I was on my way to the West Coast. Far, far away from Melbourne, and I wasn’t in a rush. I opted to take the train once again. First stop would be Adelaide, where I’d wait a couple of days before hopping on the train to Perth, the Indian-Pacific. While I was in Adelaide a couple things happened:
Category Archives: South Australia
Breaking Away
Departing Coober Pedy and heading towards our stop for the night in a tiny spot called Marla, we made a detour for two peculiar sights – one being man made, the other naturally forming.
The Town of Opals
The quirkly little town of Coober Pedy exists to mine opals and it can be a huge part of a person’s life if they live here. However, those people do have to find ways to relax. Like playing a round of golf.
The Lighter Side of the Outback
When you live in a place as remote and inhospitable as the Outback, I think you develop…a quirky sense of humour. We got to see many different facets of this humour along our drive.
The War on Salt
Leaving Quorn after the camel shenanigans, the tour began a long (~600km) stretch of driving North to our next major stop, a place called Coober Pedy.
My Friend Feral
Before coming to Australia I had a few things I figured I *had* to do while I was here. This list included such common activities as swim at the Great Barrier Reef, see the Red Center, and find some Koalas, Kangaroos, and Crocodiles.
Nowhere on this list were these beasts.
Flinders Ranges and Wilpena Pound
That isn’t a satelite shot of the surface of Mars, that would be a view of the Flinders Ranges and surrounding flats. The white areas are massive salt flats (something I’d visit later), but today it was all about Flinders.
Walls, Wine and Wallabies
I’d had enough of Adelaide. The decision was, where to go next? Adelaide makes a great cross-roads city.
From Adelaide, you can travel by land to the distant west city of Perth, return south to the bustling city of Melbourne, strike out east towards the gorgeous eastern coast cities of Sydney and Brisbane, or delve north, to the Red Center and beyond to the tropics of the North End, and Darwin. I considered all of the options, but one thing was calling me. A big Red Rock in the center of the continent just had to be seen. I joined a tour departing from Adelaide and started my journey northwards.