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Outside either end of the tiny town of Glendambo, South Australia, is a sign that includes population figures for people, animals, and then some millions of flies. I’m ashamed to say that we’ve been through this town twice now, spending the night the first, and we didn’t manage to get a photo of this sign. I did manage to take some great long-exposure night shots though:

Anyway, back to the flies… they weren’t kidding. Growing up in Australia, I’d never really had too much of a problem with flies – they’re annoying, sure, but you get used to them. Central Australia breeds a completely different type of fly. They’re vicious, climbing into your nose if you stand still for even a second.

On the trip back through, we stopped for fuel again and Duncan looked around, noticing we’d parked in the same exact spot as the day before, and asked quizzically “Where’s Poppy?” It was a little bit heart-breaking, that he didn’t understand the concept of adults having to leave to work. Unlike the day before, we weren’t stopping the night. No time to break out the outdoor furniture and set up camp – Before he knew it we were off again, making the last part of our precarious trek across mobile-service-barren lands in a van that could seemingly die at any minute, before returning to the waiting bosom of civilization.

Coober Pedy is a place that’s always intrigued me, but until recently I’d never actually set foot in the entire state of South Australia. Pretty pathetic considering I grew up the son of a Truck driver, when you think about it.

Primarily known for being the source of much of the world’s Opals, Coober Pedy’s also intriguing because of the sheer number of buildings that are built into the hills. I’ve long toyed with the idea, simply because being underground protects you from the effects of the weather to a huge extent, and this place is pretty much built around the idea.

We blew right by it on the way up, so there wasn’t much to see. On the way back, since we were coming back empty, we decided to stop and take a look around, despite the fact the van’s playing up. It’s a sight to see, I’ll say that much… Take one of the local churches for example:

I’m not religious in any shape way or form, but even this little church was quite moving really. It was almost eerily quiet being underground.

Some parts of the town are not as interesting – there’s quite a bit more conventional housing than I’d expected, some mobile homes, along with what can only be described as an over-representation of slums for such a tiny town.

At the moment I’m in absolutely no hurry to go back, but I’m not sure how much of that just might be the fact that the van threatened to leave us stranded there.