Outback-Here we come!!

Up at 5:00 am in order to be ready for pickup at 6:15 to go on our Outback Tour. After 20 minutes, we were at their head office and were put onto a coach with 22 other people. 24 tourists from all over the world and an Aussie driver/guide jammed pretty tightly into this coach. Left the office about 30 minutes late heading for our first stop, Quorn. this was to be our base for two nights. This interesting little town has been the set for many different movies. It truly was a western, outback town.

At one of our short breaks, we came upon this Aussie Mobile Home.
I don't think this is what Greg and Marilyn are looking
to buy this year, but I bet it could be bought for just a few dollars.

This saying became the motto for the next six days, as we walked up
mountains and into valleys and around rock formations.

Here are the movies that were set in the area. My favourite
is Gallipoli.

Up early the next morning, and off to the Flinders Ranges. I don't like
heights and this was quite a climb. I tried to get the perspective in this
picture. It was a safe climb but just a bit unnerving.

Are we there yet????

Look closely and you can see some of the group hidden in
the trees. Another group staying at our motel were up at 4:30
so that they could be at the top for the sunrise. Lucky them?!

Finally, we got to the top.

Our kids would never believe I would do something like this.
But, it was fantastic. Everybody encouraged everyone else to make it
to the top. We had snacks and then, headed back down.

Mats(from Sweden) and I pointing out from where we came and trying to
find the Ranger Station at the bottom.

I took this picture in the gift shop. This is Willopeda Pound,
the mountain that we climbed.

Lunch time after the climb. We were all quite hungry.
On this tour, we prepared, as a group, all the meals.
It was interesting to have barbecue/picnic areas like this
wherever people traveled. There was free propane as well for
cooking. We mostly ate sandwiches and salads for lunch. Evo made
sure that the three vegetarians had enough to eat.

We climbed up this stairway to see some cave drawings done
by the Aboriginals in this area.

While driving on to Coober Pedy, we came across this salt lake.
We stopped and got to walk out and check it out.

The salt is collected and then used. There were piles all around the shoreline.

We managed to make it to Coober Pedy. This town is the site of an opal mine. The temperature when we arrived was 45 degrees and it was very windy. This is normal for this area. Nearly 70 percent of the population live underground. They don't need air conditioning for that reason. The population is around 8,000. Tourists come to this area to see the mines and buy some opals, which we did. There are some hostels and hotels and B&B's here, but most are underground.

This is a view of the downtown area from the hill above our hotel.
The fronts of the houses behind the last street hide the underground
house just bored into the hill. The people who bore out their houses
get to keep whatever opals they find while expanding their homes.
For that reason, some of these underground homes are quite large.

We are on top of some one's house looking over the town.

This was our underground hotel room.

After the long day, some of the group played pool in
the bar area, also underground.

Making lunch on the way to the Olgas. The emu was hungry.
Do you see the lovely fly screens we were forced to wear
in order to keep the flies off our faces. There were a real pain sometimes.

The emu just kept on searching for a piece of bread or some fruit.
He was very persistent. He sneaked up on Jannose and Mathieu
one time and almost grabbed something right off her plate.

We finally arrived to the Olgas. This formation is similar to Ayers Rock, but much smaller.

An interesting night picture from near our campsite near the Olgas.
This was our first camping experience. We slept four to a tent; we shared with a
couple from England. they were a bit older than us, but were experienced
with this type of tour. We were coping, but were realizing
that this type of tour was not really for us.
BUT, THE SCENERY WAS AMAZING. AYERS ROCK WAS NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!