Coober Pedy and Breakaway Reserve

Thursday, June 12:

Drove all day to Coober Pedy mainly because we were travelling vast flat plains so the overnight stops were very exposed.

We arrived about 3pm and booked into the Opal Inn Caravan Park right in the heart of town. We went for a walk around town but a dust storm blew up and rained threatened so we headed back to the van. This is nothing like White Cliffs or Lightning Ridge. The town has grown like topsy since 1915 and there seems to be little TLC put into it by the shire etc to enhance to the place. Even the various points of interest marker boards are old and tired. There is junk everywhere.

Housing is mixed though they claim a majority of the homes are underground.

Distance travelled: 538kms

Friday, June 13:

Decided against paying $95 each for a bus tour so drove ourselves out to the Breakways Reserve north of town and to see the famous 5,000kms plus dog proof fence which stretches from the Great Australian Bight at Ceduna through SA, NSW and Qld to Surfer’s Paradise. It keeps the dingoes out of the sheep and grazing lands. It is truly amazing to see it 2m high stretching out into the distance as straight as you like.

Breakway Reserve was the setting used by various films – Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and Ground Zero - and it is easy to see why – towering mesa and butts and behind them just wide open plains heading endlessly into the distance.  We are a vast place all right.

We first went to the look outs and photographed from above and they found the track leading down in and around the towering formations. Awe inspiring.

Afterwards we visited one of the many underground churches – the Serbian Church which has a gallery area and a vaulted ceiling – all carved from rock.

Breakaway Reserve at Coober Pedy the setting fro the films – Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and Ground Zero.

Papa or the Castle at Breakaway Reserve, Coober Pedy.

Part of the 2,500km South Australian section of the Dog Fence at Coober Pedy which stretches 5,300kms from Ceduna in SA to Surfers Paradise in Queensland.

The interior of the Serbian Underground Church at Coober Pedy.