12 November 2011 - Big4 Oasis Coober Pedy, South Australia

Temperatures today according to the official weather records rose to 38 degrees, however I can vouch they were a whole lot hotter out in the sun. The skies have remained clear with just a few wispy clouds about and no sign of rain any time soon.

We set off this morning soon after ten o’clock up the main street of Coober Pedy, heading firstly back to the Information Centre to check that roads actually existed for us to pursue an afternoon sightseeing trip. It was just as well we did, because we found we were required to purchase a pass to enter the Breakaways Reserve.

The underground Catholic Church

We bought fresh bread, yesterday’s newspaper and some other bits from the IGA store, The Miners Store, which offers a 5% discount for Senior Card carriers. As we walked further back down the street toward the camping ground, we called in to the underground Catholic Church. As so many dwellings and other “buildings” in this town, this Church and one we will see tomorrow is set back into the hill to beat the heat. In fact we engaged in lengthy conversation with the girl in the Information Centre this morning, who works at the local real estate office during the week. She lives with her partner in an underground house and has done for the past nine years. She assures us that the temperatures are evenly 23 to 24 degrees all year as opposed to the searing heat above ground.

Across the road, we called in to the Umoona Mine and Museum and took advantage of the museum in the access tunnel to the opal shop. In the shop we were captured by Niko who is part of the family who own and run the business and were taken on a learning journey of opals, their properties, prices and marvels. He was not otherwise engaged or would have dismissed us as having been more tyre kickers rather than serious buyers.

It was soon lunch time so we returned to our caravan to find that we were alone in the back section of the park. After lunch we relaxed and read and dozed, except for Chris who popped out to fill with diesel and try to source a replacement shower hose, without success.

Later in the afternoon we headed off northwest on the dirt road toward Oodnadatta, then turned back northwest after fifteen kilometres and reaching the Dog Fence and the Moon Plain. We had crossed the Dog Fence about thirty or forty kilometres north of Coober Pedy on the Stuart Highway, just a cattle stop or grid on the road. It surprises us that dingoes are deterred by grids; this is a question for the tour guide tomorrow so watch this space. The Dog Fence stretches 5,600 kilometres from the Great Australian Bight in South Australia to the Darling Downs in south eastern Queensland. It reaches its most northern point in South Australia not far from Coober Pedy and is the result of 130 years of desperate attempts to keep dingo out of sheep country. North of the fence is cattle country, and dingo country.

The Dog Fence

The fence had a chequered history. From the 1880’s several fences were constructed in various states, in the first place largely to keep out rabbits. This was a doomed enterprise, and all fell into disuse and disrepair. In South Australia the more affluent settlers began to erect dog proof fences, firstly around paddocks for lambing ewes and finally around entire properties. The fences were effective, and fencing caught on. Neighbours joined forces and fenced several stations for economy. As the dingo proof cells multiplied, small co-operatives were formed to undertake patrol and maintenance. Early in 1940 the idea was born of joining the most northern co-operatives to form one continuous dog proof fence. This was enacted in 1946 by the Dog Fence Act which created a fence twice as long as the Great Wall of China.

The Moon Plain was immediately identified, a huge seemingly endless plain of nothingness. This is truly desert, drier than anything we have seen here in Australia and more desolate than the desert on the eastern side of the Tongariro National Park in New Zealand.

Further on we came upon flat topped mesa, some eroded but all stunningly beautiful in the midst of this gibber desert. These are known as the Breakaways, because when seen from the distance, the area looks as if the land features have broken away from the main Stuart Range.

The stunning Breakaways

Film makers have been attracted to the vast open spaces and richly coloured landscapes. The South Australian Film Corporation filmed “Fire in the Stone” in 1982. Since then, a succession of movies, television, advertisements and promotions have been made here, including “Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome’, “Ground Zero” and “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”.

This is one of the hottest places in Australia, summer temperatures often reach 45 degrees, and ground temperatures as much as 65 degrees. As we stood at a high point enraptured by the views, the wind was very warm and I could feel the sun burning the back of my bare legs. It was six o’clock.

From here we travelled directly west and re-joined the Stuart Highway twenty three kilometres north of Coober Pedy and passed the surreal casts and mines as we had yesterday. Arriving at the camp once more, we booked for a further two days and for a three hour tour tomorrow morning. We will have to be out of bed bright and early.