Our Coddiwomple takes a PAUSE

Following a busy afternoon cleaning dust out of the caravan, replacing lost screws and tightening the loose ones we hit the sack thoroughly tired hoping that a good nights sleep would make for a relaxed day of driving to our planned destination of Lorella Springs.

Unfortunately, the next morning prior to setting off, we received news from family in Canada that resulted in us suspending our Coddiwomple around Australia while we make a visit to Canada.  With that decision made we now needed to get back to our base in Adelaide to secure the car and caravan at home so instead of turning right we turned left at the next intersection and began the journey south through the Red Centre of Australia.

We didn’t do much en-route other than stop for fuel, to sleep and, in Alice Springs, to book some plane tickets.

First night we stayed at the Daly Waters Pub.  As it happens, This bush pub is featured in our book so we also made sure we got a signature from the publican.

Inside the Daly Waters Pub the walls are covered in
all sorts of things including bank notes, coins, hats, bras, undies
and footwear.
I don't know why - it just is!

We spent the next night camped near the Devil's Marbles and just a little down the highway the next morning we had an alien encounter at Wycliffe Well - the self-proclaimed 'UFO Capital of Australia'.

Apparently Wycliffe Well is used as a landing pad for UFOs!

Another bush pub in the book is the Barrow Creek Hotel.  We duly pulled off of the highway and had the publican sign his page.  Les was terrific and very obliging with his time - thanks Les!

Les Picton has been the publican of the Barrow Creek Hotel for over 30 years!

We needed a couple of days in Alice Springs in the Red Centre to arrange our travel tickets and once these were in hand we continued southward into South Australia and on towards Adelaide.

We made a brief stop in Alice Springs on our way south

Overnight in Marla and then we were in Coober Pedy - the largest Opal field in Australia.

Our ute parked in front of the Welcome to Coober Pedy sign

It gets mighty hot in Coober Pedy in the summer (routinely above 40C and even 45C is not unusual).  As a result of the heat, many people live in homes dug into the ground where the temperature is a very comfortable 25C all year round.  They even have underground churches!

Each vent chimney indicates an underground room.
The vents allow the moisture from the occupants' breath to escape.
We don't want the walls to get muddy do we?

Inside the Serbian Orthodox Church in (under?) Coober Pedy

The country side immediately around Coober Pedy is covered in mullock (waste) heaps from diggings for as far as the eye can see, however, about 35km from town the waste heaps give way to 'The Breakaways' which are a natural feature of the landscape.  These should not be missed if you have cause to visit the area.  You may have seen these ochre coloured hills without knowing it as they have been featured in a number of movies including Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Just a sample of The Breakaway hills near Coober Pedy

The next day we made it to Port Augusta for the night.  A short 300km jaunt the following morning had us back home and the caravan on our own driveway for the first time in a little over 3 months.

I apologise if this blog appears a bit rushed but I just wanted to tie-up the loose ends and wrap things up before we depart for Canada.  I hope you have enjoyed the ride as much as we did!

You never know but WTF? - Where are The Farrows? may post something from Canada.  If not, you will next hear from us when we resume our Coddiwomple upon our return to Australia.