Opals and Deserts

The run into South Australia was a quick one. A service in Wakerie, west to restock in Port Augusta, and then north to Coober Pedy. We arrived in time to see Rosie before she left, then unpacked some of our gear into a back room of Sheri's dugout, and made ourselves at home. Living in a cave is an interesting change from the tent. Virtually no light at any time of day, and a sense of weight overhead.

Just like the overland track, a Simpson Desert crossing was on Helen's most wanted list. Unlike the Kimberly, the Simpson actually approaches wilderness. With 500 km between towns and mostly sand dunes in between, travelling alone is not advised. Even during the busiest period, you may only see a couple of other people each day. We decided the easiest compromise was to join a tag along trip. That gives you a few vehicles to travel with, and a guide to advise, repair, and recover when things go astray.

We headed north to Oodnadatta where we joined the convoy, then on to Dalhousie Springs. Dalhousie is the largest and most impressive of a string of mound springs along the edge of the Great Artesian Basin. It's also the only one you can swim in. The springs were the lifeblood of an aboriginal trading route, and then for a short time the (now abandoned) overland telegraph and Ghan railway. Even in their current degraded condition, the springs are still a focus for birds and other wildlife.

From Dalhousie we turned east into the sand dunes of the Simpson Desert. The Simpson is a dune field, with dunes hundreds of km long, aligned north-south by the prevailing winds, stretching for hundreds of km. For three days we drove eastward over dune after dune after dune. Needless to say, the soft sand slowed our progress considerably.

A few weeks prior to our trip, the area received a few inches of rain. Consequently, the desert was ablaze with colour. Most striking were the Yellow Tops, that stretched like a carpet across all the deserts we passed through. It was a bit like driving through the largest canola field you can imagine. It also makes it obvious how the early settlers were tricked into believing that the land would be productive.

Amongst the Yellow Tops were a variety of other flowers in all colours. In places the flowers were between the dunes, and at others they were on the dunes, but always denser on the eastern face. Trees, although few and far between, were also in flower. As the Yellow tops dominated the ground cover, wattle was the dominant shrub. Even so, we happened upon a magnificent grevillia in full bloom.

There were also a surprisingly large number of birds. Songlarks were distinct by their flight pattern, a fluttering ascent followed by a distinctive glide to roost, all the while in full song. The orange and crimson chats were distinct by their colour. Although we spotted falcons and kites, there were surprisingly few of them. There were of course many other birds, including white winged fairy wrens and singing honey eaters amongst the trees, and red kneed dotterels and pink eared ducks at the rare watering points.

As we approached Poppel Corner where three states meet, salt pans began appearing between the dunes. Continuing east, the dunes began getting bigger and further apart, and the salt pans gave way to mud flats that allowed an increasing number of substantial trees between the dunes. Dusk and dawn in the Simpson Desert were spectacular every day. At every sunrise and every sunset, the sky was ablaze with colour, as recent additions to the gallery attest.

The final dune marking the edge of the desert was also the tallest, Big Red. Despite commencing the ascent at 80 km/h, we only crawled over the top in first. One driver in the convoy misjudged the ascent, and popped two tyres just short of the top. Dragging the heavy vehicle with two flats through soft sand over the final crest took three electric winches, some judicious shovel work, and over an hour. After changing the tyres, it was an easy run across the flat into Birdsville. Our guide earnt his keep that day.

Having crossed the Simpson, we said good bye to the convoy. We stayed a couple of nights in Birdsville, to accommodate a couple of jobs, a flight in a microlight, and a visit to the museum. The flight gave us a good look at the water in the Diamantina River, an opportunity missed by leaving the kayaks on the other side of the Simpson. That much water is a magnet to birds, including pelicans, cormorants, and the largest flock of night herons we've ever seen. There were so many corellas it seemed as if the dead trees were in full bloom.

From there we headed south along the Birdsville Track through the gibber plains of the Sturt Stony Desert. While not lifeless, it was certainly the most barren environment we encountered. The desolation was interrupted occasionally by a dry creek bed lined with trees or a running bore creating an small oasis. As we made our way further south, the gibber plains began giving way to dunes and occasional small mesas.

At Marree we turned west along the Oodnadatta Track, which loosely follows the mound springs that fringe the Great Artesian Basin. We came upon a pair of small aircraft planted in the earth, where we met Robin who was working on his Earth Dream art project. Lake Eyre South was alongside the track for a few km, and while not full, there was still significant amount of water in it. We past a long series of abandoned rail sidings, and a couple of small mound springs. At William Creek we left the main track and headed back to our cave.

In addition to having one of the few remaining operational drive-in theatres in Australia, Coober Pedy is the opal capital of the world. It produces up to fifty percent of the world's opal. The Experience Motel is a converted mine and the only fully underground motel. During extensions, a good area of opal was uncovered, just one metre from two different mine tunnels.

We only managed to land a couple of jobs, leaving us plenty of time to explore. Opal is one of several rocks that glow under UV light. One night we went blacklighting, picking small opals from the mullock heaps (mine waste) while being careful not to fall down abandoned mineshafts. We took advantage of the comfortable cave to deal with the end of year tax paperwork, and endured the annual hassle of reregistering the cruiser from interstate. The main battery in the cruiser died and had to be replaced, but we have the good fortune of being able to jump start ourselves (which is fortunate, because the RAA contractor there is not a nice fellow).

Opal mining is an interesting game. In addition to the little ones lying on the ground for anyone to pick up, for $100 you can get a permit to go digging with a pick looking for big ones. It is one of the few mining ventures a person can do alone with minimal investment. A tempting gamble, but we decided to continue our northward trek.

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