Tuesday 28 August to Wednesday 29 August – West MacDonald Range
We drove westwards from Alice Springs through the beautiful West MacDonald Range, picking up such wonderful places as Simpson’s Gap and Standley Chasm. At Standley Chasm, we met a group of disgruntled West Aussies who refused to pay the $8 a head being asked by the local land owners. I had to admit that facilities were a bit thin on the ground and we got into trouble for parking in the wrong place. Despite sharing their feelings, we paid out the $16 and set off for an easy walk to view the chasm. A comparison with Echidna Chasm in the Bungle Bungles is inevitable. Standley Chasm is spectacular but comes up short when compared to the awesome size of Echidna Chasm. We climbed to several higher points beyond the main chasm, testimony to Christine’s improved fitness. 
The most magnificent feature along the way was Ormiston Gorge. Despite claiming to be nearly “gorged out”, this place is the most spectacular of any I have seen anywhere. Christine decided to have a swim but I chickened out. The group of West Aussies we had met earlier looked on in amusement as she nearly froze herself solid and made the usual crazy statements about it being OK once you were in. No one believed her.
We made camp for the night at Ormiston Gorge. We expected a cold night but were pleasantly surprised at the warm balmy night. The whole campsite was entertained through the evening by the rising moon over the mountains moving into a full and spectacular eclipse. Other full lunar eclipses I have seen have been when the moon is high whereas this one coincided with the rising moon and the sheer size of the moon added to the effect.
We got up the next morning to prepare to move on to Kings Canyon. Unfortunately, we were greeted by the dreaded “click click” signalling an almost totally dead battery. It was holding only 10.5V, a sure sign that a cell had died. After a jump start, it was back to Alice for a new battery. On the way in we had a strange experience, coming across a caravan stopped<
on the side of the road some 20kms or so from the outskirts of Alice. As we passed it, a man walked onto the road following a very old looking dog that had either recently had pups or had had so many litters in her life that her teats nearly scraped the road. She looked to have a fair bit of Rottweiler in her. The poor old thing seemed to be plodding down the middle of the road towards Alice and looked very foot sore. The man looked at us and shrugged his shoulders as if to say “Not my dog.” We pulled over and got out. The dog just kept on walking although looked back with interest when I called to her. Christine started chatting to the others while I organised some water in a bowl. The old dog came over and drank about 5 bowls straight down. Next I offered a piece of bread, which she just absorbed into her mouth. I believe she looked genuinely grateful and soon she had polished off half a loaf and a few more bowls. Once satisfied, she started looking up at the car but that was pushing my charity too far, besides we can’t even fit in another pair of thongs let alone a large dog. Meanwhile, Christine discovered the other travellers were also from Cherokee Village in Kingsley, although they had been on the road since January. We marvelled over the coincidence, said farewell to the dog and moved on. After replacing the dead battery, we decided that Kings Canyon would have to wait for another day and we set out in the afternoon for the long haul to Uluru, getting as far as a comfortable roadside stop some 80km from Yulara.
Thursday 30 August to Friday 31 August – Uluru and The Olgas
It was up bright and early and into Yulara. Along the way, the awesome vision of Mt Conner looked on the horizon. This feature is overshadowed by The Rock and The Olgas but it is a wonder in its own right. A perfect flat topped mountain, it dominates the area surrounding Curtin Springs. A camp was established in the camp ground at Yalara amid the numerous warning signs about the dangers of feeding dingos. Yalara is quite a surprise and much bigger than we thought. I guess early campers at The Rock would regard Yalara the way we regard the Monkey Mia Resort but to us first timers the town seemed clean and efficient. Once set up and fed, we put the bikes on the back of the car and headed out the 
15kms to Uluru. I was prepared to be quite cynical about Australia’s most acclaimed icon but instead I was awestruck. As it looms out of the desert, it appears quite spiritual. The changing textures and colours are everything that the promos go on about and more. It is definitely the greatest natural wonder I have yet experienced.
At the Visitor Centre, we unloaded the bikes and set off on a ride around the base. In total, the trip from the Visitor Centre return is around 12km, mostly on a formed red clay track. In places however, the track gets a bit soft and boggy but in the main the ride is easy. The temperature in the middle of the day was around 30 degrees and the walkers we came across all looked enviously at our bikes. One guy was happy to buy mine but I suggested a price of $3000 so he backed off.
The views are incredible, with constantly changing textures and erosion features. Every turn produces a new perspective on the rock, which is far more than the traditional view. The climb was closed due to high winds; a blessing in reality because it did look somewhat too strenuous for this man. Also, the traditional owners request that tourists refrain from climbing and although many still do, I would feel inclined to respect their wishes. We thoroughly enjoyed our ride around the rock and would recommend the experience to anyone. We returned to the camp site, exhilarated by the experience of Uluru but too tired to bother with the much heralded sunset viewing.
The following day we packed up the camper trailer and headed out to The Olgas. From a distance, they are a very inspiring sight but as one gets closer, they somehow diminish in size. Although still impressive, they do not compete with the majesty of Uluru itself. Approaching the car park, we were side tracked by the sight of a feral camel grazing in the scrub. I got quite close with a camera and he seemed quite unconcerned. Moving on, we undertook a 2km return walk up the Valley of the Winds. Here, a gap in the rocks channels the prevailing wind into a steady blast. A walk to the top of the valley provides commanding views over further formations. The area is a maze of huge smooth sandstone formations which have weathered quite differently to Uluru. One walk was enough after the exertions of the previous day and we set off to rejoin the Stuart Highway well content with our visit to the Red Centre.
The night was spent in a bush camp some 350km North of Coober Pedy. The night time temperature had dropped dramatically and so the abundance of dry wood was very welcome.
Saturday 1 September to Sunday 2 September – Coober Pedy
The morning was spent driving South, through ever more desolate country. Out here, there are NO trees of any sort with even the desert oaks and mulga scrub of the interior being absent. Most areas were even devoid of grass and despite the fact that we drove through one station after another, we saw little or no livestock. 
Still some 35km from Coober Pedy and the opal mine hillocks started to dot the landscape. These small piles of white crushed sandstone average 3 metres in diameter and 3 metres high. Each one marks the position of a vertical shaft some 25 metres down. In places, there are larger heaps of rubble marking the position of a hole that yielded a show of colour and developed into a mine. This landscape extends as far as the eye can see and is testimony to the lengths that men will go to in the search for opal.
The surreal drive into Coober Pedy itself is a great preparation for the town itself which is a cross between something out of a bad Western and the market stalls of Bali. The main street was a seemingly endless line of shops offering raw opal, opal jewellery, underground accommodation, underground meals and tours of the fields. Between all the buildings was a huge assortment of old junk machinery, everything from old buses converted into mining equipment to D9 Caterpillar Diesel bulldozers that were slowly returning to the earth. Clean cars were no where to be seen and most people wore clothes that were more dust than material.
We booked into the Oasis Caravan Park and organised a tour of the town and attractions for the following day. We figured that a tour was a good way of hearing a few good yarns about the place and seeing some of the essential sights. For the afternoon we ignored the delights of Coober Pedy and settled down to watch the Eagles hang on for a narrow win against Essendon in the last round of the season. This was followed by a nap, a drink in an underground bar and a meal out at Johns Pizza Bar (excellent pizzas).
The tour proved to be a hit. It was lead by “Rudi” an Austrian immigrant from 1962 turned opal miner. He had lived in town since 1968 and said he would never leave, though his mining days were behind him. He loved to talk about opal mining and the town and was extremely entertaining. We visited the underground Greek Orthodox Church, a very beautiful building. He described the dug out lifestyle that half the population of 3000 enjoys. The temperature maintains a steady 24 degrees in the dug out homes summer and winter so they are effective. They tend to be cheap too, with a 3 bedroom typical dug out going for around $75,000. Available space for dug outs has run out so there are a lot of standard above ground homes as well. Part of the tour included the Imoona Mine Tour, and underground complex built in an old mine. There we were given a lot of insight into the opal mining business. It is great to see that all the rules and regulations are established to ensure that opal mining remains a small individual operation and is not dominated by large companies. Naturally, part of the tour included a session in an opal shop where Christine pretended to be interested in hugely expensive pieces.
In the afternoon, we shopped for a ring for Christine. She wanted one with opal inlaid into a band. This of course meant that the ring had to fit because altering the size of such a ring would put the opal in danger of cracking. We had just about given up when we saw the perfect piece in a jewellery shop and it fitted beautifully. It looks great but I am going to be very careful when visiting any gem mining centres after the diamond in Kununurra and now the opal in Coober Pedy. However, it does make it easier to justify my fishing gear purchases.
Monday 3 September – Woomera
We had intended on staying another day in Coober Pedy and doing a bit of fossicking but these thoughts were put to rest when we got up. The wind was howling and it was freezing. We packed up and drove on, figuring it was better in the car than outside. The fuel consumption was terrible due to the steady headwind that blew all day.
Along the way, we detoured a little into Woomera, another very surprising place. We had expected a largely deserted town with old houses and little infrastructure left. No so, with a clean modern town housing all mod cons being very much in evidence. Although not the thriving place of the 60s and 70s, it still plays a part in space traffic monitoring and even hosts the occasional launch. There are 75 kids at the school. We were reading some of the old newspapers in a museum display and were amazed to see that 1250 children were at the 1968 Christmas Party. I never realised the place was so big. Dotted around the main street is an incredible assortment of rockets and jet aircraft, all well preserved and informatively displayed. We spent an enjoyable hour absorbing some of the history of this famous town. Driving on, it was so cold that we decided to stay out of Port Augusta in the bush so that we could light a nice big fire.