2016-08-02    

Coober Pedy to Cobdogla

Left Coober Pedy today heading back to Port Augusta. Decided not to go to Ayers Rock; now called by its aboriginal name; Uluru. The 1500 km trip wasn’t to appealing to see a rock. And have seen many similar but smaller “rocks” on my travels about Australia

Drove around Port Augusta a bit to see what the homes look like and found a place to spend the night.

Left Port Augusta for Adelaide. On the way I concluded I’d had enough of big cities, harbors, ocean views and expensive stuff associated with the above. Decided to go directly to the next place on my list; Canberra, the capital of Australia. Took a left at Gawler and spent the night near Renmark, So. Australia. (SA)

Saw an interesting sign on the way: Cobdogla, SA.  “Irrigation & Steam Museum” a place originally established as the pumping station for a planned Irrigated farming community. Plans went south and left a lot of interesting equipment including a Humphrey Pump that operates like a 4 cycle engine. The Humphrey Pump is huge; main floor is about 1500 sq. ft with abasement and a couple of sub-basements below it.

The museum has many pumps and motors like those I operated at Riverside and the old Streetcar Plant; aka: Southeast Station.

Best part of Museum is the 6 or 7 guys that rebuild, repair, and maintain all this including a steam powered tractor that was heated up and running during my visit. Spent most of the day here touring and talking to the gentleman volunteers that keep this place a worthwhile piece of history. 

Sunday 31-07-2016

Spent the last few days driving and stopping at anything that caught my eye. West Australia has a lot of open country as does South Australia. 2500km between points of interest makess for a long drive. Just took my time driving and stopping at tourist interest signs and signs going into cattle stations. Some of them are 50km off the main road and require 4WD to get there Went through one today that was 62 km wide. Ingomar Station.

When I finally got to Coober Pedy I stayed for couple days. Coober Pedy is advertised as the the ieunderground city. Not all underground anymore but use to be before air cond. and reliable power. They have some diesel gens that do the job.

Stayed in an underground motel, toured an underground home, church, mine and a couple of museums. Didn’t know opal was so valuable. Plenty of it around here, ground is like Swiss cheese.  Signs everywhere warning of open shafts/ holes. They go straight down some 60 meters. I’m staying way from the “Opal Fields”.

Coober Pedy was on my must see list: It was worth the 1000km round trip from Port Augusta
Tomorrow I'm off for Adelaide. Not sure yet if that is the thing to do. Big cities have away of eating up my budget.
I forgot to tell you: I met a kangaroo, babies are called a joey.