16/4/16
Hiccups galore - just
in one day - pacified by some great scenery.
After a night stopover at Pimba our aim was to travel to
Coober Pedy and with a cursory glance at the map we anticipated it to be about
a 250 kilometre drive.
Well we turned onto the main road to see a sign displaying
360 kilometres to Coober Pedy.
Oops, mistake “1”.
There was a strong wind buffeting us, increasing our fuel
consumption by about 50 percent, with our average fuel consumption of about 20
litres per 100 kilometres increasing to about 29 litres per 100 Kilometres. Our
thoughts turned to questioning if we had enough fuel.
Problem number “2”.
It wasn’t long before a magnificent looking eagle flew up
from the side of the road and we had forgotten to have the camera out at the
ready.
Oops, hiccup “3”.
As soon as we could we stopped to get the camera out from
behind the passenger’s seat which took quite some effort pushing against the
wind and to top it off, we were engulfed by flies all intent to get into our
eyes even with glasses on.
Problem number “4”, bloody awful flies clouding our vision and
we continued to be swamped by flies the rest of the day every time we alighted
from our vehicle. “The flies just love to welcome people to outback Australia.”
Naturally from then on we didn’t see an eagle or anything
worth a photograph whilst driving.
We arrived at Coober Pedy and drove straight to the
information centre only to find it had closed at 1.00 pm, just 20 minutes prior
to our arrival. It was a Saturday.
We missed it by “that much”.
Oops, hiccup “5”.
Our main aim was to visit one of the publicised attractions
of Coober Pedy, the “Breakaways”, which was described as colourful mounds that
have risen from the desert floor.
We spoke with an attendant at the local service station who
advised that they had run out of area maps and we were provided verbal
directions for the route to the Breakaways, which was about a 40 kilometre
drive from Coober Pedy along a dirt road.
About half way along the dirt road we noticed one of the
caravan windows was open. An inspection showed that a window latch had snapped
in half but luckily at that point in time only a small amount of dust had
entered the caravan. We quickly taped the window shut and were on our way as
the optimum time for viewing the breakeraways was mid to late afternoon with
the setting sun which was almost upon us.
Problem number “6”, a broken window latch.
On seeing the Breakaways all our days’ heartaches were
forgotten by the magnificent scenery and colours with the background of a
beautiful blue sky. There were three main viewing areas and we were pleased
that we had made the effort to drive around to each one. The views were all a
little different and special in their own way.
We spent about 2 hours gazing at the beautiful colours of
the outcrops with a background of flat gibber plains of nothing ness.
At about this time we noticed that one of Mary’s $350 hiking
shoes was missing from the floor behind the passenger’s seat. We could have
lost it at any one of our stops, over the day. We disconnected the caravan and
travelled back about 20 kilometres to our various stops along the way but were
unsuccessful in locating the shoe.
Problem number “7”, one lost hiking shoe.
By then the sun was long gone, it had been a long day but
the beautiful scenery of the breakaways rising up from an otherwise monotonous
desert landscape had pushed all our days’ hiccups into the background.
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Travelled along the 5000 km long dog fence for a while
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