Crossing the NSW/SA border after travelling 9,235km in NSW and VIC combined, and a grand total of 62,598km on our lap of Australia to date, reality started to really kick in...
We are on the home stretch!
Crossing the border into SA
But firstly we decided to take a slight detour on our way home to the Opal mining town of Coober Pedy.
From the border we made our way across to Port Pirie and up to Port Augusta. From Port Augusta we headed up the central highway. With nothing but the stunning Australian Desert as scenery.
Along the way we stopped when a elderly gentleman flagged us down after puncturing his tyre.
Ella, having helped Gary change tyres, brake pads and various other parts on our car, was only too happy to help, and was soon down in the dirt showing us all how it's done!
For me it was just another reminder of the many life skills she has learnt whilst travelling Australia.
Arriving in Coober Pedy!
Straight away I was pretty excited to be visiting this town! In some ways similar to White Cliffs in NSW, but on a much larger scale!!
With the majority of the 3500 people who live here living in dugouts underground. As well as over an estimated 500,000 open mine shafts dotting the moon like landscape, we felt we had once again landed on another planet!
After setting up camp in the free camping area on the edge of town, we soon set off to explore some of the various Opal shops, displays, museums and galleries scattered throughout the town.
With many friendly generous locals manning these stores, it wasn't long before the girls had been given free samples of Opal and other kind gifts for them to keep.
That night we visited the local Drive-In to watch the movie "Eddy the Eagle." The Coober Pedy Drive-In is one of the oldest in Australia. Open since 1965 it was once a popular meeting spot for nearly every local in town.
Over the years though as Televisions became more popular in homes, the Drive-In became less popular. Besides the occasional screening it shut down for approx 10yrs in the early 80's.
Luckily a local charity group saw to reopen it in the 90's. After some fundraising it once again opened has once again become popular with local families and for the many tourists passing through the town to visit on a Saturday night.
We had to have a giggle when just before the movie started a giant message appeared on screen stating that "Explosives are not to be brought into this theatre!" (Certainly not your normal pre movie warning!) But in a town full of people carrying explosives, we could understand the reasoning behind this.
Over the next few days we found ourselves quite busy!
From Noodling for Opals, to exploring the various underground establishments, mine tours and a visit to Crocodile Harry's Dugout.
Crocodile Harry's Dugout was quite an interesting place to visit! Harry himself passed away in 2006, but his home is still open for the public to explore.
Harry's Dugout was made famous world wide when it featured in the Mad Max 3 movie.
The walls and roof of this dugout are covered in all sorts! From bras, knickers, hats and t-shirts left by tourists, to the many homemade contraptions and quirky statues and memorabilia collected from all over the place!
We spent an afternoon exploring the Umoona Museum and enjoyed exploring the underground tunnels and Dugout display home there.
We visited Toms Working Mine where we took a tour down a still operational Opal Mine.
The tour was fantastic. We even got to have a go at using the various mining tools used to mine Opal!
We drove out to the Breakaways some 17km from town.
Here we marvelled at the endless Desert views from the various vantage points.
We went Noodling for Opal all over the place. Although we can't quite retire just yet... We found lots of great pieces to take home as souvenirs!
We visited the numerous underground Churches carved into the hillsides. We saw baby rescued Joeys been fed at Josephine's Gallery, and also had fun checking out the local Golf Course!
Leaving Coober Pedy reality started to set in. We are well and truely on our way home.
Today as I write this post, it is our last day in Coober Pedy.
Tomorrow we will start making our way back towards Adelaide. Although we don't have an exact date, we expect to be back in Adelaide within the week...
See you soon Adelaide....
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