Into the Outback 2- Coober Pedy

After a very cold, windy night I was woken before 5 am by a little boy crawling into bed with me to get warm. At six we decided to get up and go for a walk together, but changed our minds when we felt how cold it was! Somehow, even though I knew it was winter, I hadn't expected the outback to be cold! Before going back inside to make breakfast, however, Arthur did take this photo of the caravan in the early morning light, with the moon still in the sky. 

From what I have been able to read about Lake Hart, it is usually a dry lake. The white patches you see on Google satelite images of this and other nearby lakes (all part of the Lake Eyre basin) are salt pans.  The whitish hill the children were climbing in the photos was a huge mound of rock salt.

When we got there, however, the lake was full of water.  What with the reflections, the bright red sand, the beautiful evening light and the wildflowers blooming everywhere, we were quite overwhelmed with the beauty of it all when we went exploring last night! This morning, while Philip got things ready to leave, the kids and I went for another quick walk.  The kids had found a "secret tunnel" yesterday and were keen to go there again. It passes under the railway and a few minutes after we'd gone through a goods train thundered by.  They were most impressed with how long it was! I had to take a few more photos of the beautiful desert flowers before we went, too.

Then there was another long drive. Along the way we saw two emus, a number of hawks, two wedge-tailed eagles and several flocks of budgerigars.  We also saw a herd of cattle and a mob of sheep, a reminder of the sheep and cattle stations that are scattered throughout the area.  Personally, I never tired of looking- the sky is so big, the colours so brilliant, and the whole experience of actually being here so amazing!

The children are generally good little travellers, too, but after several hours of seemingly unchanging landscape, they were starting to bicker and we were all very glad to arrive in the opal mining town of Coober Pedy!

The caravan park we're staying at is located on the site of a closed mine, surrounded by mullock heaps and machinery. It's not pretty to look at, but certainly feels like an authentic experience.  There are even underground camp sites available, instead of tents. 

This evening we had a tour of the disused mine, which the children thoroughly enjoyed.  At one point they wandered off into a side tunnel by themselves just when the guide turned off the lights to show how infra red light can be used to identify opal.  I thought they'd panic, but the just asked in calm voices where I was and found me in the dark!

Arthur says he's "always wanted to be underground" and Esther has started a rock collection. They both agreed, when I tucked them in, that long and sometimes boring drives are worth it when you get to see such interesting places, and they were very happy to hear we were staying another night.
After they'd gone to bed I stood outside and looked at the stars. They are so bright and there seem to be so many more of them out here! Tomorrow we're planning to see the sights of Coober Pedy- judging by the red sunset and clear sky we should have nice weather for it- if it's not too windy.