I got up early with the intention of making it on the road by 7 o’clock. I’ve been driving on gravel roads the last few days so I let my tires down. I wanted to pump them up before moving on. Unfortunately, the air pump at the station didn’t turn on until 8:30 and I had to wait around until then. Doesn’t make much sense to me.
Once I got on the road I stopped off at Arkaroo Rock. There are cave paintings here and they depict the creation story of Wilpena Pound that I spoke about in my previous entry.
The walk was pretty straight forward but boy, was it hot! I was the only person on the trail and I stumbled onto a huge herd of mountain goats on the way up. I think I caught them by surprise because they were freaking out a bit.
The rock art itself was pretty cool to see. It’s very primitive but I do find it amazing that the art has been preserved for all this time. They are just out there in the open, exposed to the elements. And they are still around tens of thousands of years later.
Then it was time to drive. I had about seven hours to get in before night fall. I stopped off at Hart Lake which is a salt lake halfway between Port Augusta and Coober Pedy. It was such a surreal experience. There was no water in the lake whatsoever. So you’re just walking out there and it’s like you’re walking through the snow.
There’s different objects out there and they are just completely covered in salt. Pieces of furniture. Art installations. The remnants of a jetty. Really really cool.
Then some more driving after that. Not much else to see. I found a nice rest stop to camp at near Coober Pedy and had a nice night by the fire.
I got up early and went into town. It honestly feels like somewhere you would live in a post apocalyptic world. They did film Mad Max here, so it makes total sense.
I went into the underground church first and it was pretty cool to see. Nothing too crazy. I was expecting more of an underground town. Like the subway in NYC. But most of the “underground” buildings are built into the hilltop. Still pretty cool though.
Coober Pedy is known for its opal mining. That’s why there’s a town there to begin with. I went into a shop and learned all about the different types of opal. I met Stella there and she told me her story. She originally came up with her husband and the intention was to stay for 3 months. She’s been there for 47 years. Kind of sounds like me in AU!
Then I did something kind of crazy. I played golf outside town. Desert golf. No grass anywhere. You actually have to carry this little piece of turf with you and place the ball on it every time you want to take a shot.
The greens are not greens at all but just finer dirt with no large rocks scattered around. You rake the dirt when you want to putt, to make sure that it’s flat. I’ll tell you, playing here will fuck up your game because you need to chip and putt way harder than you would on a normal course.
It was a really awesome experience though. I can now say that I have played golf in Australia! I didn’t do too badly either. Shot a 94. Not bad for someone who hasn’t played in a year. The heat was brutal too. I had to take a thirty-minute break at the turn or else I would have suffered quite a bit.
After that, it was time to bounce from Coober Pedy. Stopped off at the Breakaways and drove through them. That was a really cool little conservation site. At points you feel like you are driving on the moon. A true outback experience.
Here you can also find the dog fence. A simple fence that extends for over 5000 KMs. It was built to keep the dingos from killing all the livestock in New South Wales and Victoria. I read about it in a book once, so it was pretty cool to see.
That night I did another 3 hours of driving and ended up sleeping at Agnes Creek. Another great free camp. There are so many of them in South Australia. And it put me within shouting distance of the NT border. Honestly, these campsites are better than most of the paid camps I’ve been to. I would love to see this place during the wet season. The river seems like it would be so nice to camp near.