Been a while so lots to say…
I spent a nice evening in Hobart although it was pretty quiet, even in Salamanca Place where all the action is at. It’s a pretty little city nonetheless even though it doesn’t have a lot of specific things to look at and do.
Next day I duly went to Adelaide, flying via Melbourne. The first leg was fine but I was stuck in Melbourne for an extra 90 minutes, it turned out that there’d been massive storms in Queensland which was stuffing up the entire network, and have since moved to New South Wales which is interesting as I’m going there tomorrow! Anyway I got to Adelaide eventually and Teish had picked us a nice hotel right in the sleazy part of town with all the strip bars and stuff which was perfect 🙂 We went out for a few sherberts that night and Stu and I decided to partake in a little extra entertainment at one establishment. They were a bit fat and/or old though to be honest!
Next day we set out on the 845 Km road journey north into the outback and Coober Pedy. The trip was fine, we picked up a hitchhiker on the way who had a jerry can full of fuel and had run out 120 Km up the road from where he was. He’d hitched one way to get to the petrol station and we were taking him back. He was only young but looked and smelled terrible, it turns out he lives in Coober Pedy so that was a sign of what was to come… Despite being like a scene from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre we dropped him off and arrived Ok anyway. It’s a weird little town, and we found ourselves a fantastic two-bedroomed motel unit underground, the place is literally hewn out of the rock and it is just sealed with bondseal or something, but that’s your lot! Nevertheless it was very comfortable and very, VERY dark at night!
We hit a pizzeria for a big pile of meat and chips (it’s like Livingston actually), there was a girl in there showing off her engagement ring she’d just been given. Her fiance is a miner and had an opal stone he’d mined himself set into a ring for her. Then we did an underground bar or two. Next day we played golf in the desert, they give you a little patch of artificial turf to put under your ball! We also checked out an underground church, an old mine and underground home which was very fascinating, then drove a bit out of town on the dirt roads to some rock formations, all bright yellow and white colours, with the vast expanse of nothingness behind.
We did the remainder of the town’s pub crawl that night, one place at midnight made an announcement that as it was now midnight all under 18’s must leave! Today we’ve driven back to Adelaide, I got first prize for being pulled for doing 134 in a 110 zone and have been fined $310 🙁
So tonight is the last night then, we will go out on the razzle here a bit and then head off to Sydney in the morning. I’m trying not to think about it too much…