Thursday September 5, 2019

Road video and map – Coober Pedy to Erldunda Roadhouse

Most of today was driving another 300 miles north along the Stuart Highway but I started out with a scenic dirt-road excursion just outside Coober Pedy.

One feature of Australia that I had never heard of before planning this trip is the Dingo (or Dog) Fence. This is a long fence across the south eastern corner of Australia that protects the livestock in that region, mainly sheep, from the wild dingoes that roam the rest of the country. Since Australia is not small the fence is also quite long – 5,614 km or 3,488 miles to be precise. Although it is just a fence, it runs close to Coober Pedy and had to be visited. On the same loop is a scenic area called Kanku-Breakaways Conservation Park which is an area of hills and mesas that feature particularly colourful rock.

While driving the highways I know that kangaroos must be around because I see so many roadkill victims in, or at the side of, the road but I had not seen one live wild kangaroo. That changed today when two hopped away from the side of the road as my vehicle approached while I was driving tin the Breakaways.

You can see all of this in the first part of today’s road video which is the first one of this trip I feel I can recommend viewing. Since you have already read about it you can skip the introductory commentary by clicking on the white marker on the map and watching until 3:30 into the video.

I don’t expect to have any Internet access tomorrow evening and I will not be arriving at my hotel until about 10PM on Saturday so the next update will probably be Sunday.

I know its just a fence but it is one of the longest structures on earth and the isolation is impressive.

The Breakaways range of colour is amazing.As you can see, I was the only visitor in the area.
I guess you know you’re in the middle of the country when you transition from South Australia to the Northern Territory.