Days 19 - 22

 Day 19

When we woke, it was still cold and windy and although I was sad to be leaving the island, I wasn't THAT sad you know? 😉

We made the hour and a bit drive over to where the ferry goes from. And guess what?! Chris spotted another echidna! They're common as muck now! 

Echidna no. 2

As soon as we boarded the ferry, an announcement was made that it would be a very choppy crossing, and boy was it! I was not a happy camper 🤢

After making it to dry land, we then drove to Mallala (north of Adelaide) our home for the night. It had been very difficult finding reasonably priced accommodation around Adelaide, but luckily Chris found this place just before I paid $100 for a shared dorm in a backpacker's 😂 Anyway, the town has an intersection like this, which was very confusing!

The camp was very full. There were mice everywhere in the camp kitchen, and I think there were some people living there rather than just passing through. There were coin operated showers, so had our first shower in three days -yay!

One the mice in someone's shoes!

Day 20

Easter Sunday! The bunny did not visit us. There was no chocolate for us - can you believe it?!

After trying, and failing, to secure camp-sites at a reasonable price for the next few days, we decided to change our itinerary a bit, and go up to Coober Pedy, an opal mining town where due to how hot it gets there, lots of people live underground. This was one of the first places Chris mentioned he'd like to visit on this trip. I have been before when I was 18 on my first backpacking trip to Aus in 2003. Twenty three years ago. I'm feeling old 🙃 There will be a lot more references to my 2003 trip coming I'm sure, and also some from my 2008 trip - the year Chris and I met, awwww!

We didn't want to make the trip in one go as it would have been a seven hour trip, so we drove to a free camp (more of a road side rest stop, really) called Lake Hart. The flies started up immediately. The cold of KI kept them away - we didn't know how good we had it 😂 We went for a little walk to the lake, and then sat and read until it went dark and then all the moths came out. I was writing the blog at this time, so hid in the swag to do that and Chris took one for the team and cooked. Amongst all the moths. I didn't hear TOO much swearing...

Lovely sunset

The fly nets made a comeback!

Day 21

After a terrible night's sleep - trains went past often (there was a track about 250m away from where were sleeping) and we could hear road trains* going past. Other people camping around us started packing up and leaving from about 5am. The only good thing about the place is that it was free. And the lovely sunset 😉

*A note on road trains for my non Aussie readers: road train are lorries/trucks that have at least three trailers. I thought three was the maximum, but on our trip up to Coober, we saw four and five trailers - madness! One road train had a sign on it saying it was 60m long and it had 4 trailers. It was massive!

We then drove to Coober itself. There has been a very wet spell in Central Australia, so the vista looked very green. We were expecting to see the red, dry, dusty earth but it was just green everywhere, very odd!

We finally hit the town, had some lunch and then made our way to our underground camping spot. That's right, we were setting up our swag underground for the next two nights! Last time I was here, I'm pretty sure I stayed in an underground hostel, but I don't think I have any pictures of it from back then, unfortunately. This was before digital cameras, so couldn't waste film, you know? Anyway, camping underground was definitely a new experience for both of us. 

Coming back into the light

Our campsite 

We walked down a ramp, to the underground cavern. There were several dug outs for the tents, and we picked the one we liked. Noise really eachoed down there and I said to Chris "I really hope no one snores, cos it's gonna be loud!" Subtle foreshadowing there, dear readers!

Chris has some computer work to do, so we went to the TV room where there was free wifi and no flies. We then went to get some groceries, and came back to cook some of those groceries in the camp kitchen. Then we went to sleep underground, where someone snored very loudly for the whole night. Earplugs were employed. And why, I ask, is it that snorers are always excellent sleepers? Just something I've noticed over the years of sleeping in hostels. And now in underground camping accommodation...

Day 22

Our first stop of the day was to do an opal mine tour at Tom's Working Opal Mine. We were two of four people taking the tour, although another four adults and two children arrived just after the tour started. One of the owners was telling us that they should be absolutely heaving with customers at the moment: it's just been Easter, it's school holidays, and it's the start of tourist season as the weather cools down a bit. The caravan parks are practically empty and he's just never seen it like this, with the exception of Covid time. A lot of the miners are not digging very much as the cost of fuel is prohibitive there. We've been paying about $2.40 per litre of unleaded, before the tax was halved. In Coober, it was $3 a litre. Most machinery and trucks use diesel, and that was at about $3.60 per litre.

Anyway, we did our bit to support the tourism and did this tour. Mila was our guide. She's been in Coober since the late 60s and had seen how the mining changed from picks and shovels to all the high end machinery now used. She was a wealth of knowledge and the tour was so interesting!

Looking very fetching in our hard hats

At the end of the tour we were served scones and tea and coffee, which was all delicious! All the tour takers sat down and started chatting, which was really nice. There was a couple from the US that were working in Alice Springs, a couple from south Victoria, a couple from NZ and us. Very multicultural.

We went for some lunch (no, the scones had not been enough 🤪) and then went for a drive around the Kanku- Breakaways Conservation Park, which promised otherworldly rocks formations and landscapes. It was nice there, but I couldn't help but think that maybe if it wasn't so green, it might have looked a bit more "otherworldly."

Some cool rock formations (and a fly making a cameo)

After some dinner, we went noodling - not a euphemism, guys! Noodling is what they call fossicking through rubble leftover from the mining. There are public noodling areas in the town and you go with hope and a black light (as opal glows white under it) and rifle through the dirt and rocks hoping to make your fortune. Being in this town and doing the tour really made me feel romantic about becoming an opal miner. I think because literally anyone can do it, it's not just big corporations out here, it feels like you could be the one to make your fortune, you know? However, after about 20mins of noodling and not finding anything, my romantic ideas of selling up and moving to Coober drifted away 😉😂 We did persevere for a good hour though. Chris was hoping to find a scorpion - they glow under UV as well - but alas, we came up short on that too.