Day 105. Saturday 6th October Coober Pedy

Windy overnight, reminded us of the night in Townsville! Jason & Leanne got up overnight to pull awning in and check for loose objects. Then the smoke detector in the camp kitchen opposite our site went off again, & Jason went over with the broom to disable it again... (as it had been playing up that evening as well)....Arghhhh!!! We went into town centre to get some provisions & called into the visitor centre, also had a look at an underground church. We took the girls to do some "noodling" ( prospecting for opal) in  the Jewellers Shop Road site. This proved to be lots of fun, the girls got very excited when they found a thin thread in a rock....after this we went to the Desert Cave  Underground Hotel to have a look at some real opals and have a coffee underground!! Then it was off to a local art gallery where the owner took in orphaned kangaroos and conducted tours of their mine below / behind the gallery. We fed the kangaroos and watched as the youngest Joey was hand fed its bottle. The kangaroos here were all either injured by cars, and nurtured back to health or rescued from some of the locals dinner tables!!!!! We had lunch in an underground cafe', a unique experience.After this we went to a local underground house which was about 18 squares of house including an indoor pool! The house was mostly dug out by its original owner by hand and took 10 years to complete. It keeps a constant 23 degrees all year round, despite the outside temperature in summer reaching around 50 degrees!! Last of all we drove out to The Breakaways, which are a colourful arid  area of land, of what remains of the inland sea 70  million years ago. The colors of the rock and sand formations were amazing, you could see why this site has been included in several films over the years...( eg: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Priscilla, Queen Of The Dessert.) we also drove out to the Dingo fence which runs from Qld  all the way through to Eucla on the Great Australian Bight. It is the longest fence in the world, built to keep the dingos North of the fence so as to stop sheep attacks down South. After a full days sightseeing we headed back to our van to have some dinner with our neighbours and pack up ready for a big days driving tomorrow.

The underground Catacomb Church

The family doing some noodling

 A shot of the town just near the main street

 The Desert Cave Hotel where we had some morning tea.

 The underground restaurant where we had lunch.

 The Kangaroo Orphanage

 The mine below the Kangaroo Orphanage.

 Fayes House.

 The hallway heading to the kitchen and bedrooms.

 One of the three bedrooms, note if the furniture does not fit then dig a hole in the wall.

 The Breakaways Lookout.

The Dog / Dingo fence.

A view of Coober Pedy Mining fields, something you have to see to believe it!!!

Day 104 Friday 5th October. Uluru – Coober Pedy

Up early to pack up for a big day in the car. We left Uluru and after a stop for Jason’s 2^nd coffee of the day, we were on our way. Topped up on diesel at Erldunda Roadhouse where Jason had his 3^rd coffee! About 30kms down the Stuart Highway we crossed over the NT/SA border.We stopped  again at Marla  for a toilet stop where we met up with our friends from Uluru, Craig and Leanne and kids! Since they were travelling to Coober Pedy as well we travelled with them for the afternoon then checked into our caravan park, http://www.stuartrangecaravanpark.com.au/  along  side them. The kids  enjoyed some more time together and we all had a swim in the pool. Showers were 20cents for 2 minutes which was pretty good considering we paid $1.00  8 years ago at the Oasis Caravan Park. After dinner the kids enjoyed movie night at our campsite. The temperature didn’t drop off much in the evening,  31 degrees at 8.30pm!! 

             

 We are entering the sixth state of our trip.

 Lucy sitting on the fence

 Signs just out of Marla

 Entering the moonscape of Coober Pedy

This town has to be seen to be believed!!!

Day 103. Thursday 4th October Uluru

Today we had a reasonably lazy morning till Lucy went up to the kiosk to get some milk & check the status of the climb. We had been waiting for the wind to die off so the climb could be opened for the last 2 days. Ava lost another tooth today, leaving her with a big gap where her 2 front teeth were!  Lucy came racing back to our van without the milk  yelling "it's open!!" We went into turbo mode then, getting ready at record speed, as the status has been known to change very quickly. After a serious talk in the car re safety we arrived at the base and started our ascent. We took our time and had a few breaks along the way. The rock is quite steep in some places, we all needed to get down on our hands & knees to climb up at some parts & use the chain. Once at the end of the chain ( about halfway), the girls all lost bit of momentum and started dragging their feet. They all wanted to stop & go back down, Olivia had a mini meltdown, ( we managed to nip it in the bud before it became one of her usual full blown ones)  but after along rest and much encouragement from Jason & Leanne we continued on to the top!!!!! Another rest & many photos then we began our descent. The walk down used different muscles & was a bit harder on the knees! Once at the bottom we all re-hydrated and drove to the resort where we rewarded ourselves with lunch. We wanted to fit in our last hike for the trip at the Olgas, so we did a "deal" with the girls that if they did the last hike they would be rewarded with an ice cream of their choice!!!! The bribery/convincing  worked, so off we went to do the  Walpa  Gorge walk which was 2.6kms.  Ava struggled with this hike, feeling it in her legs & overheating, but we were all very proud of ourselves & excited when we got to the lookout at the end! After this we headed back to the resort & had our promised ice cream, then  topped up our Diesel in preparation for our drive tomorrow. Once back at the van we all had a much needed swim, followed by dinner & bed early. 

Uluru Climb

Olivia having a rest in a hole that se found as soon as we reached the top.

The photos above are all at the Summit of Uluru

Starting to make our way down

 While going down was nowhere as physically demanding as the climb it still had its challenges.

The Olgas

 The Olgas Gorge Walk, Ava towards the end of the day had had enough!!

Day 102 Wednesday 3rd October. Uluru

Up at 7 am to go out to rock for Ranger guided walk at 8am along the Mala track at base of rock. Very informative, we all got lot out of it.  Olivia asked the question " is Uluru the biggest rock in the world?" the Ranger answered that it was the biggest "cleanskin rock" in Australia, there is apparently another rock in WA which is bigger, but has folaige on it. We then completed the base walk around the rock which was 10.2kms  & took us about 3 hours to complete. The walk was quite long, and if we had not been doing it with some of the girls friends from the campground we think it would have been even more challenging!!!
After this we returned to the van to have lunch & then a swim in the pool. The girls enjoyed playing with their new friends while we chatted to their parents while relaxing around the pool.

The Ranger talk from 8am at the Marla carpark

Some Rock Art at the base of the rock!

 Uluru!

 Completing the base walk was along way, the kids all needed a rest every now and then and utilised any chairs that were on the way.

 The views of the Uluru never disappoint.

 When arriving yesterday we drove through some fires, we also have walked through these that occurred last week. Prior to last week it has not rained in the area for 5 months.

It has become custom that Lucy towards the end of the walks power walks to the end. Nothing can stop her!

The girls that have lost opposite teeth on the trip so far!

Day 101. Tuesday 2nd October. Kings Canyon -Uluru

Packed up and left Kings Canyon headed for Uluru. Along the Lasseter  Highway we came across some smoke, then flames from a small scrub fire along the side of the road and into the bush a little. We later found out the Rangers were up most of the night putting out all the spot fires that they feared may threaten Uluru. The girls first spotted Mt Conner or "fooluru" as the locals call it!!!! and got very excited, it took a long time to convince them it was not Uluru...we arrived at our campspot in Uluru Resort at 1 pm and had some late lunch after set up In the afternoon we checked out the pool and town centre which had changed and grown since Jason & Leanne were last here! At 6pm we headed out to the sunset viewing area to take in the ever changing colors of the rock at sunset. Just magic.