Day 4 - June 13

On the road a bit later today. We hung around Port Augusta until the shops opened, before packing up and driving out at 8.45.

Zane found a $10 note in the playground yesterday and the camp ground people said if no one collected it before morning, he could keep it. Very excited small boy picked up his find this morning on our way out.

Driving wore thin today. There wasn't really anywhere to stop between Port Augusta and Coober Pedy. A few patches of amazing views that were all but impossible to capture on film. The lakes you can see from the Stuart Highway are just beautiful - huge expanses of water that defy how far inland they are and the dry dusty landscape around them. Lake Hart was particularly pretty, with interesting coloured cliffs on the far side of the water.

Not a great photo. Too hard to capture, particularly from that far away.

 

Lake Hart, from the road.

We also kept seeing this funny looking weed/fruit on the side of the road. The first time or two we thought someone had lost a box of citrus fruit. Then we started seeing it more and more, all along the side of the highway. At a roadside toilet stop/driver swap we got to see it up close. It looked like a dwarf watermelon. We broke it open, but it was green inside. The seeds did look like part of the melon family though.

We are set up now at Ribas Underground, and plan to stay for two nights. It feels a little like luxury, knowing we don't have to pack up first thing in the morning to hit the road again. Tomorrow we plan to explore the town.

 

 



We drove in to the information centre this afternoon to pick up a town map, and some touristy info to plan out our next day. The man there showed us on the map where the moon plain was - where they filmed Mad Max 3, Priscilla Queen of the desert, and Red Planet. Even though its called the moon plain, it looks like Mars. He showed us a picture of the moon plain and mars and asked the boys to find the difference. Isaiah got it, (it was the sky) and they each got to choose a tiny sliver of opal to keep. After he finished his whole spiel, he asked if anyone had any questions. He seemed a little disappointed when no one did, and asked again. Are you sure you don't have any questions? Levi said, yeah, I have a question. What if the sky falls down?
Definitely the funniest moment of the day.

Wind turbines on the highway just before Coober Pedy.