We had been driving south from the NT along the Stuart Highway for a few hours with nothing much to look at but the very barren outback. The last point of interest was the NT/SA border about 4 hours behind us.
The map above shows our stays in SA heading back towards Broken Hill. You can check out more at SA to WA border.
You always know when you are getting closer to some form of civilisation because of the telltale advertising billboards that pop up. The best Hotel, Caravan Park, Restaurant, and more, but what was different about these signs they all promote that they are ‘underground’. So this meant we were getting closer to our next stop Coober Pedy.
As you drive towards the town of Coober Pedy you can’t help but notice all the piles of dirt and the many ⚠️ danger signs warning you about 3 things.
👉🏃♂️Don’t run
👉👀Beware – deep shafts
👉👀Don’t walk backwards
This is certainly not your average outback Australian town and I felt like we were driving into a scene of a Mad Max movie. Actually the town has been a film set for some pretty famous movies. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Pitch Black. That didn’t surprise me and each day I expected Mel to come thundering down the road in his black Ford Falcon GT Coupe or Tina Turner strutting her stuff.
Anyway moving right along this town was established in 1915 after the discovery of Opal. It is still mined for opals but today relies a lot on tourism. The summers can be scorching here 🥵 and back in the early mining days the miners decided the best place to live was in the dugouts. Since then most of the town live underground where the temperature is far more pleasant in the heat of the day.
The name ‘Coober Pedy’ came about because of the description of what the local Aborigines saw as the decidedly strange activity of ‘white men down holes’ – ‘Kupa-piti’. Many outback towns have a quirky, artistic side to them and Coober Pedy has certainly embraced this in a way where you will find the landscape studded with all sorts of statues and signs.
While in Coober Pedy we stayed at the Oasis Tourist Park – Family Parks.
👉2A Powered $33.30 (Family Parks Member)🔌
👉If you want to connect to water there is a one off $6 fee to unlock the tap. The water💦 as you can imagine is very precious here and piped in from the Artesian Bore, then desalinated and filtered through reverse osmosis filtering system. 🚰
👉Amenity blocks – showers are coin operated – 20 cents for 3 minutes 🚿
👉Laundry – $5.00 washing machine 👕
👉BBQ Area – Gas $1 for 25 minutes 🍖
👉Camp kitchen 🍽
👉Dump point 🚽
👉Telephone and TV reception – excellent 📱📺
👉Pet friendly 🐾
👉Swimming pool 🏊♂️
👉Games Room 🎱
👉Internet access 📶
The park is clean and secure. You have the option of parking under a shade cloth which is great but there is certainly no space to put out an awning and you are pretty close to your neighbours. It’s also just a very short walk into town.
Safe travels everyone.
Below are a list of others places we have visited that may be of interest to you:
-
- Alice Springs NT to Broken Hill NSW
- Broken Hill to Sawtell – NSW
- Crossing the Nullarbor
- Free Camps – Broken Hill to Cobar -NSW
- NSW – Free camps, Donation camps, Showgrounds and Caravan Parks 2019
- Northern Territory – Free camps, Donation camps and Caravan Parks 2018/2019
- Queensland Road Trip 2017/2018
- South Australia to Western Australia 2019
- South Australia trip 2017/2018
- Victoria 2017/2018
- Western Australia Coastal Trip 2018
- WA’s Got the Lot 2019
Cheers
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Happy Aussie Caravanning Lifestyle
Dixie and Graeme