Notes from the drive from Clare to Uluru

Due to a distinct lack of reception I made some notes while Sarah was driving, so they'll be more bullet point style! Here we go (didclaimer - no exiting has been done, so spelling errors and a lack of sense mag be present).

Clare to Coober Pedy:
Flat all the way save for some strange flat-topped hills and some little valleys.
Occasional areas with trees looking like they could use a drink.
Mostly bushes and tuffs of grass.
Passed some lakes that looked as though they were almost entirely salt! Pretty in an arid, barren sort of way.
I've seen 3 eagles so far, and 4 kites. Each eagle has been picking at carrion whereas the kites dance above the road in the air currents. The eagles are graceful but as they're so much heavier they take longer to move. One nearly got taken out on the roof tent - I got a really nice close look at him as he wooshed up at the last moment! The wind today has been fierce - I'm not surprised they've had trouble getting past it to the calmer currents.

First sighting of an indigenous group, 120kms out of coober pedy. Five aboriginals wandering around next to a 4wd pretending to be stranded, flagging down tourists. With fair warning from my aunt and uncle, we didn't stop. We quite like the Tonka intact.

The Big4 at Coober Pedy is nice enough. All of the campsites have been around $30 a night so far and here was around that.
The facilities are fine, but showers are coin operated - 20 cents for 2 minutes. No biggie.

The wind overnight was unreal - the whole car was getting rocked like a boat. A group of local dogs serenaded us for about an hour as soon as we went to bed, then a local decided to blast some Elvis for us at 11.30pm. At 2.30am we both woke up because the strap on the front of the tent had been blown up and onto the roof, flailing around clacking on the fibre glass driving us mad. I got up at that point and dug out some string, retrieved the wayward strap and tied it to the step on the car, which worked really well thank goodness!

Coober Pedy to Kings Canyon:
Paid 153.9 at Caltex in Coober Pedy rather than 159.9 at the Shell. Worth driving further into 'town' to find!

Passed a rest stop with a beat up van and what appeared to be a person on a spit over a fire pit. It was only stuffed clothes - jeans and a sweater - but the message was clear: sod off and keep driving! We obliged willingly amd drove past.

Stopped at Cadney Pk for fuel and a loo break. Fuel is now generically labled 'unleaded' and I had to leave my ID at the counter before filling up. I guess a lot of people fill and run to save money!

Kings Canyon:
We got in and discovered there was no reception - first place we've stayed so far without anything! Not that surprising really, middle of nowhere as it is.

We looked at doing a helicopter flight, as we'd seen a poster advertising flights from $95. Not bad, we thought, assuming it was a half hour flight. Further investigation revealed the flight was actually 8 minutes. Helicopter flight was swiftly dismissed as extortion.

We saw 2 dingos and one wild dog with a limp who consistently appeared around dusk and early morning each day looking for scraps, and two healthy dingoes (or one who backtracked a lot) who meandered around for a few hours either side of midday. They looked quite leathery and dark - not furry and reddish as we'd seen in posters.

We decided against doing the Rim Walk at the canyon as we'd started the day a bit too relaxed and it was too hot by the time we were ready to go exploring, so we did two smaller walks. One along a long-dried-up creek and one to Kathleen Springs. Both were fairly tame and not massively interesting. The scenery didn't change much and the Kathleen springs were actually a rather stagnant water hole thronging with flies and midgies.

Nonetheless, it was good to see the area. We spent the afternoon drinking cider in the pool, which was an excellent way to relax in the heat!
Petrol here is 202.90 per litre. Ouch! But expected.

Today we're off to Yalara, where we'll stay to see Uluru and the Olgas. No reception on this drive until you're around the corner from Yalara.

We saw a small herd of wild brumbies today! They crossed the road in front of us - much excitement in the car, we've never grabbed the phones out ao quick for a photo! There were around 6 adults, a teenager and a foal. Very cool!

Yalara is great so far. Pricing has become more reasonably - more like what I'd expect to pay at home, and everyone is really friendly. We've made some friends along the way, one lot who offered us a brand new Weber and $400 worth of gear in exchange for our gas camping stove! I said no, but they followed us here to Yalara which has been a laugh.
Tomorrow we'll walk around the base of Uluru, hopefully quite early given how hot it has been today.

Photos from Phase Two, and a bit more...

On the road to Coober Pedy

Stopped at Spud's roadhouse on the way to Coober Pedy 

Making ourselves at home at the sunset lookout at Kings Canyon

Our spot at Kings Canyon

Live music in the evening on Monday - Rod Dowsett

A very filtered and post-processed photo of Kings Canyon. There were no clouds so it was looking ultra bland this particular evening!

New vendetta: kill or evade all flies. 

On the road to Uluru. Or possibly Kings Canyon if I've mixed these up majorly.

Turnoff to the Lasseter Highway, aka Red Centre Way.

First sighting of Uluru! 

First sighting of the Olgas.

First inducation of the bar at Yalara - our accommodation at Uluru :)

Slightly muddled order - this is actually Kings Canyon.

Phase Two of the Aussie Odyssey

Time for another update. It's Sarah's turn driving so I can sit here and bash out a post!

We've finished the Great Ocean Road, which despite slightly touchy weather was spectacular. We drove up ti Halls Gap in the Grampians National Park and spent two nights there, and last night we stayed in Clare with my aunt and uncle. Being in a real bed amd not having to pack down the roof tent was looovely!!

The sun shone determinedly for our drive through the Barossa to Clare, and has hung in there ever since. I'm confident the rain is well and truly behind us now thank goodness.

Our places bear has several new additions:
The Arch
London Bridge
Bay of Murnanes
Bay of Martrys
Logan's Bay
Hopkins Falls
The Grotto
Worms Bay
Peterborough
Lake Bolac
Lake Bellfield
Halls Gap
Silverband Falls
Baroka Lookout
McKenzie Falls
Nhill
Tailum Bend
Barossa Valley
Clare Valley
Clare
Port Pirie
Port Augusta

There's a seriously long straight road between us and Coober Pedy, and the wind today is rocking the Tonka all over the place, but not to wprry.
We're on holiday; it'll take more than wind to deter us!

We stopped for fuel at Glendambo, which was last fuel before Coober Pedy. Fuel has been 139.9 fairly consistently up to Spud's Roadhouse in Pimba, where it was around 149.9.

It's just on sunset, which looks amazing - the colours continue uninterrupted across the entire horizon, slowly fading out at the edges. Bit hard to catch on camera at 110kph though, and we're so close to Coober Pedy neither of us could be bothered stopping. It needs to be wine time!

Phase One of The Aussie Odyssey

G'day!
Update number 1 on the start of our adventure.

So experiencing Down Under has begun, the Tonka is behaving very well and aside from some monsoonal rain and cyclonic winds of arctic temperatures it's been balmy!

We've been meandering along the Great Ocean Road which is in amazing condition considering they had around 150 landslides between Lorne and Wye River recently - looks like they've been working around the clock to get it open again and aside from giant mounds of dirt that have been moved to some of the turn-out lanes you'd never know.

We've been waterfall chasing and stopping whenever we feel like it, so far stops include:
Torquay
Bells Beach
Aireys Inlet
Erskine Falls
Sheoke Falls
Apollo Bay (got distracted by waterfalls and arrived here after all the campsite offices were shut, so camped at a Big 4 and put a note under the office door after dinner at the local Brewhouse)
Maits Rest rainforest
Cuppa in Beech Forest while waiting for workers woth chainsaws to finish clearing the road ahead
Hopetoun Falls
Beauchamp Falls
Attempted Triplet Falls but road closed due to weather lately
Gibsons Steps
Twelve Apostles
Camping at Port Campbell this evening and planning a sunrise jaunt in the morning!