Ok so early start (5.30) to be at glenelg, up the coast from where we were staying in adelaide by 6am for our pick up by 'groovy grape' tours. Arrived right on time and got a call from the bus driver to tell us he was running half an hour late..grr, that's half an hour worth of z's we missed out on but hey...it was worth the early rise.

After stopping at mr kiplings bakery for breakfast (suprisingly small for the amount of exceedingly good cakes [ok so it wasn't THE mr kipling]), we continued on our sleepy journey through absolute nothingness. It's hard to explain what nothing is until you're in the middle of it. The outback is basically red dust until you go through an occasional patch of dried up trees and plants and a burnt out car of unfortunate past backpackers before getting back to total nothing.

After a while we stopped at a massive salt lake which had obviously evaporated leaving behind a layer of salt that looked strangely like snow, it was really surreal, like being on another planet. Back into the minibus and on to our stopover, coober pedy.

The only evidence that a city is approaching is that there are a more concentrated number of piles of rocks which had started to become more frequent. Coober pedy is an infamous opal mining community and a thousand people are said to live there, selling up there 'normal homes' and choosing to gamble on finding their fortune underneath the red sand of the outback whilst living underground in order to avoid air conditioning expenses as the temperature stays at 25 degrees no matter the heat or cold outside. We set up in our 'bunker' or underground dorm for the night and went to get pizza and explore the 'nightlife'.

The next morning we were up at 6am for breakfast and to pack our bags back on the bus and off to the opal mines for a tour at half 7 in the morning! We got to see inside a real underground house and what a mine is like. Then, back on the bus to 2 really random stops. The first was the longest fence in the world, 'the dog fence' and to be fair it is just what it says on the tin...a really long fence? This was kind of lost on most of us but we took some photographs, more to humour our guide than anything and back onto the bus to our next destination, the inland sea.

The inland sea used to run through the outback (and i assume it still does when they get a heavy rainfall like 2 days every 2 years) but we drove right out off the road to see it and it was basically more nothing. I'm sounding very unimpressed I know but I was still amazed by the outback I just wasn't really appreciating 'the sights' just the vastness.

Carrying on, we pulled into a really bumpy road next to a sign which threatened us with massive penalties if we continued on our way. Our guide told us that we were allowed down the road but not to take any photographs because the government did not want anyone to see what was down there...scandal in the outback! It turned out we were going to visit an aboriginal community who keep being gifted with houses which they burn because they dont think they need them, and dole which they blow on alcohol. Our guide also told us that if for any reason we had the option, do not stay over in an aboriginal community or you will be speared and stoned because we weren't 'black fellas'.

We continued down the road, completely terrified and not even slightly wanting to visit this place anymore and pulled up to an arts and crafts centre in the middle of a village which was covered in litter and dogs. The arts and craft centre was really good and we got to see the paintings being done and the women told us what each part represented and I got to keep a piece of material from a painting..original aboriginal artwork! Back on the bus and out of there asap!

That was our last stop before arriving at annie's place in alice springs, unpacking our bags and going for a tea with the rest of our tour group and to bed to recover from a really surreal trip.