The path in South Australia (SA as Aussies say) also included fun and family and friends, and a funeral.
Since it was the final days of summer, I packed in as many trips to the beach as possible! The church, where I was staying, was a quick train ride away from Brighton Beach, so I spent a few afternoons there. These photos show the lovely shops at Brighton where I bought a much-needed hat, a very comfy Adelaide train, elevating my surgical foot on the rock wall at Brighton, new and traditional architecture for homes overlooking the beach, north view with a life-saver hut to keep us all safe, Brighton Beach looking south, and view from a beachfront cafe where my sister-in-law Soula and I had lunch, with the landmark Brighton jetty behind me.
I was also able to get to the famous, more touristy Glenelg Beach and enjoy an icecream with my friend Michael from the Adelaide Christian New Church.
Sadly, within a few days of arriving in Adelaide I learned that my uncle Frank Brock had passed on. I knew he was failing but hadn’t been able to get down to the southeastern part of SA where he lived. The blessing, besides that he was no longer physically and spiritually suffering, was that the family was able to get together and enjoy some good times and good memories of Frank.
I stayed overnight with my cousin Christine at her place in “the hills” which encircle Adelaide, enjoying her abundant garden and serene verandah. On the way to Tintinara we stopped to see (and massage) her brother David who was hospitalised with back pain. From the hospital we could catch a glimpse of Lake Albert, a far better view than from the hospital where I work in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! David was released for a few hours the next day to attend his father’s service and life celebration.
Growing up in Sydney, we had learned in school about Coober Pedy, an opal mining town in the outback of South Australia, famous for its underground buildings. Early 20th century miners had dug into the hills to construct homes where they could escape the extreme heat in the summer, and enjoy consistently comfortable temperatures inside year round. I had always wanted to see Coober Pedy, so I made a “bucket list” trip via Greyhound bus, a few days after returning from Tintinara with my brother Stephen and his wife Soula.
It was an 11 hour overnight journey from Adelaide up north to Coober Pedy, transitioning from elegant urban Adelaide to scrub gum country to huge red-earthed sheep stations to sunset over flat countryside with sparse trees. I wasn’t able to get photos of the sheep and kangaroos crossing the road during the night via walking or hopping. But I got one of a phone booth, lit up in the middle of nowhere after midnight at a petrol station, where we were so remote that there was no mobile phone service.
Finally we got there and I was able to check into my underground motel room at the Radeka Backpackers’ Inn and Motel. The rooms had been excavated out of the claystone hill – sandstone with red clay streaked throughout. After a quick nap I was heading out to explore!
A German couple and I were the only tourists on our very personalised tour for the afternoon. Our excellent guide was Dimitri AKA Jimmy, who had been an opal miner for many years, an active citizen in Coober Pedy, extra in some movies filmed there, and now tour guide extraordinaire. We learned a lot, and ended up having wine and cheese on the Breakaways where a Mad Max movie was filmed, followed by a drink at an underground pub in the underground mall.
L-R, top -bottom: 80% of residents live in dugout homes like this; an impressive underground Orthodox Christian church; our tour group above the plain that was the floor of an inland sea millennia ago which contributed to forming opal; I came across a friendly old-time miner in this opal mine that Dimitri had once worked in; the Dog Fence, which is the longest fence in the world and keeps dingoes away from sheep stations in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia; cocktail hour at the Breakaways with Dimitri; one of many warning signs in the mining areas; a hole AKA mine shaft that Dimitri had dug years ago; relaxing in the underground pub before dinner.
You can turn around 360 degrees at The Breakaways and see nothing but flat, red, outback desert. And your shadow taking the panorama shot.
The next morning I spent above ground, shopping for opal jewellery in town and climbing a hill to get a wider view of Coober Pedy. The name is derived from “kupa piti” which allegedly means “white man’s quarry” or “burrow” in a local indigenous language.
I had dinner with a friendly Aussie couple who had been stuck at Radeka’s for 3 weeks, waiting to get their broken caravan/camper fixed so they could finish touring around Australia. Before leaving for another actually restful overnight journey back to Adelaide, I stopped for a peaceful moment in the only underground Catholic church in Australia, which happened to be next door to the motel. I prayed for travelling mercies on the Greyhound bus through the outback, and for my Radeka friends’ journey onward.
