A town in the middle of nowhere – in the desert between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. Nothing here. Except of opal, lots of opal. Which is apparently the reason that Coober Pedy („The opal capital of the world“) exists. As in every village you pass up on the way to Alice, there is not much here. One of them uglier than the other, but you have to stay somewhere overnight and therefore no choice at all. Well, they have internet („only“ 8$/p.h.) and so I can update you immediately...



Coober Pedy is, compared to other stops we had so far, nice. Not beautiful, but ok, and it has two supermarkets! It also has one pub, around 20 night clubs (nearly one for every nationality, as there live people from 50 different countries in Coober), a bowling club and, of course, a golf course like every village in Australia seems to have one. So, the 3500 people who live here, can do something in their spare time. I can only say one thing: „Do mechast jo ned doad am Zaun ummihänga!“ But, as usual, I found something for you, that shows a certain sense of humor: Which f... grass?!? ;-)



We decided, to stay here for two nights and go on a desert tour. The hostel we stayed in is, as most of the things in Coober, underground. Which means that the bedrooms find their place in a „dugout“ - an old opal mine six meters under the surface. That is absoluteley cool – and a bit freaky when you go down there the first time... ;-)



The tour took us trough the opal mining fields (I'm not sure if I have ever seen something more ugly), to the Brakeaways, the Moon Plane, the Dog Fence (the worlds longest fence – over 5000 kilometers long) and so on.



As part of the tour, we were allowed to go „noodeling“ for a while in an old opal mine. „Noodeling“ means, you go trough the stones and sand that has bees dugged out of the mine and hope to find some left opal in it. Of course, you don't find anything, but it was fun anyway. Opal fever...



Our next stop major stop will be Uluru on Monday for two days! That will be impressive – Uluru at sunset and/or at sunrise. We really look forward to it! :-)

While we are slowly making our way up to Alice Springs, there are plenty of opportunities to stop at interesting places for a night or two. We found out that going with 80 km/h is best. If we go quicker, Freddy needs so much petrol that we can't believe it...



Shortly behind Adelaide, you hit „Flinders Ranges“ - a big outback area which is supposed to be the most beautiful outback area of Australia. We did not want to miss that, so we headed up to Quorn and stayed at the YHA hostel there for two nights. And then, just ten kilometers from Port Augusta, you know, you've hit the outback, the „real Australia“: No radio reception and no mobile phone reception any more... ;-)



This area is one of the driest in Australia. Do I really have to say, that it was pouring all the two days we were there? ;-) I know, water is bitterly needed and that it is a blessing for the land if it rains. But... It was just freeeeeezing!!! Anyway, even in rain the scenerie is stunning.



On Wednesday, we drove up tp Wilpena Pound – the heart of the Flinders. The 120-kilometer-drive is beautiful and I was surprised how different the landscape looks every few kilometers. I mean, if you hear „outback“ as a stupid european tourist, you think, it will look the same all over. It does'nt. Far from it. I wouldn't like to live there – but to look at it is absoluteley beautiful.

After a ten hour drive (with brakes, of course), we safely arrived in Adelaide on Friday night. Freddy was doing good, we were tired and very happy that we – finally – made it out of Melbourne. We had no problems to find our hostel – finding a parking spot for Freddy was a bigger challenge. What a luck that it was a weekend, otherwise we would'nt have had a chance to park Freddy here in the city – all limited „1-hour“ parking spots.

On Saturday, we drove up to the Adelaide Hills and visited the oldest surviving german settlement in Australia: Hahndorf. It's quite funny over there. Nice little village, lots of tourist crap and lots of german flags in a row with australian flags. The „german experience“ there is more a „bavarian experience“ - as you can see here:



Even the Bürgermeister of Hahndorf is a lady from Munich – she and her family immigrated to Australia 15 years ago and now she is the head of the city (or whatever the english expression for Bürgermeister may be). We had a nice chat with her at the tourist information centre. Apart from walking through the lovely village, we enjoyed a bavarian lunch at the „German Inn“ - Bratwurst with Sauerkraut. Yummy! And, of course, we bought a piece of „real bread“ in the german bakery there – you won't believe this, but it is really what we call a Vollkornbrot! Wow! Missed it for a long time and we are really enjoying it now. :-) Please recognize the blue sign on the photo: „Hofbräuhaus München – it's wunderbar!“ Which language is that supposed to be? ;-)



Today, we did a bit of sightseeing – a long walk trough Adelaide, the Botanic Garden, having a look at a few major sights and a walk trough the free Art Gallery. Adelaide is nice and green – many parks surround the city centre, which I think is really good. No problem to find a place to go for a run – so, after three weeks, we managed to go jogging this morning! Wow!



This morning was quite exciting: Just before we left for our walk, the fire alarm started ringing. Was a false alarm, but the firemen did not know that and minutes later the hostel was filled up with them, trying to evacuate all people. Good to know, that they actually come within five minutes, if there is a real fire. Well, that false alarm will cost the hostel 700 bucks – lots of money...



Tomorrow, we plan to have another go up to the Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley maybe – we wanna visit a chocolate factory (what else?) and a wildlife park, where visitors can hold a koala and take a picture with one of these always stoned looking animals – we must do that! :-) On Tuesday, we will travel on – to Port Augusta and then up north into the Outback, up Stuart Highway towards Uluru and Alice Springs. Which reminds me that I have to call Daniel, who is looking for a lift to Alice, and who we met for a beer yesterday to see if we like him. I have to ask him, if he wants to come with us or not. We would welcome it – petrol shared between three is better than petrol shared between two. But we'll leave anyway – if he's coming or not, does'nt matter. :-)

Let me introduce you to „Freddy, the Ford“. He will be our best friend for the next weeks – and hopefully, he will not stop going somewhere in the middle of nowhere. :-)



Today we just filled him up with petrol, cleaned all the cupboards and the fridge out (yes, Freddy comes with everything we need to survive), took him to a little ride and later on we wanna to go to the next ALDI-store and fill the car up with „Haribo Goldbären“ and other food and stuff we need for the next days and weeks. Then, tomorrow morning by eight, we will cry a few tears, hug Paul goodbye and leave. Finally. To Adelaide next.