaught of mosquitos which fortunately never happened. Retiring we found the site was quite noisy with passing trucks on one side and passing freight trains on the other side making it difficult to sleep. By next morning everyone had moved on and a new lot were starting to move in to setup camp. 

Moving on, our next stop was only 20 Km down the road called 'Wirraminna Station'. This is a privately owned campground, there are 10 level sites a communal fire pit and rubbish bins. The campground is aimed at attracting self contain recreational vehicles. Costs is $10.00 per night, the managers would also drop off wood for the fire each night. The sites are set about a Km of the main road down a fairly good gravel access track. They have laid blue metal on each site as a kind of pad to keep the dust down when stepping in and out of the van. The sunsets were quite spectacular and the night sky was full of stars. Unfortunately we had a waxing moon which tended to drown out the fainter stars. We lit the fire and sat outside for a few hours drinking a hot bevie and watching the stars. We also watched the brightly lit trucks on the hwy sliding quietly through the night and could sometimes hear the faint sounds of the train as we watched them pass. The camp was a very quiet place and we had a peaceful nights sleep. We only intended to stay for one night but ended up staying two. There is nothing really to do here just kick back and relax.

After a relaxing 2 days of camping at Wirraminna Station Stay we left and headed towards Coober Pedy about 310 Km's up the road. Stopping in at Glendambo for fuel and a sneaky sausage roll we continued on. We pulled up at Bon Bon for lunch and a nostalgia trip from 11 years ago. After lunch we decided to aim for a rest area just 13 Km south of Coober Pedy as our next stop for the night before heading into Coober Pedy itself for a 3 day stop at the Big 4 Stuart Range Caravan Park. Pulling into the Hutchinson Memorial rest area we found a level location for 2 caravans to setup for the night. This rest area is quite large and can accomodate many vehicles. It has a number of big open areas accessible by different tracks. If you are looking for a secluded camp then this probably not the place but there is plenty of room to keep well away from other campers.

 Friday we packed up and headed for the Big 4 Caravan park in Coober Pedy. We were a bit early but were very accomodating by booking us in then allowing us to go onto site early. We had chosen a Powered but no water site. We had to fill up our tanks at one of the water stations in the park then setup on our site. We chose one of the under shade cloth sites just off the main road. It was about $15.00 per night cheaper on a no water site. The only thing we needed water for was the washing machine. We ended up using of parks washing machine for $7.00 per load. We only had one load so ended up the cheaper option.

 Taking a drive into town we stopped at what is now the bakery called CK Underground which is basically a coffee shop but also sold bread. There is either above ground or under ground sections where you can sit in to enjoy your coffee. From there we went for a walk through the Unmoona Opal mine and Museum. This is an underground Museum with a tourist Opal mine attach as well as a retail outlet for Opal Jewellery. The history of Opal mining is display across a number of walls as you walk through various tunnels which ultimately lead the the retail shop. The jewellery was quite expensive with one ring costing $16,000.00.  There are some video theatres where you can view short documentaries but none of these were running at the time. From there we took a drive up to Winch 360 degrees which has the big Winch. From here you have a birds eye view across Coober Pedy and surrounds. There is also a Cafe/Bar where we enjoyed a refreshing beverage, beer for me (light one of course) and Ginger Beer for Anne. 

 Sunday was Mother's day so we went out for Waffles and coffee. Unfortunately they were not making waffles today. There were very few coffee shops open so ended up in the IGA which sold takeaway coffee's. Monday We went out for a town and surrounding area drive. We revisited the Underground church which had some beautiful religious artwork. From there we parked in town next to the Spaceship used in the movie Pitch Black staring Vin Diesel. Coober Pedy has been used for external sets for a number of movies such as Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. 

 We climbed over the top of the Unmoona Opal shop to get another aerial view of the town and surrounding area. We then climbed down the other side which bought us to the Opal Cave shop. Going inside we could see the array of Opal Jewellery in display cabinets. There was also a small museum which showed some different uses of Opal. This also housed the cutting and shaping room where the Opal cutter works. He gave us a demonstration of how they cut and shape Opals to bring out the best colour and prepare them for setting into jewellery. 

 We went back to CK Underground Cafe and Bakery for a coffee and muffin. This time we sat in the underground cave decked out with tables and chairs. From there we took a walk through the Underground hotel which had an Underground pokies area as well as a bar. There was an excellent museum in the tunnel connecting the main part of the hotel to Reception Along the walls photos and information boards described the historic development of opal mining Coober Pedy Area.

 Next on the list was back to The Big Winch 360 Degrees. This time we went in and watched the documentary projected onto a 360 Degree screen. This documentary was about the Explore way which depicted the region along the Oodnadatta Track. They showed towns such a Williams. Oodnadatta, Lake Ayre and of course Coober Pedy. The show run for about 40 minutes and had what I thought was the best Aboriginal Welcome to Country I had ever seen.

 Finishing up there we wend to IGA to shop for some nessissary groceries then Fuel Up at the local Mobil station. Arriving back at the caravan park we went down to their pizza shop again just for a drink. We caught up with the owners who showed us a Face Book video they had created from the previous night. For some reason the owners offered us a complimentary second drink so how could we refuse. We then ended up buying a pizza for tea.