5th Feb

Take a trip to Iron Knob. The birth place of steel in Australia. So sad – it is a dying town. The steel has nearly gone.

we went on to Whyalla to buy some more wool for my hobby. Took a lovely but windy walk along the beach and the pier

You can just see the pier we walked along

6th Feb

House/caravan work. Prepare for our trip to Coober Pedy & Lake Eyre. Drinkies and nibbles with Kevin & Sue the managers here. We got a new neighbour

 Talk about little & large

7th Feb

set off for Coober Pedy. 584K north and inland. Scenery – flat. Road empty – decide to count vehicles – 85 cars, 41 trucks, 15 caravans, 3 coaches and 1 mini grader!! In 584K

 Entry to Coober Pedy

View from hotel

Entrance to our cave apartment

off to look at another opal mine

 

 

 

Got these pics of the family at Madame Tussaud’s

8th Feb

journey 171K to William Creek

 The only other car we saw othe journey! Slightly worrying

Arrived safely.

Had a drink and a very good toastie Then met our pilot. They say when the policemen look like boys age is catching up with you – same goes for pilots!!!

The flight over Lake Eyre – amazing, awesome, incredible. The photos are a snapshot you have to go yourself to really feel the enormity of it. In places you cannot tell the lake from the sky. It also mirrors the clouds. Words don’t express the beauty of it.

 We have loads more photos but these are just to tempt you to take a trip.

Next flight to the Painted Hills. These have been comparatively recently found.

Difficult to describe how different they are to the rest of the terrain. What a day – just incredible. Now back to Coober Pedy. 40k short of Coober Pedy an alarm sounds in the car – we have a tyre pressure monitor on the dash – 30psi drops to 21psi. Stop the car and it drops to 14psi very quickly. Flat tyre!!! 41 degrees in the middle of nowhere. Will we end up like the vehicle we saw on the way over???? We’ve eaten all the biscuits but we always travel with 15 liters of fresh water in case!!!! 40 minutes later spare tyre fitted, pressure checked – all OK ( we also carry a tyre compressor & tyre sealant for emergencies). Back at our motel – shattered – showered – revived and elated. What a day!!!

9th Feb

Back to Nuttbush Retreat – via Coober Pedy golf course – too hot to play

 You can just see a square green tee off on the right and a black sand green in the centre. Found out what we need to do to get reciprocal round at St Andrew’s in Scotland. May have surprise for 2 guys back in the UK!!! We travelled about 1600K since 7th.

traffic on the way back 103 cars, 30 trucks, 12 caravans, 2 motorbikes, 1 school bus, 1 dingo digger, 1 grasscutter(!!!) and 1 cyclist!!!

Back at Nuttbush – our thoughts are with Louise, David & John. Celebrating the life of Peter Gordon Smith today A photo in memory of happy times

10th Feb

Travel to Wudinna – yes we’ve been there before. Hot again. Wash all the clothes from our dusty trip. Decide to make a lime cheesecake – simple. Oh SH one T – dropped the cream with a splat and I mean splat!!! It went everywhere – carpet wash time and all my clothes. Find the caravan park is up for sale – $460,000 – beware it is still nearly empty. Off to Ceduna tomorrow to meet up with Liz & Robyn.

 Our frangipani at Bessie Ct in flower sent by Marj. It’s a cutting from Golden Ave of the one we were given by Bill & Beryl Hoy from Schooner St which was a cutting from Beryl’s Mum’s tree – probably has over 100 yrs of life.