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Caption: THE FARM Life in the Aussie Outback
Chapter 6: Beyond the Fence
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Caption: The tale of two
British city
dwellers spending three months living and working on a 60,000 acre sheep
farm in rural
South Australia
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Caption: We have been quiet on the blog recently due to a very dull job strengthening 8km of fence.
There are only so many photos one can post about fence repairs.
We decided we needed a weekend away from it all.
So we jumped in our old truck for a 7 hour drive north with no
air-con into the deep hot desert.
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Caption: Travelling via the famous Stuart Highway towards the centre of Australia, we camped at Lake Hart.
A fake 'lake' created from salt deposits.
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Caption: Water too salty to drink in the middle of the outback.
Nature sharing a cruel joke with the thirsty explorers of old.
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Caption: The purpose of the 7 hour drive was to reach a mining town called Coober Pedy.
Miles from civilisation, this outback post remains one of the few places where you can stake a claim & dig for opal.
Our truck was so relieved to reach fuel, it broke down on the garage forecourt & had to be rescued with a bump start from a dusty & gnarled old miner.
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Caption: Sam and I went noodling for opals to make our fortune.
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Caption: The surface temperature is so high that 70% of the town live underground in caves.
Yes we stayed in a cave.
It was cool and peaceful and there were no sheep fences in sight.
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Caption: Mad Max & Priscilla Queen of the Desert were filmed here. Bits of leftover film-set merge with art & architecture.
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Caption: Unbeknownst to us there are two things that you have to do in Coober Pedy (other than make your fortune in opal).
Number 1.
Visit The Breakaways:
A stunning natural rock formation that 70 million years ago was buried underneath a vast inland sea. Sacred to the local aboriginal people
& beautiful beyond words.
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Caption: Number 2.
Visit a fence.
5,400km of fence.
The longest fence in the world.
Built in the 1940's to protect grazing stock from Australia's native dog, the dingo.
It is a feat of engineering. But after two months of looking at nothing but fences...
You can picture our faces. #epiXtrip
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