WE’RE IN KINGS CANYON AND COOBER PEDY

FRIDAY 1ST AUGUST   -   We left Ayers Rock and travelled for 310 kilometres to Kings Canyon Resort in Watarraka National Park, Kings Canyon. The Resort opened in 1991.  It was the only place to stay at the canyon.  It was a very big resort for caravans, camping and cabins.  There were plenty of toilet blocks and barbeques spread around the park.  There was also a swimming pool and children’s playground.  There was a petrol station, grocery store, pub, aptly called The Thirsty Dingo and bistro which had good food but was pretty pricey. Surprisingly enough dogs were also welcome, which was good news for us.  The views from our caravan looking over the hills of the National Park were terrific.  It was a very remote, serene and desolate place but full of beauty, birds, butterflies and walking tracks.  There was no internet or phone access at all, unless you paid for it in the bistro area. 

Kings Canyon is 323 kilometres southwest of Alice Springs, 1,316 south of Darwin and a 3 hour flight from Sydney.  The Luritja people have lived in the area for over 20,000 years.

We were instantly enchanted by the view from our caravan of huge hills spreading as far as you could see. 

The Range is a mixture of Mereenie and Carmichael Sandstone. The colours were ever changing and it was mesmerising to watch the sun set on the rocks.  It was also pretty cold there and pricey at $45 per night for a powered site. 

We went on a 45 minute Resort Ridge Walk along the escarpment surrounding the resort with stunning views of the George Gill Range.  It was a good introduction to the place.  We also spotted our first wild dingo, which looked really mangy.  It gave us a quick look over and scurried off into the bush.

We went to the bistro to watch Rod Dowsett, the singer songwriter that played there every night from 6 to 9pm.  He had lots of stories to tell in between his songs and he was very entertaining.  He lived on site in his specially designed bus with his many guitars, hats and harmonicas, dog and partner.

Richard was happy to watch the Sydney Swans on foxtel beat Essendon Bombers in the lounge area after the entertainment had finished.

SATURDAY 2ND AUGUST   -   We drove to Kings Canyon and did the hour long Kings Creek walk along the canyon base.  It was amazing to see the red rock walls that were over 100 metres high and all the lush ferns and eucalypts along the way. We walked up to the viewing platform and sat watching the spectacular rocks.  It was so peaceful, quiet and calming.

The main Kings Canyon Rim Walk takes 3-4 hours and is quite a rugged walk up and down.  I’m not good with heights so I wasn’t very keen to do it.  Lots of people we spoke to had done the full walk and they told us it was quite taxing.  Maybe I should have forced myself, but taking a look at the first 300 steep steps up the track didn’t encourage me too much more.

We continued on to Kathleen Springs and did the hour long walk along a smoother track with continuing stunning views, ending at a spring fed waterhole.  

We’ve certainly had sensory overload over the past few weeks with huge rock formations and gorgeous colours.

SUNDAY 3RD AUGUST  -  We left Kings Canyon and drove for 443 kilometres crossing the border into South Australia and free camped at Marriot Creek Rest Area which was a large area with plenty of room to let Sally have a good off leash run.

MONDAY 4TH AUGUST   -   We left our overnight stop and drove 300 kilometres to Coober Pedy.  We passed a few roadhouses along the way with signs saying “please stop and eat or we’ll both go hungry”.  We stayed at the Opal Inn Caravan Park in town.  They had a special on for 4 days stay for $100, so we took advantage of their special offer.  We had to pay for water - 20 cents for 30 litres from bowsers throughout the town and 20 cents for 4 minutes in the shower block.

Our first impression of the town was of a very dry, dusty, desolate place in a treeless dessert.   There were few green grassy areas or plants growing as the area has low rainfall, high cost of water, lots of sandstone and lack of topsoil contributing to the barren look of the place.  It looked like a lunar landscape with piles of sandstone mounds everywhere from the deep mine pits beside them.  We laughed that they looked like sand dunes.  

VIEW OF THE TOWN FROM A LOOKOUT

THE SIGN FOR THE LOCAL CEMETERY

Coober Pedy, the Opal Capital of The World, is in the outback of South Australia, 846 kilometres north of Adelaide and 685 south of Alice Springs.  It has a small population of 3,500, which in the peak of opal fever was around 8,500.   There are 45 nationalities living there.   Millions of years ago the ocean covered all of Coober Pedy.  When the waters receded silica deposits were carried into the many cavities in the ground which eventually formed into opal. 

In 1920 the area was renamed Coober Pedy from the Aboriginal words “kupa piti” meaning “white man in a hole”.  In 1915 the first opal claim was pegged by a group of gold prospectors that stopped to get water along the way and discovered pieces of surface opal.  The area was too hot and dry for them and they soon left.  The O’Neill bothers arrived shortly afterwards and became the first opal mining pioneers.  In 1917 the Trans Continental Railway was completed and many construction workers and returned soldiers from WWI came to the opal fields.  They lived in “dugouts” (underground houses). The Great Depression in the 30’s and 40’s saw opal prices plummet until an Aboriginal woman made a sensational opal find in 1946, starting the opal rush all over again.

Coober Pedy was also the filming location for parts of three famous movies:  Priscilla Queen of the Dessert, Mad Max 3 Beyond the Dome and Pitch Black a sci- fi movie featuring Vin Diesel. 

The town lives, breathes and dies opals, selling them in the too numerous shops in the town.  How they all make a living is a mystery.

'CATCH THE OPAL BUG'

TUESDAY 5TH AUGUST   -   We went on the half day Desert Caves Tour.  We were picked up from the caravan park by our tour guide who had lived in Coober Pedy for many years.  He was also a part-time operating miner with a great knowledge of the area.  We drove out to the opal mines and saw more of the mounds and the deep shafts of the mines.  It was a dangerous place and there had been many deaths and injuries from people falling into the shafts which were very deep and narrow.

Then we went onto the Dingo Fence. It was the longest fence in the World measuring 5,614 kilometres, running from Surfers Paradise to the Bight in Western Australia.  It was built in the early 1900’s to keep dingos away from grazing sheep and cattle herds and was 2 metres high.

We went to the Breakaway Reserve which was a low range of colourful exposed sandstone outcrops, once a part of the Stuart Ranges, with views over the Moonplain which was once an inland sea.  It had lots of salt and pepper coloured hills.

We went to the Serbian Underground Church which was a fascinating building.  The stonework inside was a beautiful mixture of sandstone and caramels and was so straight and smooth.  The walls were sealed to keep them dust free.  There were some beautiful carvings which were painstakingly hand carved. The stained glass windows and stained glass pictures behind the altar were magnificent.  There were very few chairs at the back of the church as the parishioners were expected to stand for the 1 ½ hour service. 

We visited an underground mine and saw the shafts and tools the miners used to dig out the opals.  It was very dangerous work blasting the rocks with explosives to open up the tunnels and also very dirty, dusty, low and claustrophobic.

We also visited an underground home.  The interior was completely different to what you would imagine from the outside.  The temperature inside was a constant 23–25 degrees year round.   Some of the homes were 30 squares and had in-ground pools and billiard rooms.  The interiors were surprisingly big, but not a window in sight, so when the lights were turned off, the interior was pitch black and you couldn’t  even see your hand in front of you.   I really don’t think I could live in such a home.  

Many of the shops and hotels and restaurants are underground, the backpacker hotel is underground.  It was certainly a very different way of life, but made sense as the temperatures can soar to 50 degrees in summer.

We saw the golf course, without a single blade of grass.   It looked so bizarre.

NEXT WEEK:  We will be going to Woomera the rocket testing facility in the 60's overnight, Port Augusta for 3 days and visiting friends in the Barossa Valley before heading to the Yorke Peninsula.