3 states 3 days - day 3

Rob recounting the 'old' days at Little Topar

Ahh well here's the entry with not much to say as this road has been much travelled.
We travelled through Broken Hill and on towards Bourke, Cobar and Nyngan - stoping in a bush camp just 10k short of Nyngan. The area is looking good although another couple of inches of rain now would do the crops good. Had a great last night camping and then arrived in Trangie the next morning ready for a few days with Rob's sister and mum. Next stop Narromine and not long to Bec & Glen's bub due

3 states in 3 days - day 2

Salt lakes north of Port Augusta

Salt Lakes

Port Augusta harbor 

Road to Peterborough 

Another big day of travel. Much the same outside Coober Pedy but as you close in on Port Augusta the salt lakes are incredible. Reading up on them several are 100km x 40km give or take and all feed into the much larger Lake Eyre. This is on our must do list.
Port Augusta much smaller than we imagined but oh the smell of sea air - how we miss it.
From Port Augusta through to Peterborough such a change in countryside and the history and old buildings - again on our must list. You could spend weeks in this area alone just exploring.
Found a great spot to camp about 200k's from Broken Hill and just sat back and enjoyed the quiet and the night sky.

3 states in 3 days - Day 1

Opal mining at Coober Pedy

Looks like moles at work

Dining at the Underground Restuarant 

Ribba's van park

underground camping 

Robs a bit like my old horse 'Silver' and when we turned for home (well not really our home but back to our greatly missed family) there was no stopping him.
First night was Coober Pedy. The road was long and pretty boring until approx 60km from Coober Pedy and then we were amazed by the 'mole' hills everywhere. Opal fever has certainly stuck this town and it's just so interesting to see the diggings.
With a population of around 3,500 and 45 different nationalities it's a real mixed bag and pretty rough looking town. Apparently the town produces something like 90% of the worlds opals.
We were happy to take a recommendation and stay out of town at Riba's caravan park which is an old mine site. They have underground accommodation and even underground tent sites. Great hospitality and free water / everywhere else in town you have to pay for any water you use.
On the owners recommendation we went into town to the Underground Restaurant. Another amazing setup, underground obviously, and the owner certainly has customer service down pat - right to the free drinks and yarn at the end of your night out.

Uluru

Kings Creek Station

Mount Connor

Uluru

Enjoying Sunrise

Uluru

One of the caves 

Are farewell big rock!

An early start away from Kings Canyon and Uluru here we come! Is that it in the distance - wow we must be still 150km away. Oops no that's Mount Conner which is pretty impressive in its own right.
A quick stop at Curtain Springs for some over priced Diesel ($1.91 although cheap compared to Kings Canyon at $2.19)
Carton of XXXX was $91.80 so we figured we still had plenty of that.
And at last there is the monolith in the distance.
We checked in at Yulara Resorts & Campground (campground for us) and then checked out the whole place. Pretty amazing and you need the free shuttle bus to get around - not that it was that great a distance but the flies drive you crazy.
We headed out to Uluru in the afternoon and had a drive round and checked out the cultural centre which is really well done. The bar was calling by then so back to Yulara for a few quiet beers before sunset at one of the lookouts.
Up at 5am we headed out to the rock for sunrise - it's a must do. Just beautiful to watch although we had a full moon and I reckon it would be better with little or no moon.
We walked around the rock and marveled at its .... Hard to explain the beauty of something as simple as a rock. But note by 8am flies where impossible again. We didn't do the climb and I have to say that this should be banned. You can see the damage that is being caused and due to cultural importance they should have the right to stop it.
Now on the road to Narromine and some gorgeous grandchildren to see.