Photos taken at Sunset 28th May




5.59PM



6.00PM



6.01PM



6.02PM (Actual Sunset)



6.03PM



6.04PM

Wednesday 26th May
Coober Pedy - Erldunda via Mala and Kulgara(roadhouse stops)
As Reg has been on this trip five times he thought he’d make this trip memorable by estimating how far we could go on one tank of fuel. After having lunch at Mala he was asked “ Should we fill up?” His reply was, “ Nah, she’ll be right.” As Alan was driving along he saw the low fuel light come on. We had 50 k still to go. After reading the guide for the van we found out that the light went on 100 k before the tank runs out. “Phew”, our separate scenarios of being stranded on the side of the road evaporated with that news.
(Reg says it was expertly judged.)

Erldunda was basically a service station with a campsite and motel accommodation available behind it. The site was quite lovely with trees and some lawn, quite a surprise. A stray cat greeted us as we set up our chairs and table for happy hour. A kangaroo was wandering around the campsite and emus could be seen just over a fenced off area.


Thursday 27th May
Erldunda - Yulara Resort (Uluru)
Arrived early afternoon to the Yulara Resort which is really a small town which includes the campsite and is approx. 20 kms from Uluru and The Olgas. It proceeded to rain later in the afternoon. We took our happy hour provisions to the car park near Uluru to watch the sun go down but had to have them in the van due to the continuing rain. We got out to take photos of the rock even though it was raining. A large cloud was like a cap on top of the rock which made for spectacular and quite rare photos of Uluru.

Friday 28th May
Yulara Resort - Campsite
What a difference a day makes! Woke up to blue skies and warm conditions. Vicki and I went to the shopping centre via the free shuttle service while the boys put together Thai “summer rolls” for lunch. Afterwards we went back to the rock to soak up the culture and one again await the sunset.
When I retired at the start of this year, one of my goals was to see Uluru. Well, I can tell you that watching the sunset tonight, went well over my expectations in achieving that goal. It was just awesome. The photos on the blog will show you some of many phases of the sun going down on the rock.

Hi to our families and friends
We are in Coober Pedy where the weather is cold , the rain is on and off and the place is all red and muddy sand and we are all opalled out.
After 3 days in Coober Pedy ( or was it Mars ) it is like another planet, we filled up our water tank and drove up the road 300 metres to the auto electrician who found our problem ,which was a lug on the battery which had been crimped on one side only and the wire was connecting intermittently, and he fixed our hot water and electric awning.
He had a beautiful little white dog named Polly who looked like a ball of wool on legs who was really cuddly and friendly and while Vicki and Claire waited in the van she jumped up into the van and after sitting on both of their knees made herself very comfortable and fell asleep , we thought we may have had an extra passenger.
We were finally heading Northward through thick fog for the first hour and then the sun broke through and we had a beautiful day to travel and crossed into the Northern Territory and arrived in Erldunda around 4.00 o’clock and sat out under our now working awning and enjoyed a G&T and some nibbles. We will be heading out to the rock tomorrow morning.

The Mail Run
Departing Coober Pedy at 9.00 a.m. on Monday 24th it wasn’t long before we knew we were in for an interesting day with the Mailman. Two Road Trains carrying cattle to Anna Creek Station had become stuck in the mud so Pete the postie stopped to see if they required assistance, they were going to sit there for a few hours and wait for the road to dry out a bit. The trip out to Anna Creek Station took about 3 hours slipping and sliding on the muddy road. Anna Creek is the largest cattle station in Australia.
Being so remote primary school education is done at the station. Presently there is one little girl whose brothers are at boarding school so it makes for a very lonely existence for her. She has a governess to look after her schooling. Education is a mix of correspondence, internet and school of the air.
On leaving Anna Creek Station it was only a further 15 km and we arrived at the William Creek pub, the town (if that is what you can call it) which
has a permanent population of 3. While Peter was unloading the mail we sat in the beer garden and had lunch, by the way if you want to buy a Pie or Pastie it would set you back $7.00 and that does not include sauce. We departed William Creek at around 1.30 p.m. and headed North up the Oodnadatta Track driving through varying road conditions from dry flat road to slippery muddy tracks and creeks which were flooding over the road.
The first drop on the track was at Nilpina Station and then onto Peake station. A little further up the road we stopped at a heritage listed bridge called the Algebukina Bridge, a magnificent steel bridge which spanned almost 500 metres and was built for the old Ghan railway.
The Peake creek was flowing with the recent rains and was 450mm ( 18 inches for we older people) deep and covering the road for almost 200 metres. The next mail drop was for Alandale station but due to flooding over their driveway (3km) we were not able to get in or they get out so what did Pete the postie do? He put it in their letterbox, blew his whistle and off we went toward Oodnadatta.
Knowing that we were going to be late home Peter handed a menu from the Pink Roadhouse around and we wrote down our selections and he radioed ahead to ensure that our meals would be ready for us on arrival (except Alan’s fish) I realise that it was a long way to any ocean so I probably should have ordered steak the cattle were a lot closer. We left the Pink Roadhouse around 8.00 p.m. after a 2min comprehensive tour of Oodnadatta and set off for our last drop at Mount Barry Station and then back to Mars ( oops I mean Coober Pedy) arriving at 11.00p.m. A long day but extremely interesting.
A little bit about Peter Rowe, from the time we set foot in the OKA he started talking , lots of things pertinent to the mail run and a few true outback stories and a few others which were a tad sus. If you should go to Coober Pedy and have a Monday or Thursday available then this trip, although a long day is a must do.

Monday 24th May 2010
Vicki and Claire had a great wander up the dusty and deserted looking main street of Coober Pedy while the guys went on an outback mail run. We looked in quite a few Opal shops and then meandered back to the caravan park. After noticing a sign “Kangaroo Orphanage feeding time 12:30” we stayed to watch Terry feeding these rescued joeys and young kangaroos. It was a delightful 40 minutes and Claire actually got to hold one.

Sunday 23rd May 2010
Glendambo – Coober Pedy (252k)
Departed 9:30 am
Drizzling when left followed by some heavy rain. Arrived Coober Pedy 12noon/ish Lunch of wraps & fillings plus a nice cuppa. Need to rearrange our motor home. Gets out of control with stuff everywhere very easily.

Hi Everybody
Friday saw us leaving Mildura and heading into South Australia, we crossed the mighty Murray river at Waikerie and headed onto Morgan where we crossed the river again and then crossed back again when we realised we were heading back to where we had come from. Claire will be lucky to make it home alive after Reg took off berfore the conductor had rung the bell and sent her flying onto the floor,if that was not cruel enough we then spilt hot coffee on her and also dropped the head of the radio on her as well.We arrived in Port Augusta around 6.00 p.m. and reviewed a bottle of red wine for dinner.We had a late start on Saturday due to electrical problems with the hot water unit in the van which an auto electrician tried hard to sort out for us.
We got underway about lunchtime and we arrived in the thriving metropolis of Glendambo about 5.30 p.m booked into the caravan park. It has a population of what appears to be around 10 but was swollen tonight with the transient populus to about 18.We head for Coober Pedy on Sunday.

Arrived in Mildura for first night and enjoyed a lovely motorhome cooked meal and a glass or two of wine.The Maui is very smooth on the road and very comfortable to ride in, and we have already found all the necessary buttons and sockets for the the telly, mp3 player, dvd and most importantly all things associated with the loo.We have so many things stashed away in all the nooks and crannies that we will possibly still be looking for them when we return.Tomorrow night ( Friday ) we will probably be in Port Augusta and a repeat of tonight except it will be a red.

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