Port Augusta to Melrose

November 1

The best part of Port Augusta was its Arid Lands Botanical Garden. They had what they claim is the largest collection of Eremophila in the world, most with beautiful bell-like flowers in a variety of colours.





I was particularly impressed with their demonstration gardens showing how to use desert plants in the home garden.









It was afternoon when we left Port Augusta and wound our way through Horrocks Pass,



marvelling at the green hills and the beauty of this settled land after so much bleak desert.



Fields of wheat, hay, and alfalfa patterned the rolling hills in squares and rectangles. Windrows striped the fields in soft yellow, green and lavender like faded canvas awnings.





Although the creek beds were as dry as elsewhere, the river gums were much larger with rougher, gnarled trunks.



Some fields were full of the purple Echium which has become such a weed in this country (called Paterson's Curse in NSW but Salvation Jane here in SA). Nevertheless it's a beautiful weed.



The temperature was still in the high 30's, and there were way more flies than in the dry desert lands, but we enjoyed the variety of the landscape, its settled, prosperous look,



and the small picturesque towns through which we were now driving. We wondered if the owners of this place had chosen the bottlebrush outside because the flowers matched the colour of their roof.

Coober Pedy to Port Augusta

October 31

Further than we like to travel in a day - 537 km - but there isn't anything between these two points, except a few roadside pull-offs with a picnic table and a water tank. Part of the reason for this is that the road runs through the Woomera Prohibited Area, a vast tract of desert once used for joint Australia/USA bomb and missile tests.(woomera is an aboriginal word meaning throwing stick.
Today, the town of Woomera, slightly off our route, is a detention centre for illegal immigrants to Australia, mainly hapless Afghanis and Tamils who have been plucked from leaky boats off the northwest tip of the continent. Should they attempt an escape from detention, we can personally confirm that they would have to cross miles of trackless, arid wasteland before reaching any vestige of civilization.

Apart from the point where the road crossed the Trans-Australia Railway,



and some dramatic drifts of purple flowers on the red earth,





there was little to record en route until we reached some of the amazing salt lakes.



Lake Gairdner has been the site of several attempts on the world land speed record.



We were glad to reach Port Augusta, a major industrial town on the northerly end of Spencer Gulf.
The caravan park advertised a view of the Flinders Ranges across the water. Technically true, but they failed to mention their own chain-link, barbed-wire fence and the railway yards between us and said view. Actually, the railcars were quite colourful, and if you poked the camera through the chain-link, the view wasn't half bad.

Coober Pedy to Port Augusta

October 31

Further than we like to travel in a day - 537 km - but there isn't anything between these two points, except a few roadside pull-offs with a picnic table and a water tank. Part of the reason for this is that the road runs through the Woomera Prohibited Area, a vast tract of desert once used for joint Australia/USA bomb and missile tests.(woomera is an aboriginal word meaning throwing stick.
Today, the town of Woomera, slightly off our route, is a detention centre for illegal immigrants to Australia, mainly hapless Afghanis and Tamils who have been plucked from leaky boats off the northwest tip of the continent. Should they attempt an escape from detention, we can personally confirm that they would have to cross miles of trackless, arid wasteland before reaching any vestige of civilization.

Apart from the point where the road crossed the Trans-Australia Railway,



and some dramatic drifts of purple flowers on the red earth,





there was little to record en route until we reached some of the amazing salt lakes.



Lake Gairdner has been the site of several attempts on the world land speed record.



We were glad to reach Port Augusta, a major industrial town on the northerly end of Spencer Gulf.
The caravan park advertised a view of the Flinders Ranges across the water. Technically true, but they failed to mention their own chain-link, barbed-wire fence and the railway yards between us and said view. Actually, the railcars were quite colourful, and if you poked the camera through the chain-link, the view wasn't half bad.

Uluru to the SA Border

October 29

While taking my morning shower, I wondered at all the white marks on the shower curtain until I realized that I was directly underneath a wagtail's nest.



Once we left Yulara, as the resort complex beside Uluru is called, it was a day of steady driving. We crossed the border into north South Australia mid-afternoon with little fanfare, and stopped for the night at Marla roadhouse. In the roadhouse you could buy a bumper sticker saying "Where the hell is Marla?"

October 30

More of the same. If there is anywhere that you should be be to see the curvature of the earth, this is it. Flat land in all directions, pockmarked with small bushes and mulga trees.



In the afternoon we began to see assorted machinery and small sandhills in varying colours spread across the landscape.



We were approaching Coober Pedy, opal capital of the world. CP is a small, dusty township, so hot that most of the inhabitants live underground in the excavations made by earlier opal miners.



Signs everywhere warned you about the risk of falling down a mineshaft.



During our stay the daytime temp was 38ºC, and it didn't cool down much at night. A benefit was the best water we've had in a week, although you had to pay for it: showers 20 cents for 2 minutes.

We visited the Old Timers Mine which involved donning a hardhat and descending into underground caverns, some left as they were originally, some turned into a neat two-bedroom home with functioning bathroom, kitchen and office, and electric light supplemented by shafts going up to the surface.

Of course there were many shops selling opals, cut and uncut, in silver or gold settings. They were all expensive. Lucky I don't care for opals!

Our caravan park provided shade-cloth awnings over the sites. The only drawback was that you were very close to your neighbours. It was so hot that sleep was not easy, especially as open, unscreened windows let in a vast variety of flying bugs, some of which were also biting bugs.

Uluru to the SA Border

October 29

While taking my morning shower, I wondered at all the white marks on the shower curtain until I realized that I was directly underneath a wagtail's nest.



Once we left Yulara, as the resort complex beside Uluru is called, it was a day of steady driving. We crossed the border into north South Australia mid-afternoon with little fanfare, and stopped for the night at Marla roadhouse. In the roadhouse you could buy a bumper sticker saying "Where the hell is Marla?"

October 30

More of the same. If there is anywhere that you should be be to see the curvature of the earth, this is it. Flat land in all directions, pockmarked with small bushes and mulga trees.



In the afternoon we began to see assorted machinery and small sandhills in varying colours spread across the landscape.



We were approaching Coober Pedy, opal capital of the world. CP is a small, dusty township, so hot that most of the inhabitants live underground in the excavations made by earlier opal miners.



Signs everywhere warned you about the risk of falling down a mineshaft.



During our stay the daytime temp was 38ºC, and it didn't cool down much at night. A benefit was the best water we've had in a week, although you had to pay for it: showers 20 cents for 2 minutes.

We visited the Old Timers Mine which involved donning a hardhat and descending into underground caverns, some left as they were originally, some turned into a neat two-bedroom home with functioning bathroom, kitchen and office, and electric light supplemented by shafts going up to the surface.

Of course there were many shops selling opals, cut and uncut, in silver or gold settings. They were all expensive. Lucky I don't care for opals!

Our caravan park provided shade-cloth awnings over the sites. The only drawback was that you were very close to your neighbours. It was so hot that sleep was not easy, especially as open, unscreened windows let in a vast variety of flying bugs, some of which were also biting bugs.

The Magnificent Monolith

October 28

More flat red earth, dotted with desert oaks and spinifex to drive through. Every kilometre was different and every one was worth stopping to admire. The colours were dazzling.



We paid our entry into the National Park, booked into the one and only caravan park and set off to see the Olgas, now more often called Kata Tjuta. These massive chunks are conglomerate, unlike Uluru which is a particular form of ancient granite called arkose. We stopped first at a viewing area looking across towards the jumble of rocks, through groves of desert oaks. Except for these designated viewing spots, there's no opportunity to pull off the road and there are signs specifically forbidding this just in case you might try.



I liked the way that the grid to protect the dunes you cross on foot was painted to match the landscape.



And the pattern made by wind pushing sand up against the grid.



A crested pigeon eyed me hopefully as I took the obligatory photos.



Further on, we followed a short track that led into one of the gorges between the rocks.





There was still a trickle of water across the track at one point in spite of months of drought.



The curves of the rock are so voluptuous, we were not surprised to read that this was a place in aboriginal lore for "secret men's business"



Returning the 40 or so kms to Uluru, we followed the road around its base. Photos cannot capture how vast this monolith is as it towers above the plain. Naturally that doesn't stop any of us, including me, from taking our own snapshots, which look like everyone's else's snapshots, and not as good as those of the professionals.




If this was a Facebook page rather than a blog I would here insert a picture of me jumping in the air in front of Uluru. Instead I focused on some birds (kingfishers?) near a waterhole,



a lone climber (most people respect the traditional owners' request that you not climb the rock),



and some of the curves and folds in the huge monolith.







The moon and a cork tree against the flank of the rock also appealed to me.



Along with many others we returned at dusk to watch the changing colour as the sun went down.