Posted 6:35 PM by MelanieandSteve
WE MADE IT TO THE SOUTHERN COAST: We've enjoyed driving across the unending Australian deserts solitude -- We are a little sad to find ourselves back in the areas of traffic, lights and lots of little cities. Maybe we're just hermits at heart??? Now we're in Adelaide, center of Southern Australia - yet a new state and yet another time zone adding one hour (18 1/2 hours different from CA, 17 1/2 from Colorado, we think). Because there are so many time zones, on the radio (Aaaah, radio, a luxury we long for and endured without on the road. Maybe we're not such hermits after all.) along with the weather, they say the times of various cities. For example, "it's 7:00 in Perth, 8:30 in Darwin, 9:30 in Adelaide, and 10:00 in sydney." Adelaide is a big city and a pretty one. We're sleeping indoors in a hostel for the first time since Darwin, 3560 Kilometers ago. There's no trace of the outback from which we came in Adelaide.

STEVE'S HEROICS, ONCE AGAIN: on 12/3, after that huge thunder and rain storm, we learned that along with heat, Chester Blui (the van) also doesn't like water much. Out in the middle of nowhere, after the rain let up, Chester gave out. The engine died and we were dead in the dirt. Steve worked a little bit more of his engineering magic and within one and a half hour, we were off again.

FAILED TO REACH OUR SECOND METEOR CRATER: Twice in this trip, we've tried to get to meteor craters accessibly by dirt roads. This one was ordinarily a 2 wheel drive road so hopes were high, but thanks to that great storm, the road was practically a lake. We made it about 5 KM's and could go no further. A great disappointment, but a nice camping spot in the bush.

ULURU/AYER'S ROCK: Everyone knows about this monolythic rock in the very center of Australia. No one knows how outstanding and inspiring it is until they drive across the plain and craine their neck upwards toward the red, textured, glorious rock. Aboriginals hold it as a spiritual place. So do we, now that we've seen it.

COOBER PEDY - UNDERGROUND TOWN, CHURCH, MUSEUM, AND "NOODLING" FOR BURRIED TREASURE: Melanie had been looking forward to this opal mining town forever because she heard people live underground. It's one of the hottest places in Australia, so the first miners (WWI vets) lived underground and the natives named the town Cuper Pedy, meaning white man living in big hole. Now, 80 of it's population live underground in dugouts - basically, caves, 20 meters and more below ground. The benefit is that the air above excedes 100 Fahrenheit regularly, but the air in their dugout homes remains around a constant 70 degrees, and that's without AC in the summer or heating in the winter. Outside the town where mining is permitted but living is not, one million open holes pock the desert floor. Apparently it's too expensive to fill then in. Signs warn of Danger, Open Mine Holes, Don't Walk Backwards, and depict stick figures falling in head first.
-Church: We attended the Catacombe Nondenomination Church, underground. There, we met Kim Sealey, who during the other six days of the week, is a self-employed professional Opal Miner with a staked out mine lease of his own. He explained the basics of how mining is done and where to go to learn more.
-Museum: Attended the Umoona Opal Shop and Museum Tour which took us deep underground to show us a model dugout home and a former Opal Mine inclusive of a vein of opal in the rock. We enjoyed an opal cutting demo.
-Noodling: There's an area of town where the public can dig, chip, and sift through the piles of unchecked dirt and rocks that the big time Opal Miners have left behind. Mel spent about a half an hour and found a couple low value colorless pieces of opal. Steve spent a couple hours and found a small treasure troves of chips and nuggets. Steve decided that if we haden't needed need to get to our flight in Melbourne shortly, he'd enjoy staying here for to stake out a mine of his own. Anyone who's seen his 14 foot deep backyard hole in Colorado would know that this place suited him well.

WOOMERA, THE SECRET TOWN: In 1947 Cold War times, Australia and Brittain banded together to perform long range missile testing opperations in this "prohibited land area" which stretches for 3000 kms. Despite the fact that many military families lived here and even started a small baby boom, the government kept the town secret and didn't even have it put on maps until the 70's. We learned that Australia was the fourth country to enter space from here. We attended the heritage center to learn about the unusual family lifestyle, the testing that went on with Brittain, and about the subsequent American role in satelite testing there.

ADELAIDE: THREE STRIKE OUTS AND ONE HOME RUN -- SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM, FREE CHOCOLATE, RUNDLE STREET:
-Museum: Raced through the desert to make it in the nick of time for the 11:00 free tour of the South Australian Museum, but the tour was cancelled (strike one). We came to see the opalized fossil of a plesiosaurous found near Cooper Pedy. Only in Australia are fossils found in the form of opal. While unpolished, the glistening blue green and red fossil bones were brilliant.
-Chocolate Factory Tour Full - but Free Chocolate: We arrived early at the Haigh Chocolate factory tour and tasting, but it was full (strike 2). But they let us self guide and still gave us free samples. Melanie almost fell over, the dark chocolates were so good.
-Rundle Street, THE place to Be Day or Night, says our guide book: Nothing spectacular, but it had a pretty out door mall and some good restaurants (a break from the camping stove). Coincidentally, Guy Sebastian, Australian Idol winner (just like American Idol) was performing in the mall to the excited screams of many a young teen. We just missed the show (perhaps a strike 3, maybe just a ball ? ? ? ).
-Plane tickets to New Zealand: Our main reason for stopping in Adelaide was to pick up plane tickets which were waiting for us here. (Home Run! we're on our way to New Zealand this weekend.)