Quorn a very lovely Quaint Outback Town
This place Quorn (named after a town in Leicestershire UK) is like something out of the early 1900s Its a lovely place Small town with around FOUR pubs..The town is very clean & tidy .There used to be up to50 trains a dy going thru here Now reduced to ONE return service daily during the season ( at least it is steam) the Railway Station of old is kept in really good nick In the centre of town is a building purpose built in a huge circle that houses a panoramic view of the surrounding hills & mountains He also paints wildlife of which some I unashamedly took photos (and in the process saving me 100s of dollars!!) We are of up into the mountains next and staying at a very lonely (but busy ) pub Look in the next blog
Hello & Goodbye to Port Augusta SA
we had a relaxing time here Being a town not much to see We geared up for fishing the sea is yards away from us but the wind is so high we gave it a miss !!Woolworths shop is fascinating & not like Wooliies we have come to love !! It is set out in a ware house fashion BUT excellent wares & cheap. The town boasts a water tower tat has been converted into a tourist attraction.Tomorrow we set off to Quorn in the Flinders Ranges & we are looking forward to that Hopefully this bloody wind will die downBeen messing around with me camera & accidently date stamped my photo,s
Overnight Stay in the Bush onthe way to Port Augusta in which Starlight was magnificent & sunset spectacular
This area was totally deserted and a constant reminder how beautiful Australia can be BUT walk a while into the untouched bush and it soon becomes apparent how harsh this country can also be There is a graphic photo of a rotting animal that has probably wandered from the flock,and in my estimation needs to be shown. The sunset is fantastic and my camera caught some eerie dusk shots with trees as the subjects. Stars at night are brilliant and the stillness/quietness is NOT conducive to my normal life style as most members of my family will testify !!
We are travelling further North tomorrow towards PA & the Flinders Ranges
2 Woomera Rocket Test Base in the 60/70s
Woomera Once a secret town closed to the outside world This place is like a ghost town! Lots of Housing/flats BUT all empty The British & Australians tested rockets here until the 80s NASA got involved for a while & the place was bustling with people (around 7000) even got its own cinema(abandoned) When the testing finished the population has dwindled to around 200 & is now a ghostly tourist town Its very possible the housing could be utilised in the near future for immigrants Further up the road os Roxby Downs (The town was purpose built to service the Olympic Dam mine which contains one of the largest known ore bodies in the world today & It has one of the highest birth rates in Australia possibly NO TV out there? )we decided to give it a miss .The Woomera Prohibited Area also contained the Emu and Maralinga atomic test sites(within 270000 sq Kms area)
Oddities from Coober Pedy
The Movie Pitch Black starring Vin Diesel was made in CP & the “spaceship” is now a tourist attraction.The strange yellowy cones are where the flying man eaters appeared from.Vin went on to make a follow up movie called Chronicles of Riddick (I’m a fan of both) Other pics include REAL tombstones from the locally named Boot Hill ( really!!) The Beer barrel was organized before hand by the deceased who organized a Booze up at his funeral and when the Barrel was empty to be incorporated in the tombstone along with an assortment of beer bottles & cans Needless to say he was an alcoholic ( these are the wonderful eccentrics & characters that make CP a legendary place ) we now move towards Pot Augusta calling at ex space research town of Woomera
We leave Coober Pedy on a high
This place was great,seems funny to see caves sold as houses!! The Boom for opals seems to be over & the old eccentric type of miner with a tale to tell is slowly disappearing BUT the Opal Fields are still open to interested parties ( I’m eligible coz I bought a miners permit back in 83 for $10 !!! all I need is 4pegs from the CP council and away I go! keeping in mind each 10 metre deep by 1 metre across perfectly shaped round hole costs me a minimum $400 !!)
On the way out we did a last visit of some CP icons and they will be posted on my next Blog & then its off to Port Augusta
This Australia just keeps getting better & better Almost ready to move on sadly
We have really enjoyed the stay here & if people are prepared to look around there is lots to see in this unique town.I have posted some pics of the surrounding area and will add more in the next day ot 2.Too many pics to put one page double click the pictures to get better views Hope you enjoy as much as we do !!
Australian songs (click the BLUE title) Let me know IF the music works? I’m playing around
He had a wicked sense of Humour. my kinda guy !
Pub With No Beer
Tour operators words
Sun Arise
He carved out by himself
Whats My Scene
Tour operators words
Wings of an Eagle
Mad Max stuff all made by Harry
Tie Me Kangaroo Down
In all our travels have yet to see traditionl owner !!
The Opal Capital of the world !! Coober Pedy
some introduction first Coober Pedy, Aboriginal words “kupa piti”, commonly assumed to mean “white man in a hole”. Films such as Mad Max 3,Pitch Black (Van Diesel)Stark,Priscilla Queen of the Desert,Red Planet and lots of others made here The surrounding area is full of mining holes & people have been killed by falling down them !! We were taken into the mounds & did a bit of fossicking (noodling) Annie found some opal remnants and allowed to keep them.60% of the locals live in houses that have been hacked out of the stone Churches,hotels ( complete with swimming pool !!) are built under ground (average temp even when in the high 40s is 26 C) Dogs roam the streets and nobody seems to care! Water for our bus comes from a tank on the edge of town and is NOT free.We were given a Demo of a machine that “sucks” rocks etc. from the created holes and they are VERY powerful (Annie wouldnt put her arm into the tube to test its ferocity !!) We did a tour of an area that was created by a man simply known as Crocodile Harry who was infatuated with ladies boobs (he died in 2006 aged 85) his magnificnt cave work/art is testimony to that .The ceilings are covered with ladies knickers (apparently conquests over the years) and nude statues abound within the caves.Outside the cave it is strewn with old rusting machinery & cars (used in Mad Max 3) I was absolutely intrigued by this place and didn’t want to leave !! we were driven to a place high up and the landscape before us was breath taking ( pix will be put on my blog BUT don’t do justice to the actual depth of the beauty) Then we moved onto the DINGO fence ( around 5000kms) to stop dogs crossing from cattle country (North) into sheep country (South) The one & only pub is very friendly (inc pokies,TAB,Keno) & the meals are HUGE & inexpensive We intended ONE night only here but stayed 3 We met up with avery nice couple,had a meal & few drinks with them and discovered they live 2 kms from us in Bassendean !!! Definately a must see & tour place
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 