About 750 kms from Coober Pedy is our final destination, Uluru. Only a 7-8 hour drive until we see this wonder! We felt excitement as we departed Coober Pedy.
The great thing about road trips is that you can detour slightly while still be on track for time. We had just this opportunity on departure. I wanted to see the Break Aways which was only 32 kms North of Coober Pedy.The locals advised that we can drive to the Break Aways using our car as it has not rained in the area for some time. If there was rain, we needed a 4WD since the road was made up of dirt.
The trip towards the Break Aways was bumpy and rough. The car shook and vibrated, but after 20 mins we were there. Kidneys and stomach were a touch in a knot and displaced.
It was just after 9:30 am, so we missed the early golden light on the Break Aways. Still will a tripod in hand and some nifty traditional photography techniques I captured the following.
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| Looking over the edge at the Break Aways |
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| Break Aways from another lookout point |
The half way point for this part of the trip was the border between South Australia (SA) and the Northern Territory (NT). There is a major rest stop that highlights the border. Unfortunately, the border point lacked character and someone ran off with each state's emblem!
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| A sad border crossing. We all prefer the border cafe one! |
For the first time ever, I was able to take the car up to 130 kmph, which is the speed limit for the Stuart Highway, NT side. Sadly, if we made this trip 6 years earlier, the speed limit was as fast as your car can go! Overtaking was easy at this speed as the road trains can only travel 100 kmph.
On the way to Uluru we saw Mt Conner at a rest stop. The ground was red as red can be, we had indeed entered the red center of Australia.
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| Mt Conner in the background. Don't mistake it for Uluru |
