THE RED CENTRE
The soil is certainly still that rich red colour we're used to seeing in the heart of Australia, but at the moment it is covered in many areas with lush growth. On past trips, we've not seen so much grass, and thick green bushes. But one thing makes us realise where we are - the heat! It started at Coober Pedy, at around 33 - 35 degrees, and has climbed to 38 - 39 for our time at Yulara/Uluru. The great Australian salute is used all the time - those little pesky flies think insect repellant is just an entree. But let me backtrack to Woomera. The town has many empty houses, as the use of the rocket range has diminished. But it's worth a look, and the museum is very well set-up & informative. The caravan park is merely a fenced in section of gibber plain, with no shade. The surprise came at 6p.m. each evening, when "the bar" opened. Heavily disguised on the outside as a pale pink donger, (like a large container)on the inside it's been set up as a modern, air-conditioned bar. We met up with fellow travellers over a cool drink - & bumped into these same people at several places further down the track. Roxby Downs is a modern mining town, similar to Tom Price in W.A., & it services the miners at Olympic Dam. But our real enjoyment came from visiting Andamooka. An old opal mining town, it's like an older, smaller Coober Pedy. Housing is haphazard, with only a few built partially into the sides of hills. A few old miners' huts from the early days have been preserved - how people survived in those conditions is beyond imagination! From here we set off to Lake Torrens along a dirt track. One sign pointed to where we wanted to go, and after that - who knows? A couple of good decisions at forks in the road, & then we met up with a grader. The driver reassured us we were on the right track. The area is open & barren, but we came on some water holes, and then the large expanse of salt and water that is currently Lake Torrens. The salt glinted in the sunlight, and it was quite soft to walk on. It felt quite eerie, as we were the only ones there. Gave us that old outback feeling. On to Coober Pedy, which still has a character all its own, with piles of whitish dirt piled up as you approach the town. Underground in the dugout corridor of a motel, we looked at historical pictures of the town. Two were of particular interest, taken in 1968 & 1988. Both around times we'd been here previously. A trip to a geological feature 30 kms north of the town, "The Breakaways" is quite stunning. Irregular, multi-coloured rock formations, jutting up out of the flat countryside. We met an interesting couple from Paris in Coober Pedy, who have seen an enormous amount of Aus. in a short time, driving/flying. Our trip continued north to the junction of the Stuart & Lasseter H'ways, where in 1972 we'd been told there was a good camping spot under a large gum tree. Now there's a huge complex of roadhouse, retaurant, motel & camping areas, with grass, shade trees & bougainvillias. After an overnight stay, & with the temperature continuing to climb, we headed on to Yulara. Our last visit here was in 1988, when it was fairly new. One hotel has expanded to five, with multiple restaurants, a shopping centre, nearby airport, and all medical/police/rescue services on hand. The campsite has good facilities - & we love the swimming pool!! (But diesel prices are high - $2.16 a litre.) It's a great base to visit Uluru and Kata Tjuta, which we've done at sunrise, and throughout the day. Tonight we'll watch the sun set. We went on a ranger guided walk at the base of the rock, hearing about its formation, aboriginal paintings & legends, & bush tucker. The nearby Cultural centre is made of local mud bricks, and fits easily into the surrounding area. Stories are beautifully displayed & illustrated with aboriginal art, as you wander around inside the structure. We were treated to a talk by an aboriginal elder, who also happened to be a Lutheran pastor. He told us many stories of the area, its legends, animals and lifestyles. Although he speaks English, these stories had to be told in the local languages, and were translated by a ranger. Tomorrow we'll be moving on to King's Canyon, the scene of much drama for us in 1988 when David had a fall, & subsequent flight to Alice Springs by Flying Doctor. We plan to keep it very low key this time!!
WOOLIANNA ON THE DALY
Happy Hour.
We came across this little gem quite by chance. Heading north from Katherine, we thought we'd head in towards Daly River (as opposed to Daly Waters). Didn't know where to stay, so picked a place out of one of our tour books - Woolianna on the Daly. It turned out to be an oasis at the end of a dirt - and in parts mud - track. It's a park tucked in the middle of a large mango tree farm. Right on the edge of the Daly River, most of the people who come here stay for 2 to 3 months while they fish from their boats. It's only open in the dry season, starting from April 1st. As it turns out we were lucky to get in, if only for a couple of days. The river is deep and wide, and very fast flowing. Apparently it has lots of crocodiles, stingrays, sharks, catfish - as well as the prized barramundi. Many of the people come every year, and it's a very friendly community. We really enjoyed "happy hour" for the three nights we were there - meeting so many nice people. Generous too - we were given several large fillets of barramundi from a couple of different fishermen. We happened to be there while the National Barra Fishing competition was on, and were woken each morning by the sound of some 60 outboard motors revving up the river at dawn. Had fun cooking outside under the awning on the first night, as the rain poured down. Water was up to my ankles by the time we ate. Turns out we had 50mm overnight, which caused the river to rise by more than two metres over the next couple of days. We were a bit concerned about pulling the van out, and had to use 4WD to get through the mud, but we made it O.K.
