Port Augusta to Uluru

Friday, October 05, 2012
Port Augusta, South Australia, Australia
Saturday Oct.6th
It is another bright sunny morning but very cool with a strong wind . our goal today is Coober Pedy which is 537 kms away. The Stuart Hwy runs north and south from Port Augusta to Darwin and back again. We stopped at the roadhouse in Pimba and the wind was blowing dust everywhere. The road kill today were cows, sheep as well as kangaroos. It was very sad to see all of this. As far as the terrain there wasn't much to see as it is very barren out here.
Lake Hart is bone dry and white as snow as if there is alot of salt here.
We arrived in Coober Pedy about 3:30pm and the town was still alive. It was very interesting to see how the people have used the rock and hillside as walls for their homes. This also is a place where thousand of shafts have been dug for the opals which is a huge business around the world. This town has alot of opal shops so it was difficult to know where to go. However after talking to a French Canadian we decided to check out the cave shop. The people there were very knowledgable and the colours were magnificent. Yes, we did induldge.
We hit the grocery store before we went to the campground .
It is very hot, dry and windy.

Sunday Oct. 7th.
Another bright sunny morning and very windy. We drove around town before we left this quaint place and the homes embedded into the rock so they can deal with the extreme temperatures as it gets up to 50 degrees C at times. I just can't imagine that kind of heat. On our way out of town we passed hundreds of piles of sand from the shafts for the mines and heavy equipment for the digging.
We have gone onto Daylight Saving Time so have lost another hour.
We have a very long day today as our goal is Uluru (Ayres Rock) which is 750kms from here.We stopped at another roadhouse just to have a break from the monotony of the barren land and this one was at Marla which contains a P.O. as well as a bank -- all the necessities one might need along the way.
We crossed into the Northern Territory and thank goodness we didn't change our clocks as they don't do DST. The road to Urulu is off the Stuart Hwy. and it is 244 kms in. The temperature is 34 degrees C and this area is know as The red Centre due to redness of the soil . The terrain is very barren with some trees, scrub grass and afew hills -- otherwise monotonous. On our way into the campground we were able to see Mt. Connor which is really a sight to see as it is stuck out in the middle of nowhere as well.
We finally arrived at the campground Yulara and this place is quite lovely. It is comprised of hotels, cabins a shuttle sevice around the complex and we will explore tomorrow as we are here until Tuesday. It is good to be off the road and it is now 38 degrees C.

Monday Oct. 8th
We had a leisurely morning which was really nice. It is already 28 degrees C and the day is jus starting. We drove out to the airport as we had to go to the dumping station for the toilet so we were able to have a look around. There were a lot of tour buses parked waiting for the next flight in whenever that would be.
We drove to Urulu-kata Tjuta Nationak Park where we paid $25.00 each to get into see Ayres Rock up close. This rock is a very spiritual place for the aboriginals . We went to the cultural centre and found out that we could drive around the base of the rock which is 10.6kms. Some folks walk the distance and some folks take the guides tour around the base but these occur very early in the morning. We opted for driving and tried to do one of the walks but the heat was so overpowering and the flies so bad that we didn't do too much. It is nearly 40 degrees C so we aren't spending too much time out there as there is no shade. Sharon, you are so right about the flies that wnt to get into your eyes, up your nose and in your ears. They were bothering everyone that you met today.
After our tour around the base we headed back to the shopping mall which includes a grocery store, boutiques. restaurants, P.O., bank, etc. just to have a look around. We had lunch ther and got a coulple of things at the grocery store. We were very surprised that even though the aborginals own this park we didn't see any of them working there.
We then went back to our site and then up to the kiosk to see if we could get on the net . We have had alot of trouble with no internet, no T.V., no telephone and no radio most of this trip. Fortunately we could set up at the kiosk and get another posting done for you folks.
It is now 44 degrees C and we are spending the rest of the inside in the air-conditioning until we head back to the rock to watch the sunset. When we arrived back at the spot for viewing the skies were overcast but there were a lot of people there waiting. I was amazed at the expensive equipment that was being used here. We saw some of the colour shanges but unfortunately it was too overcast to get the full effect. When we were leaving we saw all the buses over in their viewing area. It is stated that more than 500,000 people visit this place yearly and it wasn't difficult to appreciate this fact.

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SJS
2012-11-18

*sigh* opal shopping *sigh*

2025-02-06

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