Well I have finally left Sydney and set off on an adventure so expect this to be a longer blog than usual.

Bye Bye Sydney
I left the hostel in sydney tuesday feb 23rd - it was sad to leave behind what had become my home as well as some great friends.
Arriving in Adelaide at night started well when I had to run back through the airport having realised I had left my new hat on the plane - fair play the captain himself went back onto the plane to get it for me.
My hostel for the night was the blue galah. A nice sight at first was the prospect of air con after having to make do with my fan in the searing heat of sydney. One problem... no controls so the room was FREEZING. I actually spent a night in a hostel in Australia shivering!!!

Road to Coober Pedy
I was picked up at 6.30 next morning - probably the longest lie in I experienced for the next 6 days! We headed out of Adelaide and were soon in desert country with lots of sand, flies, and long long long straight roads. Coober Pedy our destination. On the way we stopped for lunch which would be my first experience of eating with the flies!!! All our meals for the trip would be prepared by us - damn I didnt sign up to this :)
We stopped for a while at Lake Hart which was a massive salt lake so no water at all. Our guide told us that in the 30 years he had been out this way it had only been filled with water on a handful of occaisions - but he had infact canoed across it once! We walked over the lines of the Ghan Railway built but the afgans and their camels - in that heat I have to say they must have been crazy!
We arrived in Coober around 5pm so a very long day!

Coober Pedy - Day 1
What a crazy place!!! This small town has a population of around 2000 people comprising of over 40 different nationalities, and is the Opal mining capital of the world. Not a lot here to be honest but lots of flies and piles of rock everywhere where the miners have been looking for opals.
One main street with a few side streets so it doesnt take long to explore. The town prides itself on having the worlds first underground church, underground bar, and lots of people living underground in caves dugout of the sides of hills.
Coober and the surrounding moon like plains has been used for films such as Mad Max 3, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Pitch Black. There are several props dotted around the town as a thank you from the film companies so its not rare to walk into a space ship!
Our home for the next 2 nights is underground in an area that resembled that of luke Skywalkers homestead in Star Wars so really cool. Walking into the cave you see instantly the benefit of living underground - a year round temp of 20c so much nicer than the heat outside!!!
The thing that hits you instantly about being out here is the absolute silence - nothing. So different from Sydney. Hard to get used to at first I have to say.
That night we ventured out to the bar for a couple of beers with the locals - an interesting breed of people....

Coober Pedy - Day 2
Most of the group set off for Alice Springs in the morning leaving 7 of us for another tour guide to meet up with their group for our outback adventure. Whilst we waited me and one of the lads went exploring.... didnt find much apart from rocks and flies. Did find the local school which has one of the 2 grassed areas in the town, where we could access the world of the interent wow!!!
When the group arrived we went to an opal mine musuem which was so exciting - wow. Funny how no matter what nationality you are, you can be really sarcastic about interesting places. Of course all the girls bought opals - I bought a postcard!
We then went to a kangaroo sanctuary where they take in orphaned kangaroos and try to rehabilitate them into the wild. It was a cool place - and I got to hold Skippy!!!
We then headed out into the desert via the local golf course (yes no grass - they walk around with a piece of turf to take their shots from apparently!) to a lookout over the desert to enjoy a beer and soem paella. Washing dishes in the open air was insane! The sunset was immense and a real treat to witness.
On arrival back in Coober we headed to the underground bar for a few drinks. One of the locals got all defensive when asked where he was from seeing as his country of yugoslavia no loner exisited. We looke din shock when the bar man told us he had come there for work 10 years ago! They did have air hockey and a pool table though. I defeated Holland at air hockey! Back to the cave.

Road to Uluru
Another early start as we pack up and head off to Uluru - yay!!!

I will do another blog for the rest of the trip so stay tuned...