Week 1 - Shepp to Coober Pedy

LIVING THE DREAM - 81 days of pure bliss!

Week 1: Shepparton to Outback South Australia – 2,140kms

Wow, week 1has already passed, only 11 to go. The first week has seen us travel from Shepparton to William Creek, which is on the edge of Lake Eyre, outback South Australia.

In typically Griswold style or I should say in Pete’s style, the start of the trip commenced about 3 hours behind schedule. The family was packed and all ready to go by 8.30am, but Pete just had to squeeze in a few more hours of work and get a last minute check on the caravan done, of course all jobs which should have been completed the week before. At 11am, the Living the Dream adventure commenced.

Day 1 saw us travel from Shepparton to Mildura, which was home for the first two nights. The cold weather was definitely not left behind with Mildura having a maximum day time temperature of only 7 degC. Thankfully we had the foresight to take along a couple of fan heaters, which has made life in the caravan very comfortable. The first of many caravan set-ups went without a hitch, however it did take its toll on us that we needed to eat out.

Day 2 was spent exploring Mildura. Pete had visited numerous times previously to see grape and orange growers, but it was a first time visit for the rest of us. The morning saw us tour the mighty Murray River on the last steam driven paddle ship the PS Melbourne. Both Pete and I were amazed by the loch system, with levels being controlled in excessive of 3 meters along this part of the river. The afternoon was spent topping up on supplies, a microwave dish to cook porridge and buying nuts to replace the one already lost on one of the stabliser legs (it must have shaken loose), Pete visiting an Orange buyer for old time sake and the rest of us indulging in hot chocolate and playing board games on a cold and wet afternoon. With more time to prepare the first of many caravan park meals was prepared and cooked without issue.

Day 3 saw us on the road again travelling to Broken Hill. The sight seeing stops included the junction where the Murray and Darling rivers combine in Wentworth and the Perry Sand Hills, an unique sand hill formation in the middle of nowhere which were formed some 40,000 years ago. The sand hills were definitely a highlight for the children who just loved to run up and roll down the orange sanded dunes. Broken Hill was a stark contrast to tree lined Mildura, just dirt everywhere, not a tree in sight and only small scrubs less than 0.5m high in the middle of dirt fields. For a city which has been responsible for so much of Australia’s wealth, the town looked very poor, lots of corrugated iron houses with old couches on the front verandahs and empty retail fronts. This is with the exception of the main street which has a number of beautiful late 1880’s & 1890’s buildings which have been fully restored.

Day 4 was consumed exploring Broken Hill and the surrounding area. Broken Hill to make up for the decline in mining has turned itself into a very interesting tourist town with plenty of art, history and countryside to explore. First visit for the day was the Living Desert, where we visited the Sculpture Symposium (in 1987 12 sculptures from around the world were invite to carve a sculpture from local rock representing an aspect of local Aboriginal life). We saw Sturt’s Desert Pea (hopefully it will grow in Shepparton and become a feature of the Clarke Crt garden) and other native flowers. Next was a visit to the (Kevin) Pro Hart gallery, a hit for the whole family. Through the great advertising medium of TV the children are familiar with his work and were fascinated to see the dragon fly that Pro Hart painted on the carpet for the carpet cleaner ad and that his grandson now emulates on the latest ad. Pro Hart’s work has many different styles, all which I truly enjoy. The children kept commenting how Aunty Andrea would have enjoyed the gallery {especially the large female derriere painting). Next it was onto Silverton, an old ghost town which was a very wealthy area before the bigger deposits of silver, zinc and lead were found in Broken Hill. Silverton has also featured in many movies including Mad Max 2 and A Town Like Alice. The finally stop for the day was the Miners Memorial a terrific tribute to those who have lost their lives mining in the area. A great reminder on how dangerous mining was - there were so many cave ins, electrocutions, and falls. Fred was excited to see some many miners called Frederick.

Day 5 was again a travel day leaving Broken Hill behind for Woomera. The planned stop was Port Augusta but given we had made good time, Port Augusta became our lunch spot and we pushed through to Woomera. Our pre-packing in preparation for an early get away really paid off. The landscape was bare and really offered no interesting stops, although the bush toilet stops are causing lots of angst. Woomera was established to be a rocket testing facility for the defence force just after the second world war, in collaboration with the English forces, Over the years it has had a very interesting history developing rockets, bombs and satellites’ in joint ventures with other nations, Today there are very little programs in process due to costs, however as late as June the area was closed as a Japanese satellite re-entered earth and landed in the surrounding area. As a contrast to Broken Hill, Woomera is exceptionally well kept, very neat and tidy. It is amazing what a difference government dollars make. Woomera has a great rocket park and museum and I would recommend a visit to all.

Day 6 Woomera to Coober Pedy.
Once again we started early and made it to Coober Pedy just prior to lunch. The only stop was a very quick photo of Lake Hart. Coober Pedy is a real outback town; very run down, very little there and our first sighting of Aboriginals’ just hanging around town. The landscape is very bleak lots of dirt sand hills everywhere and no vegetation at all. The afternoon was spent learning about Coober Pedy’s history at the Umoona mine and museum. The tour was fantastic and to date has been a family highlight. The tour involved exploring a miner’s underground house as it would have been in the 1950’s, a modern day underground house and then a mine tour where the evolution of opal mining techniques were explained. An opal seam was also shown on the tour. The tour concluded with a film on how opals were formed. The museum was also excellent explaining the discovery of opals and the creation of Coober Pedy as it is today. In addition, it housed a collection of fossils which were found just outside of Coober Pedy in the 1970’s of a plesiosaurs.

Day 7 saw us continue our exploration of Coober Pedy, with a visit to two underground churches, to a noddling area to try and find our own opals and finally a demonstration of the equipment the miners use to excavate and recover the opals. Unfortunately as we were taking our lunch break bad news was received from Mt Martha, Dad had taken a turn for the worse and was rushed to hospital, he had developed an infection. The next 6 hours were just a waiting game as we waited to hear whether or not the antibiotics were going to be effective. We decided as there was nothing we could as we waited for news, that we would continue with our planned itinerary and headed out to William Creek (after we confirmed what flights were available out of Coober Pedy the following day). William Creek is the smallest town in South Australia with a population which ranges between 6 and 12 and is one of the gate ways for Lake Eyre north. William Creek has a charming pub, with great outback character and is always full of outback adventurers, just like us. The children were amazed at the lack of facilities, no shops, no drinking water or mobile phone reception and only a couple of houses. The lack of mobile phone reception was a real issue as I was desperate for news from home, but thankfully there was one public phone booth and I managed to make the dreaded call and found out that Dad was as good as he could be but the next couple of days would tell. We spent the evening tucked up in our cabin playing board games and having a wonderful family time, that’s living the dream.