From Coober Pedy to Kakadu

We make a dash from the NT into South Australia to visit Coober Pedy. Then it’s back up the Stuart Highway from Coober Pedy to Kakadu.

(A few months ago, we posted a list of things we’ll miss about Southeast Asia. Little did we know that one item would be universal WiFi available free from virtually everywhere. Even in retrograde laggards like Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia.

WiFi is hard to come by in Australia, at least in the remote regions we find ourselves in lately. One result is these long, unwieldy blog entries at infrequent intervals. Our apologies.)

As we leave King’s Canyon, we spot these camels on the side of the road.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Roadside attraction

At one time, camels – imported from India – were the only form of transport. When roads and trains appeared, the camels were released into the wild.

In a few hours, we’re in South Australia.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
It’s really flat.

Coober Pedy is famous for its opal mines. The methodology seems to be: dig a hole, check for opals, move over a few metres, repeat.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Termite-mound-like mine tailings
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Downtown Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy has a distinctly other-worldly look.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Coober Pedy

We visit the Old Timer Mine. This mine was sealed, forgotten, then rediscovered in recent times.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Coober Pedy

This is a leftover prop spacecraft from the cheesy Vin Diesel sci-fi flick Pitch Black. The area is a popular movie location. Did we mention it’s already ‘other-worldly’?

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Set the controls for the heart of the sun

Coober Pedy is also known for its underground dwellings.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Home sweet home

This is to escape the intense heat.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Gives the word ‘bedrock’ a whole new meaning

Here’s a seam of opal in the Umoona Mine.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Opal in the rough

The main reason we hot-foot it to Coober pedy is to book two seats on the Mail Run. Basically, this is a man with a contract to deliver mail to remote cattle stations twice a week. He takes passengers.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
At the Dingo Fence

This is the Dingo Fence. North of the fence is cattle country, south of the fence is sheep country.Coober Pedy to Kakadu

We’re happy that the vehicle used is no longer a bus. These days, Peter limits his passengers to four in a comfy 4WD, with a trailer for the mail.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Peter at the wheel

He is an inexhaustible supply of yarns, local knowledge, and bush folksiness.

We journey 600 kilometres from Coober Pedy to Williams Creek, up the Oodnadatta Track to Oodnadata, then back to CP.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Anna Creek cattle station

Anna Creek Station is supposed to be the world’s largest.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Anna Creek cattle station
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Anna Creek cattle station
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Anna Creek cattle station

This is a wall enclosing an old well on the property, the year ‘1877’ engraved in a stone.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Anna Creek cattle station
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Anna Creek cattle station
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
We chat with the locals
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Downtown Williams Creek
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Peter delivers the mail
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Another station

There used to be a rail line that follows the Oodnadatta Track. It was abandoned and replaced by another route when diesel locomotives came into use.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Former railway bridge

As elsewhere in Australia, we pass though several ghost towns that were once lively boom-towns.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Desolation Row
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Algebuckina Bridge on the Neales River

We reach Oodnadatta in time for dinner.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
The sign says it all
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Oodnadatta outskirts

The next day, we head back north up the Stuart Highway. Stopping for a coffee at the Marla Roadhouse, we spy a road train full of camels.

(Road trains, in case you don’t know, are enormous trucks pulling three or four trailers. A common sight in outback Australia.)

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Road trainload of dromedaries

Not a sight you see every day.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Must be hump day

A rally of vintage vehicles takes place along our route. This is a vintage MG at the Erldunda Roadhouse.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Pit stop in Erldunda

We mentioned that we plan to stay overnight at the Henbury meteor craters.  This we do, for one of the most unforgettable nights of our trip.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Alone at last

We are the only people for a hundred kilometres around. We scavenge enough wood to enjoy a bonfire under a gazillion stars.

We stop at the Ti Tree Roadhouse and make a lunch.Coober Pedy to Kakadu

We wonder if this is an example of the wry Australian sense of humour.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu

Nope, it’s really a freezer full of frozen kangaroo tails.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu

We overnight in Tennant Creek and make it as far as Daly Waters the next day. At the outskirts of Daly Waters is an airfield. This was swarming with bombers and other aircraft during WWII.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Daly Waters aerodrome

There are a surprising amount of WWII sites up here. This area was largely vacant at the time – still is – but to paraphrase Samuel Johnson, the threat of encroaching Japan overrunning one’s country concentrates the mind wonderfully.

This is also the land of ‘We of the Never Never‘. This is an Australian classic describing life in the outback at the turn of the last century on remote Elsey Station.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Elsey cemetery
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Memorial at the site of Elsey Station

We visit the Katherine Gorge.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Katherine Gorge
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Katherine Gorge
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Katherine Gorge
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Freshwater crocodile, Katherine Gorge

In Kakadu National Park, we see more water and greenery than we’ve seen in a month.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Termite mounds, Kakadu National park
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Yellow Waters, Kakadu
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Crocodile basking, Kakadu

In Kakadu is Nourlangie Rock. Besides being a stunning formation in itself, it’s home to much Aboriginal paintings.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Rock art, Nourlangie
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Rock art, Nourlangie
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Rock art, Nourlangie
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Maria at Nourlangie
Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Bush burning in Kakadu

Sight or Insight of the Day – Coober Pedy to Kakadu

We wonder if the name ‘Kakadu’ is cognate with ‘Cockatoo’.

Apparently the answer is ‘no’. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but we’ve never seen so many cockatoos anywhere else. Of all kinds: sulphur-crested, red-tail and white-tail blacks, corellas.

Coober Pedy to Kakadu
Black cockatoos solemnly enjoying gum nuts

I always consider how much cockatoos sell for in North American pet shops. As a squawky flock flies over head, I think ‘there goes $100,000-worth of cockatoos.’