South Australia
The joke state.
Well known for having a lot of Churches and serial killers, as well as water that is undrinkable.
We passed through there one night on the way to Central Australia.
Nullarbor Plain
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Crossing the Nullarbor is a rite of passage in Australia, possibly because there is absolutely nothing to see while doing it unless you like hundreds of kilometres of straight roads (148km), straight railway lines (478km), and small desert plants.
The late, great Douglas Adams once wrote The changes that you will undergo as you cross the Nullabor are subtle, but deep, caused by the mind-stretching expanse of nothingness and eerie quiet, where a person can sit perfectly still and look deep inside themselves to the core of their essence, their reasons for being, and the necessity of checking inside your boots every morning for fatal surprises.
The road itself actually doesn’t really follow the Nullarbor Plain, the world’s largest exposed limestone formation, sticking realtively close to the sea, which is nice since the Nullarbor is right up against the Great Australian Bight, and there are many spectacular cliffaces to be admired along the way.
The sunrise and sunsets are absolutely majestic out on the Nullarbor, and I strongly recommend them.
There is also the world’s longest golf course, the Nullarbor Links. It has a hole at 18 roadhouses and townships across the desert. It’s pretty fun!
Kangaroo Island
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Kangaroo Island is Australia’s third largest island.
It’s free of Foxes, Rabbits and other introduced pests - so lots of native wildlife and plants remain.
Coober Pedy
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Coober Pedy is mostly famous for being one of the centres of Australia’s opal mining industry, but there are a few other things that make this a great place to stop — other than the fact that this is the outback and you need to fuel up.
First of all, the film Pitch Black was filmed here.
Then there’s the fact that almost all of the residents live underground to escape the desert heat, and some will happily show you around their sweet cave homes!
But the most unique thing is probably the The Coober Pedy Opal Fields Golf Club
It’s an odd golf course. Players carry around their own astroturf to tee off from, and games are usually played at night, using glow in the dark balls.
Despite this, membership is quite sought after, probably because members have reciprocal playing rights at the home of Golf, St Andrews Links in Scotland.