South Australia - The dry country

South Australia - the driest state in the driest country... even the wet bits are dry..!

Coober Pedy has to be the strangest town we have visited on our trip. The majority of the residents live underground.
The day we arrived in town there was a gale force wind blowing. All shops were shut and some windows boarded up. A wicked dust was blowing through town. After trying several shops we entered the only open premises, the local petrol station, to enquire on the severity of the impending storm. The woman behind the counter looked surprised and asked 'what storm?' ,'This is a nice day in Coober Pedy.'
To add to our confusion, we had forgotten to reset our watches for daylight saving, and the shops had closed because it was 5.45 not 4.45!


The country around Coober Pedy could be called desolate, but that would would be a bit too unfair. Desolate with holes in the ground, and the occasional pile of sand is a better description.

Coober Pedy football club. One of only two patches of grass in the town, the other is the school ground. A local told me that they come to the ground, just to take their shoes off, and run around to feel the grass under their feet.
The locals are a diverse and interesting lot. They claim to have 46 different nationalities in this small town, and there are certainly many ethic clubs. We visited a fascinating Serbian church that has been built underground, the statues carved
out of the surrounding rock.

Mitchel, the campervan and Callum - in the middle of the desert. This picture doesn't do the country justice.. it is actually, dryer, flatter and emptier than it looks in this photo. We drove for hours through country like this. This area is a restricted zone - part of the Woomera Rocket Range - and close to where the atomic tests were held in the 1950's.
At least the atom bombs would have brought a bit of colour to the place!




Lake Hart and a passing freight train. A dry salt lake, the satellite rocket launch site was situated on the edge of this lake.

This road train is obviously the drivers pride and joy, it was better presented than your average showroom BMW. These beasts are over 50 metres long, the traffic authority tells you to take care when overtaking road trains.. we did not have that to trouble ourselves with that.

Woomera cricket ground, it does not matter how little water there is in these outback towns, the cricket grounds are always lush.

Woomera is the town that host one of the largest rocket ranges in the world. The adjacent restricted area is the size of a European country.

The Europa project was an attempt to get a European satellite program operating from Woomera.

Kate and Mitchel are also being rockets.

Callum and his colour matched rocket.

This is a ballistic missile designed to carry conventional or nuclear warheads. It would have been carried by a large bomber - rather than two boys.

Mitch and the missile.

Sunset at Port Broughton, at 8:35pm two days before the longest day of the year. If you look carefully, Callum and Mitch are running around on the mudflats under a crescent moon.


Windblown Kate at Port Broughton Pier.

Sunset over the mudflats and the rain is coming.

York Peninsula. This is the bread basket of South Australia, it was also settled very early 1800's.

Wheat and sheep.

Peter and Judith Hibbert - 0ld friends from years ago in the UK. Peter and Richard spent a lot of time together in the early 90's including a few great ski trips. Peter and Judith and their two beautiful children, Charlie and Goolwa live in Adelaide. We enjoyed a great dinner with the Hibberts a few days before Christmas.

Sand Monitor at Lake Hart.

Emu running wild at Mount Remarkable.