Tuesday March 23, 2010 – Painted Desert Tour.

We set off from Coober Pedy just after 9 am for the 160km trip to the Painted Desert. Our guides were Ken and Wayne. Ken is learning the route. All of it was on gravel outback roads. Just a week ago some of the roads were washed out by the rains. They only opened again on Saturday. There is a stiff penalty if you drive on the wet roads as it destroys them.

We passed through the Dog Fence – the longest man made structure in the world. It is to keep the wild dingo north in cattle country and out of sheep country to the south. It has worked very well. The biggest problem is wild camels that knock the fence down. After the fence, came an ancient sea bed now known as the Moon Plain. It is a flat plain full of rocks with very little vegetation. A number of films have been shot here or at least parts of them have. Mad Max 3, Ground Zero and Pricilla, Queen of the Desert just to name a few. We kidded our guides about the fact that the lunar landing were actually made here instead of on the moon. One could see why it is a nice scene for films. There are no overhead wires and just barren rock.

Along the way we saw many flat top hills. They are all about the same height. They are formed through wind and water erosion over millions of years. The hard rock on top does not erode as fast as the soft rock around it or under it. We noticed many such hills on our way up from Port Augusta.

We travel through the edge of one cattle station, then onto another one. The Archaringa Cattle Station is the largest in Australia is the one we cross to get to the Painted Desert. We stopped at the homestead for a bathroom break. They have accommodations for the drovers when they come for round up. Tourist can also rent these accommodations at other times to see the outback sky at night. Our guides stopped in to talk to the manager of this portion of the station only to find out he is in hospital in Adelaide after a motorcycle accident on Saturday. The Flying Doctor Service was called and he was flown out Saturday evening. Wayne was quite surprised as he had just talked to his wife on Saturday while doing a tour.

We then proceeded to the Painted Desert. It was quite an amazing site. The hills are made up of many colours. It is so hard to describe. We got out and walked for about an hour. We climbed up to the top of the flat top hills, which as a fairly easy climb. We could see out across the vast desert. It is hard to believe that the cattle find food to eat out here. We saw some cattle and they were quite fat. They obviously find plenty to eat. There are watering holes around for them to drink from. The water is pumped up by either a windmill or a solar run pump from below the ground. The stations are up to date on the technology. The solar panels are controlled from the homestead. They have towers to aid with communication.

It was a hot walk up and around the hills. The sun beats down and there is no shade. I thought I might have trouble but did not do too bad. I am glad I went on the walk as the scenery was spectacular. It is so hard to put into words. We saw two spiders and their webs. They are poisonous but they can't penetrate human skin. Nice to know! Their webs are remarkable. Their webbing is very strong which takes on different colours depending where you look at them from. We did not see any other wild life. Our guides thought that was because the desert was so green. We did see a fantailed eagle soaring over the desert. It hovered on a thermal for awhile. This eagle is native to Australia. One of the most prolific thing was flies. If you looked at the pictures you can see what I am talking about. We were so glad we had invested $10 each in nets.

We stopped for lunch before returning home. We ate with the flies. I kept my net down and ate up through the bottom. The guys just ate. Charles is not sure if he ate any flies or not. He did spit out one though.

On our way back we stopped to see some exposed petrified tree stumps. Since this was became uncovered due to erosion, we know that at one time this land was forested before it was cover by the sea. Now the layers of sandstone laid over millions of years down at the bottom of the sea are eroding enough to expose the forest. Petrified wood is fascinating as it looks just like wood but it rock.

After we returned we had a drink with our host Ken. Ken and his wife run a B&B as well. Some of their guests joined us. Ken also has an Opal Mine and polishes stones and has them made into jewellery.

We came home and went for a swim before supper.