Desert Country - South Australia

23rd June 2013

We woke to a fantastic sunrise over desert country this morning, which was a great way to start the day, albeit pretty cold again. After breakfast, we packed down and set off for Oodnadatta, some 130kms away.

Not long after we started we saw a dingo on the plains and for once it didn't go scooting off, so we actually got a good look at him. He was actually quite curious, as while we were stopped grabbing some photo's he came right up to the van to check it out.

Dingo near Arckaringa Station - SA

We continued to drive for a little while before coming into mud flats for about 20kms, meaning that the car and van got a 4wd work out, which was fun. We also made it onto Arckaringa Station, home of the Painted Desert, which was stunning.

Settings their names in stone - Painted Desert Lookout

Painted Desert Lookout - SA

The area for most part represented wasteland, with very little growing on it and very little sign of life, unbelievably this is a cattle station. We then came across the Painted Desert which was made up of a small series of hills which had layers of white, pink, yellow, black & red which just looked amazing. As quickly as the Painted Desert appeared it disappeared again and we continued the last 80kms onto Oodnadatta.

Welcome to Oodnadatta

We drove into Oodnadatta at about 11.30am, a town of about 180 people and stopped at the famous Pink Roadhouse that this town, literally in the the middle of nowhere, is known for. We had a great lunch & purchased yet more souvenirs before taking in some sights (it was Sunday, so nothing was open, not that it would have made that much of a difference anyway to be honest) before leaving and taking the dirt road bound for Coober Pedy about 200kms away.

Lunch inside the Pink Roadhouse - Oodnadatta

The girls complete with souvenir shirts

I said before about the area of the Painted Desert looking a bit like a waste land, but it had nothing on the area that we drove through to get to Coober Pedy, there was nothing. The highest shrub we saw for most of the way was about 10cm high, with much of the area being referred to on the maps as Moon Plain, such is the outlook over the land, it was pretty awesome to see though.

Driving on the Moon Plain

We stopped at the dog fence about 20kms out of Coober Pedy, which is the fence built to stop dingoes entering the southern part of Australia, apparently. So after a quick photo, we drove into town, and found our accommodation for the night. We have decided to treat the girls to stay in an underground motel, which they are very excited about.

So after checking in, we drove back in to town, watched the sunset & moonrise at the same time over Coober Pedy, which was really cool. The girls checked out an opal shop and we grabbed some supplies before heading back to the motel for the night.

Sunset over Coober Pedy

Moon rise over Coober Pedy at the same time

In the motel, we practised 2 plays that the girls had written throughout the afternoon, which was a lot of laughs. We are hoping to be able to make these into short movies before getting home, could be interesting.

Our underground motel - Coober Pedy