Camping came to me late in life – I was in my late 50s when we bought our camper trailer. I had never camped before … never.
It didn’t take long before I was hooked but I knew if we were going to continue exploring this great country into our retirement, I needed a few more creature comforts and protection from the elements. Fortunately, my husband understood so it was out with the camper trailer, in with the caravan.
With the equipment now ticked off, we could move on to another first for me … to see and experience the ‘outback’.
We both have a strong interest in opal mining so set our sights on a road trip from Melbourne to Coober Pedy and a loop through the Flinders Ranges on our way home. We’ll write about other parts of the trip another time. For now, I want to share our Coober Pedy adventure.
More a moonscape than a landscape
Coober Pedy’s landscape was unlike anything I had seen before – a true moonscape with minimal greenery or trees. For me, it was an unexpected but wonderful introduction to Australia’s outback. And despite being a small town, we found there was a lot to discover and experience in this remote outpost.
Before arriving in town, we had booked a 4WD bus tour with Noble Tours. We had hoped the tour would show us the main sites but more importantly, explain the history and development of the area. The tour, spanning five hours, did all that and more and, in part, included:
- Tour of a working opal mine. An underground mine is a surprisingly cool environment … which is why so many people chose to live below ground in Coober Pedy. Fun fact: in mid-summer, you can dry a pair of jeans on an outside clothes line in just 7 minutes.
- The Serbian Underground Church. This is a work of art as well as dedication. Features in this fully functional Church include stained glass windows, a raised altar with side chapels and choir area.
- Dingo Fence. More than 5600km long and one of the longest structures in the world, its purpose is to keep Dingoes and wild dogs out of the fertile southeast of Australia.
- Moon plains. The Kanku-Breakaways Conservation Park spans 14,300 hectares and is, in parts, breathtakingly barren.
- The Breakaways. Also part of the Kanku-Breakaways Conservation Park, the area has spectacular coloured hills. A sunset at the Breakaways is a must for every visitor to the area.
The area by air
It’s often said that you only see 1 per cent of an area when travelling by road. That may or may not be the case, but we nevertheless decided to see more of the area with a Wrightair scenic flight. Departing Coober Pedy at 6.30am, we first flew over the Oodnadatta Track and on to Lake Eyre, Australia’s largest inland lake. The size of this lake and colours and patterns from the air are simply stunning.
Our flight also took us to:
- Anna Creek Station. At 15,746 square kilometres, this is the world’s largest working cattle station.
- The Painted Hills. We landed here and had the opportunity to see the colours of these amazing sandstone hills up close. No made roads exist in this area and it can only be viewed by air and accessed by tours, which set down on a gravel landing strip.
We then flew on to William Creek for morning tea at the iconic and remote William Creek Hotel before returning to Coober Pedy at about midday. Fun fact: William Creek is Australia’s smallest town with a permanent population of six … and sits within Anna Creek Station, the world’s largest working cattle station, about the size of Israel.
Our remaining time in Coober Pedy was spent touring the town and surrounding area by car and chatting to fellow travellers in the caravan park and some of the locals in the town centre. Some might tell you there’s not much to see in Coober Pedy. We would argue there’s more than enough in this unique SA outback town to add it to your road trip itinerary.
