South Australia
Traveling south from Ayers Rock, the South Australia border isn't far. When you are pulling a caravan, Coober Pedy is about the next stop in the opal fields. Before you get to Coober Pedy, there is a small community called Marla. We stopped for morning tea there and looked at an amusing billboard encouraging travelers to take another road which goes through Oonadatta. There is a police station at Marla, and knowing there were two opal areas close, decided to go in and talk to the constables about any characters they had met in the area.
According to the Constable, to go to the opal fields at Mintabie, which is on Aboriginal land, you need to register with the Police at Marla. Another new opal field is the Seven Creeks field which is on a cattle station. One needs permission from the manager to go there. Seven Creeks is northeast of Marla. Within the last 2 years several fortunes have been made there.
Quote from the Oodnadatta Track billboard at Marla South Australia.
Why there's resistance to "Tourism" in many areas of the Outback!
Tourists (anyone not local) have been condemned... for camping adjacent to stock watering holes and they scare off cattle...cutting across country in 4WDS and cutting fences...Removing steel, tools and fuel from bores (some tourists) think a bore is 'Abandoned' because it is turned off - "note that the entire length of this track is under pastoral lease, and that if you didn't bring it" then "it's not yours to take!)...and of course shooting stock.
Communication in this area is very fast and minor lapses in behavior are likely to be transmitted when observed, much faster that a vehicle can travel. The police and some stations have a plane so crime doen't pay! Of course, very little trouble occurs, but in the event of need of assistance it would be disappointing to be refused on the basis that yesterday one 'travelie' did something stupid!
THESE FACTORS WORK AGAINST THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM which is, after all, only a desire to learn about and enjoy different parts of the earth. Tourism is the world's biggest industry(eclipsing even Oil sales) and we're all tourists sometime. Tourism certainly creates less friction here than in some areas of the world. You're hardly risking your life touring this area...nil tourists shot to date! However, you may make history by leaving rubbish around - Dingos, dig up buried rubbish and the Highways Department can't or won't maintain roadside bins (They can only manage a roadgrade every 4 months so rubbish from coaches should be taken to the dump. No, the main street is NOT the dump, despite it usual appearance!!! Take it with you, or take it to the dump!
THE
GREAT ARTESIAN BASIN
'ON TAP' WATER FOR THE OUTBACK
"Lake Eyre is the lowest area in Australia", the Oodnadatta billboard at Marla says. It is one of the largest areas of salt in the world, 90002 km2 of desolate, flat wasteland traversed by few men. It drains 1,300,000 km2 of the continent but rarely fills with water.... The Oodnadatta Track runs within a half kilometer of the lake.
Numerous bores on cattle stations along the Oodnadatta Track, along with a line of springs from north of Oodnadatta (Dalhousie) to Marree(formerly "Herrgott Springs') provides succeeding generations of Aboriginals and Europeans(Overland Telegraph, 'Ghan' railway Engineers, then Pastoralists) with reliable water sources to offset the difficulties of unreliable rainfall.
The Artesian Basin is a dish shaped formation of sediments, the western tip of which comes to the surface along much of this track. The basin's sediments admit water on the Great Dividing Range of the Eastern States and transmit water, heated on way by closeness to the earth's hot core -- and will expel water because of the 'head' given by waters comparitively high point of entry. Many uncontrolled flowing bores are being valved, to reduce flow wastage as water level in some areas of basins is dropping because supply is unable to meet demand - water in the sediment, blow can only travel a few feet per year!"
So there we have an eyewitness report on the water table in the Great Artesian Basin.
Since Marla is a crossroads to the Oodnadatta Track and also close to the Seven Creeks and Mintabie opal fields it was important for folks 300 km from the intersection to express their viewpoints on issues that bush people hold close to their hearts and very seldom get to express. If you are wanting the Outback, like the billboard says, "Right Here Mate!!! From Marla, Oodnadatta is 215 km, Lake Eyre is 557 km and Marree is 642 km.
Marla is a nice morning drive from Alice Springs and you will arrive about Tea Time. Coober Pedy is a nice afternoon drive south of Marla 233 km. If you need directions or permits, the police station right near the billboard is very helpful since they don't see many sober people.
Mintabie is Aboriginal so it takes a permit to go out there, the Seven Creeks is a pastorial area with capacity control.
I inquired about the aboriginal settlements in the area. I had heard that the government provides the communities with Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles and wondered if any of them were registered when their registration expired. The Constable said no, generally not. He said that each settlement has an airstrip where mail and freight is delivered and medical evacuations are carried out.
Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy is an opal mining area, world known for high quality white opal. When you start seeing the white mounds of earth on both sides of the road, you know you are getting close. It is hot, in the summertime, in this part of South Australia so most houses are underground.
We stayed at the Opal Inn which has the mysterious "Chinaman" who buys most of the good opal. It is very modern and within walking distance to the shopping.
Coober Pedy is joining the rest of Australia by installing their first roundabout in main street. Main street due to construction had a dusty main street. Locals are bewildered on how to navigate through the new roundabout which will probably result in quite a few fender benders.
I went to the pub in the Opal Inn, in the public part, which was full of miners and aborigines wagering their days wages on the horse races. I was approached by a Russian who was trying to sell enough opal to get back home. He had lots of opal but I am not fond of white opal. Some aborigines looked like professional businessmen and one was approached by a aboriginal girl off the street trying to make a dollar for the night. I have seen girls like that, before...at Timber Creek.
I visited a nice lady in one of the opal stores.You will find some well made trinkets as souvenirs in the opal shops. These are made by the wives and children of the miners to tide them over until the next big find. There are a lot of transient workers here from almost every country trying to earn enough to move on. Opal mining is hard on the families and is full of hardship living so far away from civilization and it is not unusual for shop owners to own property in other communities like Adelaide where they can recharge before coming back.Drinking, fighting and drinking is the norm rather than the exception in Coober Pedy.
Liz, Allan and I were getting a little road weary so our examination of the countryside was more cursory from here until we arrived back at Gold Coast.
Woomera
From Coober Pedy, the next day's drive was to Woomera, since known as a prison area for the 'boat people'. At the time in 1999 we passed through it was a former site for Australia's nuclear and missle program as well as quarters for yanks working at the nearby CIA satellite listening station.
Woomera was like being on an army base, the local television was channels of the American Armed Forces Television Network. We could find out what was happening in the rest of the world the same day.
It was starting to be cooler (cold) as we moved south of Alice Springs and Woomera is very dry and cold in the winter time. We started to use the heat from the reverse cycle air conditioner that we had in the caravan. It made the trip so much more tolerable to be able to rest in the heat of the afternoon and wake up to the toasty warm in the mornings when it was cold.
Along the Stuart highway between Adelaide and Darwin it wasn't unusual for the newest newspaper at the news agent to be two days old when it arrived. Mondays crossword puzzle is as good on Wednesday as it was on Monday when city folks got the newspaper.
Important local stories were passed to the stations by the morning and evening checkin with the Flying Doctors as well as local chit chat.
If you want to get off the beaten path to get a flavor of the Outback, check the local paper because the mail and milk runs to the communities and stations is available both by air and by car with the mail carriers.
From Woomera south, you will notice vast expanses of rangeland and on occasion, see stockmen and herders moving their stock along and across the road, so be careful in your driving.
It was Friday when we left Woomera on our way to Adelaide. In Adelaide we would be staying over the weekend before driving on to Melbourne.
