Alice Springs to Wallaroo

Day 24, Alice Springs to Marla: Heading South again.

Today we want to ride all the way to Coober Pedy so we can have an extra day there, but due to the school holidays all accommodation is booked solid. Even Marla, a roadhouse in the middle of nowhere, has no room left. But at least they have shaded camping spots (or so they say), so we’ll head there.
Because the ride isn’t too far (only 458 Km) we’re not in a great hurry to get going. Alice hosted a big triker meet yesterday (Sunday) and we keep running into small groups on our way down. (For those of you who don’t know, a trike is the front end of a chopper welded to the back end of a car. So, for all practical purposes, it’s got training wheels…)
After about an hour we spot a bearded dragon in the middle of the road. Think of it as a midsize lizard with an attitude. Instead of running for safety, it adepts an intimidating pose, not really a smart move. Fortunately, we’re able to avoid a meeting of attitude and front tire.
Not long afterwards we see a monitor lizard ambling along the road. Again, not a trace of fear and Huub is able to get some nice shots of this impressive reptile.
When we arrive in Marla, Miek goes inside the office. She asks if there are any cancellations, just to be sure. The lady behind the counter looks a bit flabbergasted; she just received one not two minutes ago. That’s all right, we’re not proud, we’ll take it!

Day 25, Marla to Coober Pedy: Going underground.

There really isn’t anything to do in Marla so after turning in early, we’re on our way as soon as we wake up. It just a short run, 245 Km, to Coober Pedy and, save for a few monitor lizards and birds of prey, we don’t see much of interest.
Then, as we close in on Coober Pedy, the landscape starts to change. Everywhere you look you see small mounds of earth and stones. Sometimes by themselves, sometimes in lines or groups. Here and there we spot bigger ones and occasionally we come across mini mountains of the stuff. Could all this have something to do with Opal mining?
We ride to our hotel, a closed down mine itself and get rid of our luggage. Tonight we’ll be sleeping under more then 10 meters of rock, but for now we are going to visit a working mine.
It’s at this mine where all the riddles are solved. The small mounts are caused by prospect drilling. They use a 10 cm diameter drill to make a hole about 30 meters deep. If there are any traces in the muck coming up, they drill a bigger hole to inspect, causing the bigger mounds. If the prospects are good, they drill a hole two meter across to lower the tunneling machine. It’s this kind of work causes the huge mounds of rubble.
Opal comes in many guises but you can divide the lot into two groups: with and without color. The opal without color is called potch and is pretty much worthless. The stuff with color comes in various grades of quality and prizes range from dear to absurd. Needless to say we found plenty of potch…
After a fun and informative afternoon at the mine we head back for tea and a good night of sleep. Tomorrow we’re gonna go see the rockets!

Day 26, Coober Pedy to Woomera: Missiles galore!

The road from Coober Pedy to Woomera is straight, flat, boring and… gorgeous. The desert here deserves to be called desert, being as empty as we have seen so far. When the road rises slightly you have the feeling you can see forever. As we are riding through the Woomera Prohibited Area, the road and everything on it (including us) fall under military rule. Not that you’d really notice, or it would have to be absence of car wrecks along side the road.
We ride past huge salt lakes and cross the Trans Australian Railway coming in from the Nullabor plains.
Woomera was the British answer to the Germans Penemunde (the place where the V1 and V2 rockets were developed). After the Second World War the decision was made to build a huge testing and launching facility here to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles. It grew to become one of the most important development centres in the Western world. The base is now all but closed and the most vivid reminders of Woomera’s heydays are the numerous missiles, rockets and aero planes on display all through the town. We visit one the two major museums and come away with a nice impression of the successes and blunders of Woomera.
Walking down the streets we can’t shake the feeling we are on some American film set, something like JAG or NCIS maybe. To stay true to the theme, we sleep in the former bachelor’s quarters.

Day 27, Woomera to Wallaroo: Meeting friends.

For various reasons we have decided to skip Port Lincoln and ride to Wallaroo. We have been invited to come and stay a few days with or new found friend Mark, the BMW rider we met in Kalgoorlie.
But right now we are trying to sort out a bit of a problem. For the last few days we haven’t been quite sure about the time. Various clocks and people, even the television, seem at odds as to what time it really is. Fortunately we crack this one today: it’s daylight saving time. For somebody coming from the Northern hemisphere it’s a long shot, but we guess it makes sense changing to DST in October when you live down under. Curiously, the morning show on the telly still shows the time as EST, Eastern Standard Time, the viewers will have to add the hour themselves.
With that mystery solved we continue our way further South. We still keep running into small groups of trikes, remainders of the big meet in Alice. But that’s not all that surprising in a region where there really is only one route South.
We stop in Port Augusta, once an overnight stop in our original plan. Good thing it isn’t anymore as there is very little to see and nothing to do. Onward to Port Pirie, a quaint fishing village on the same gulf. It has a really nice main street with old buildings and a few museums. Of course, you have to always be wary when they call something a museum here. It might consist of only one small room jam-packed with old tools and some black and white photographs.
We visit the Shakka exhibition in the visitors centre. Shakka was a 23 year old female Great White shark that got caught in a line and drowned. (Sharks need to swim to breathe.) They made a cast from her body and the resulting model measures over 5.5 meter long, making her the biggest great White ever caught. She is a truly impressive sight!
After being properly humbled by the notion that there are quite a few sharks like her cruising just off shore, right here, we ride on to Wallaroo. We are welcomed by Mark and his wife Lynn and will be their guest for the next few days. Not that we’ll be sitting still: it’s fishing on Friday and Adelaide on Saturday. There we will be visiting an Indian festival. Jummy!

New Supporters!

We would like to list (and thank) the following people for their donations:

Leo Veger Amsterdam Netherlands 10 Km
Martin – Ulysees Perth Australia WA 4.5 Km
Addy Vrienten Uitgeest Netherlands 50 Km
Rob Serne Baarn Netherlands 100 Km