Another day of driving!! We were not long out of Port Augusta before we felt we were heading into the Outback. Long straight roads, red dirt, scrub, striking land forms (which the kids kept asking if they were Uluru), and many warnings of animals on the road. The scenery settled into a rhythm, alternating between flat land covered in saltbush as far as the eye could see, and tree covered land, as far as the eye could see. Every now and then we would "buzz" across a cattle grid, indicating that we had crossed from one Cattle or Sheep “Station” to another. I found that even though the roads were straight, overtaking was difficult in the morning, as the heat mirages on the road made long distance vision difficult. Also it felt like we were always heading slightly uphill, giving the impression we were always heading toward a crest – I suspect it was because we were heading up the map. I’m sure coming home it will feel like we are heading down hill. 😉
Every now and then the countryside would be broken up by a dry lake bed, often encrusted in salt, or by a huge vista from the top of a cliff. Unlike the first two days, today we managed to stop a couple of times to take some photos, rather than shooting through our dusty windows. On one occasion we pulled over to check our defrosting dinner sitting in the sink of caravan, and we were greeted by the most incredible sight of the salt pans of Lake Gairdner. We hope to plan our return journey to allow us to have a better look at this spectacle.
We stopped at the Pilba and Glendambo Roadhouses, the latter for a quick lunchbreak. Glendambo to Coober Pedy is the longest stretch of our journey between any sign of civilisation, at about 250 km. There was little variation throughout the 250 km, although about halfway the Stuart Highway served double duty as an air strip for the Royal Flying Doctors Service, complete with runway markings.
The sight of mullock heaps indicated that we were closing in on Coober Pedy, along with signs warning of hidden shafts. About 5pm we arrived and took the quintessential, if not original, Coober Pedy family photo. A rapid fire setup whilst the kids were on the playground (Isaac made a girlfriend, that is a friend who is a girl), a spaghetti bolognaise, and a quick explore of the campsite, and that was the day!
