K: 2nd to 4th Oct Coober Pedy to Leigh Creek

Our last day in Coober Pedy and with a bit of time to kill we visited another underground church. This is the catholic church and unlike the Serbian Orthodox it has seats. Alison is contemplating her trip to Sydney via overnight bus to Adelaide. She needs to get home before me as she has some commitments.

I set off on the dirt road to William Creek not too sure how the caravan will cope. This section is quite smooth and all looks well. The rain has held off.

I take a joy flight over Lake Eyre. These are people on the banks of Halligan Bay:

Another view of Lake Eyre North:

This is a very large cattle property up to the boundaries of the Lake Eyre National Park and as far as the eye can see. We could not spot a single cow and mustering is a difficult task. This is William Creek "township" where I stop for one night:

This shot is out of sequence, I drove down to the lake's edge later in the afternoon and got this shot an hour before sunset. Sunset would have been better but the road in (65km) is rough and best done in daylight:

My pilot, the boss of Wrightsair:

A very low Australian (Me), posing by lake Eyre North at 20m below sea level. before going in for a paddle. The beaches are pure white salt here and get wider as the lake dries up. This is the largest salt lake in the world, when it has water. When it doesn't its all beach.

These seagulls are a long way from the sea, its amazing that they found their way here:

Typical flat landscape on the way back:

Next day I head down the Oodnadatta Track and this is Lake Eyre South approaching. The two lakes are separate and connected by a narrow channel which only flows in major floods. Lake Eyre Sth is higher.
To offset the featureless landscape someone has created some nice sculptures. The dog's head is a car chassis:
The old Ghan Railway has long been closed down, no doubt due to this high-tech rival:

They have vertical take-off planes out here despite the infinite space for runways:

This hitch-hiker appears to have been waiting a long time for a lift:

One of the more decorative windmills around:

A disused railway station:

This is a mosque at Marree used by the Afghan cameleers and is kept as a memorial to their contribution to that era:
Marree station:


This guy uses the two camels above to pull him around. He has no plans, just to stay away from the big cities. He told me he has been on the road for 16 years. His little vehicle has a fridge, that may be a solar panel on top:

Further south trains go to the coal mine at Leigh Creek. They are very long, this one is going to fill up with more coal for China to help them meet their carbon emission targets: