We only had a couple more places to visit before entering our 3rd state, 2nd really because we saw almost none of Victoria, and the first was Coober Pedy. As a huge fan of rocks, I also have the guilty pleasure of watching Outback Opal Hunters almost obsessively and therefore felt that I knew most of the town and what it would be like, I couldn’t have been more wrong. As we made our way through the piles of dirt that make up the opal fields the collection of buildings that materialized in front of the van made us feel like we were traveling back to the late 80s to a bizarre mining theme park. We set up the van at the free campsite behind the old mining museum and were lucky enough to get the only site shaded by a tree. Because the owners of the museum were so kind to host a free camp we paid the $15 entry fee and spent the next couple of hours walking through the mine and then learning about underground homes. Matt went back to the camp to relax while I walked down the road with my fossicking kit and dug around in the dust for another few hours. The correct term for looking for accidentally discarded opal in mine heaps is noodling and as it turns out I’m not much good at it, I didn’t even find a bit of potch (colourless and valueless opal). What I did find was an absolutely massive gypsum crystal which must have weighed 4kg and another smaller stack, probably about 500g worth. Matt was less than impressed when I rocked up in camp with them.
The next day we explored the town starting off with the underground catholic church then the underground bar, an underground display/museum which was filled with, of all things, South Australia Roads and Transport propeganda. After a morning of exploring we were getting a bit hungry and ended up having waffles for lunch at a tiny cafe run by a dutch couple. During the afternoon we visited the local IGA which was absolutely fantastic, I swear the supermarket was better stocked than half the shops in Tasmania and we bought 4 wheels of cheese that had been discounted to 99 cents each . Our final activity that day was to visit the small Kangaroo Sanctuary where we cuddled a beautiful little joey and learned about how the animals were rehabilitated and cared for.
There was one more spot we had to visit before we departed, Crocodile Harry’s Nest. Unfortunately, Harry passed away in 2006 but he left the legacy of his amazing home and legendary exploits in the town. We walked around his “nest” marveling at the sculptures he’d made and the artworks pained directly onto his walls as well as his impressive collection of signed women’s undergarments.
Our final destination for South Australia was a bit off the beaten track located just outside a station called Arckaringa. We parked up at the homestead for the afternoon and enjoyed a shower in the saltiest water I’ve ever experienced outside the ocean. I washed my hair for the first time in 6 days and it honestly felt cleaner before I got under the water. Oh well. Just before the sun went down we took out the picnic rug and some of our discount cheeses and went and watched the sun go down over the Painted Desert, a beautiful sandstone formation created 80 million years ago.
South Australia had one more surprise for us, between the desert and the border we saw what must have been 100,000 budgies. Matt was kept very busy avoiding the huge flocks that seemed determined to fly directly in front of the car.
Campsite Reviews
Old Timers Mine Campsite – Another spot that is basically a campsite in a car park. We’re starting to really appreciate places we can stay for free after all the less money we spend the longer we can travel. $Free – 6/10.
Arckaringa Station – The sunrises and sunsets were absolutely spectacular here, a perfect base to visit the desert. $20pn – 7/10.
Matt and Annie's Adventure 