Sunday: On the road early and rode through Burra and
then to Port Augusta. Again, I have never seen this part of South Aus looking
so beautiful. The ride, on this perfect autumn morning through a glorious rural
landscape, was nothing short of spectacular. Eventually rolled into Port
Augusta and refuelled ready for the desert north of Port Aug.
But the desert turned out to be green this time.
Road very straight, weather perfect and traffic light but
saw first B-doubles and then B-triples. Country interesting as went from open
plains of salt bush to low scrub, to spindly low trees with flat top hills on
the horizon. I could see the Flinders Ranges clearly to the East, and to the
west the outcrops northwest of Whyalla. Again the rain had transformed a
normally dry dusty plain to one with green undergrowth. Occasionally saw small
mobs of sheep, some merino some crossbred. Every 10km or so went over a stock
grid from which a flimsy fence went out each side perpendicularly and
disappeared into the bush. Then there would be a big sign, “Warning Unfenced
Road -Watch for Wandering Stock” – some signs were in German as well as
English.
Arrived at Woomera in good time to discover it has reverted
again to part ghost town following the decision not to expand Roxby Downs mine.
Ian had booked accommodation for us at the ELDO Hotel (European Launch
Development Organisation). The Eldo hotel is a converted single men’s’ quarters
and fairly tired at that. The windows couldn’t open and the vent in the door
was boarded up! However, it is the only hotel for 200kms either way. Ian and
David arrived late in the afternoon, but before they arrived I took a walk
around the town of Woomera. Not a lot going on, but quite a number of tourists around,
including a number if other bikes on their way to Alice Springs. There was an
open air museum displaying relics of the great days of rocket research –
Australia had been the fourth country in the world to launch a satellite, after
the US, France, and USSR, back in 1964. In an enclosure was the wreckage of a
launch rocket first stage, which had been used for one early launch. The pieces
of it had been found in the desert nearby, about 20 years after the launch!
The hotel, like all other services in Woomera is run by
Transfield Services for the Department of Defence. We three had a good meal
there and enjoyed a pretty good bar session as well.
Monday: Started by refuelling the bikes with petrol
and us with bacon and eggs at Spud’s road house at Pimba, before we headed for
Coober Pedy. The country was now just salt bush and soon it was clear we were
travelling along the flat top of a ridge. As we descended into the “valley” a
large lake appeared on the left followed by another, Lake Hart on the right. In
the mirror like surface the reflection of the foreshore was something for a
photography award. Travelling on saw first cattle, shorthorns and for most of
the way the railway line was our constant companion just 200 meters to the
side. Road kill included the odd beast and kangaroo. Saw magnificent Wedge tail
feeding on a carcase while 2 crows had to watch from the branches of a tree.
Topped up the fuel tank at Glendambo for the 250k stretch to
Coober Pedy. By this time quite a strong wind had come up making the ride a
little interesting, with all eyes on the fuel gauge – my Burgman has a range of
a little under 300km normally, but this time it was heavily loaded and the headwind
was a bit of a factor.
Stopped halfway for a tea
break from our own thermoses and by this stage the bush flies were in full
flight. Added a couple of litres of spare fuel to my bike; the others had
slightly bigger tanks and were not short of fuel.
Arrived in Coober Pedy and dropped off our
clothes at the Underground B&B run by Ana and Ken- recommend. Still very green and learned Coober Pedy has
had its entire annual rainfall in one day about 2 weeks ago (175mm). Many mines were badly flooded and about half
of them will not reopen for an indefinite period. Visited Umoona Opal mine
museum, met fellow guests at B&B Chris and Cheryl Liddell from Pt Macquarie. Two thirds of the
3000 people living at Coober Pedy have underground homes so the town looks quite
small. The temperature in these stays around 21° year . round. Ana and Ken were
wonderful hosts, and they not only lent us their car to go out for dinner (at
the Greek Restaurant, an excellent little watering hole), but also shared a
bottle of wine or two with us and the other guests (Chris and Cheryl).One
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