Darwin by Hybrid - Day Four

OK, so obviously a whole lot of catching up to do....

Saturday (18 July) was spent in Coober Pedy. Coober Pedy and its surrounds are well and truly where dead things go to die some more. It's hard not to use the phrase "post apocalyptic" once you've seen it, or the Mad Max films shot in the region, so I won't use it. Emily and I spent the morning visiting an underground mine, some underground churches, the underground everything else before returning to our underground hotel.

Coober Pedy is The Land That Town Planning Forgot, which actually contributes in a major way to its charm. Some blocks are houses, mines, industrial sites and tourist locations all rolled into one. Large scale mining equipment is everywhere, as are piles of industrial refuse. It's a boys town.

After some faffing about, we jumped in the car and drove through the Breakaways, about 50kms to the East of Coober Pedy. And now is the time to whip out that "post apocalyptic" phrase I spurned earlier. Some of the country here not only looks post-apocalyptic, it looks like its been through several apocalypses, a handful of deathly visitations, a whole handcart of hells and has passed through end times at least twice. Eerie white and ochre sandstone rises from the plain which is devoid of vegetation and covered in sharp, broken rocks. And in the middle, a dingo fence. I thought of my father fencing in King Lake, where a team of four can do 200 metres a day, and look at a small section of over 4000kms of fence.

Saturday night we went to Coober Pedy's best Greek restaraunt (I know, that's far too obvious a set up). It was good.