Thursday, January 8, 2009

Going Home

Following are snapshots taken on our return journey to Perth from Coober Pedy.

Below, a goods train goes by Lake Hart in South Australia. Again, vast amounts of salt can be seen.
We made a little detour to Woomera. The area has been used since the 1950s for joint Australia-United Kingdom weapons testing(including that of nuclear weapons at Maralinga, not too far away).

More recently, it has been the site of a refugee detention centre.A monument to the Australian farmer, in a town in the SA wheatbelt.
Back at Port Augusta again! No wonder they call themselves the crossroads of Australia.
Lunch stop at a very nice pub in Ceduna.
The Eyre Highway doubles up as a runway for the Royal Flying Doctor Service in parts of SA.Not a zebra crossing - this is the start/end of the runway segment.
The same also occurs in WA.More salt (Lake Cowan).
We stopped to see some of the Nullarbor cliffs we missed on the way up.
The southern end of the continent!Cheryl sees the light!
Roadtrain at sunset.
Same sunset reflected in motel window.
We stopped at Balladonia to see the Skylab debris which crashed into WA in 1979.

After another night or two, we finally reached home. Thanks for following us on our journey.

3 Jan 2009: Coober Pedy

We spent a day in Coober Pedy, seeing the sights.Hot (35C on the day), dry and dusty!Some of the underground homes.The landscape around CP is full of these mounds, which result from the diggings.
Exploratory hole.We went down a working mine.
The miners were having a meeting.
The dark strata is opal.
Opal under uv light.
Visited the stony plains...
...where a lizard posed for me.
We also saw the Dingo Fence - note the bullet holes in the sign.
The Breakaways, where movies like Mad Max and Priscilla were filmed. I have seen neither.
The Coober Pedy golf course.
The green is levelled out and compacted with sump oil.
A Bearded LizardA beer keg for a tombstone, in the local cemetery.
The Serbian Orthodox Church, also underground.
Finally, opal shopping!