Day: May 22, 2026

As you leave Coober the piles of dirt from opal mines gradually begin to decrease and the landscape returns to an undisturbed flat, red, arid vista. It’s an uneventful travel day today as we push north, hoping to make Alice Springs the following day.

We’ve arranged to meet the Durston family at the Agnes Creek Rest Area tonight but it’s just easier to travel at our own pace, stopping for breaks, lunch and firewood collection when it suits.

A long day driving, we pull in almost at the exact same time and find a perfect spot with a fire pit to share. The kids explode from the car and have a little play before setting up around the fire to compare and write journals together. They are just the loveliest young people and together just seem to bring out the best in each other. It’s wonderful seeing them so energised and enjoying the company so much.

Eventually, with dinner done and kids to bed, the parents get a chance to chill and socialise by the fire. The nights have been very cold since Marree, it’s beanie, scarf and warm woollens weather and the fires are cosy to huddle by. After a long drive and all agreeing to a bit of social fatigue it was early to bed for all bar me. The moon is full, the solitude was welcome and the coals and flame were the perfect company to catch up on a few blog posts. Time on your own is golden, there is not much of it and somehow I find it very hard to create.

The cold nights are also making it a challenge, for everyone, to get up in the morning. The van is pretty well insulated and sleeping with socks, warm pj’s, scarf, beanie, two blankets and a doona it’s cosy. No one wants to be the first up to put the diesel heater on. But boy that thing works great and was a super inclusion by Ken. Give it a minute and we are toasty warm and can consider getting up.

Lulu is still waking during the night and early mornings so with the cold and disturbed sleep I find myself struggling to get going in the morning. Throw in the time it takes to cook breakfast, do the dishes and clean up, get the day’s schooling done and finally packed away and prepare for a day’s travel, we are often a late getaway. The Durstons got away at a reasonable time, our departure was a little closer to lunchtime.

It was a good morning though and while the girls schooled as the sun warmed things up Lulu got familiar with the red dirt. Getting on the road today had an air of excitement to it. Firstly we were going to pull in again wherever the Durstons pulled up and we’d be crossing the border from South Australia into the Northern Territory. Neither Ken nor I have ever been in the Northern Territory and there are many wonderful sights to explore. However, the one thing we are not looking forward to is being in croc country again.

Once on the road we only have a quick stop at the border to get the picture and stretch the legs, but with our late start need to push on to get to Alice tonight. Mel has sent me the details and we pull in right next to them at the showgrounds. Perfect!

The road in was reported to be pretty good but you come to realise how broad a statement “good” is when you talk to a variety of people. Coming into Coober is pretty exciting for a couple of reasons. Firstly it’s such an iconic town in Australia, secondly they mine pretty shiny things – Opals, and lastly it has a supermarket!

It’s been a fortnight since we’ve seen a supermarket. Now that’s not really a long time but we’re spoilt city folk, who love our food and I miss the conveniences of a supermarket. Always good though to get a reminder of how easy we’ve got it.

Our first day and night were pretty low key. Shopping, cooking, cleaning, washing, school and repairs on the car and van. We let the other families know where we were staying and were thrilled when they turned up later that day. It was Friday and the girls were keen to invite everyone over for movie night. It was a fun night for both kids and parents as we all enjoyed an evening swapping stories and having a laugh.

Having not yet explored much of the sights, we got amongst it the next day visiting Crocodile Harry’s Underground House. We were keen to see some of these underground dwellings and it was indeed fascinating. Harry’s house had a flair for the bizarre and that is what it’s famous for. From there we checked out the Main Street, opals and the underground Catholic Church.

From there we performed our good deed of the day finding someone’s purse with phone and all her holiday cash! Luckily we were able to ring the last number called and it was the lady’s son who was able to locate his mum without much delay and she was only down the road. Finding her at the pizza shop we decided to reward ourselves with a pizza, (the first in 8 months, since the Coeliac diagnosis). The place had rave reviews and sold the famous Coat of Arms Pizza – Emu and Kangaroo. Who could refuse, we just had to try it. Disappointingly they were out of Emu, nice enough but nothing special. Poor Ken couldn’t handle all those carbs and had to sleep it off for the afternoon.

In the afternoon we gathered with the other families at The Breakaways for sunset, drinks and nibbles. The Breakaways is a national park of rugged beauty. Stunning rock formations and features combining the red iron-rich rock and soft white limestone. The contrast of colours makes for a beautiful landscape. With the sun setting in one direction and the moon rising in the other it is easy to see and feel why this rates so highly as a must see and do in Coober. For us it was all the more special as the company was also top notch.

On our last day we visited the Umoona Opal Mine & Museum. Having done an opal mine tour in Lightning Ridge we didn’t bother with that but the museum and opal shop were both fabulous. The final shopping, cooking, washing and repairs were complete, gas bottles and water tank were filled and we were set for departure the next day.

It’s worth mentioning the quality of Coober water. We’d heard reports of it being good but discovered the town’s water supply was processed through reverse osmosis.

Both the other families had found accommodation in an underground house for a night or two and Mel and Brett invited us over for dinner. It was great to get to see a functional underground home and spend a few hours in it, but spending a very relaxed and enriching evening getting to know Mel and Brett a little more was the highlight. The kids just played beautifully together and it was nice spending time and making a real connection with like-minded folks.

It looks like we are both heading north tomorrow so we made some plans to co-ordinate our next camp’s location and keep the fun rolling.