The Flight of the Budgi

photography by Rodney Nash

These beautiful green Budgerigar photographs were taken by my husband Rod at the Henbury Meteorite Conservation Reserve containing 12 craters which were formed when a meteor hit the earth's surface 4,700 years ago. 

(Click on the images to enlarge and see the subtle colours and details.)

Landscapes and underground interiors

These Opal mines in Cooberpedy are everywhere. Mounds of earth scattered everywhere, which give the landscape a real pyramid Egypt feel. It is very easy to get a claim to start digging for Opal which costs around $70 which is why there is so many. While, travelling around and talking to the people it was not hard to get captivated by the thought of striking it rich just from digging through a bit of dirt. We went to a fantastic Old Timers Mine Tour and heard stories where people found a $100,000 piece of opal on the side of the road, in the carpark and from their first dig. Lots of people come out here as a tourist and get opal fever and stay. Tantalizing! However I would not last it is way to hot out here. Their is a great story to read if you click on the Old Timers Mine tour link above.

Everything looks salvaged and DIY in Cooberpedy. This kind of residential landscape is very common.

This is Faye's House. A underground dug out house. Alot of residential houses are built underground because of the extreme heat in summer. I find them absolutely genius really. Faye's is a open house and you can wander around and check out how it is all constructed, which is usually made out of old mines that are re-constructed to be lived in. Faye's house has 7 underground rooms. The caretaker said their is a house in Cooberpedy that has 22 rooms. Wouldn't you just love to see that!

Kitchen looking into the lounge room

Bedroom 1 with a lower level Bedroom 2

From the bedroom you go down a hall way past the cellar

into the lounge/living room. Don't you  just love the retro interior

then from the lounge room their is a pool room. This room is my favourite. Way too cool. I just love the decor. It could have come straight out of a 70's Magazine.

the other end of the pool room

This landscape is called the Breakaway's about a 30km's from Cooberpedy. Definitely worth the drive. The landscape is just stunning! Click on the image to get the whole view.

all photography by Candice Herne

Along the Oodnadatta track

From William Creek we took the Oodnadatta Track to Cooberpedy (I always thought it was Cooperpedy) the opal mining capital of the world.

The Oodnadatta Track is basically a dirt track through the desert.

along the track we stopped at another rusted old car to admire and have a play in

the desert gallery along the way

a tyre with it's insides on the outside, I like the fringing

Old signs along the way

A salty death

Lake Eyre has basically been salt plains for decades until the recent floods.

Lake Eyre (if you click on the highlighted words Lake Eyre you can read all about the wonders of this Australian master piece of nature, be sure to look at both the photographs.)

The above photograph was taken on the way to William Creek. Their is so much talk at the moment about Lake Eyre being flooded and full of wildlife. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of it as we travelled to Lake Eyre. However the waters have not reached this end of the lake. Still beautiful though I like the stripes of colours from the salt plains.

These photographs were taken at Lake Eyre east off William Creek, I still had hope that I might see some of the magic. Alas I received the other side of life. Hooray their was water, however the bird life was scarce and their was an insane carpet of dead locust's, fish and birds that covered the sand as far as the eye could see. We experienced the tail end of a locust plague while driving through Mildura. However I wasn't prepared to see such a cemetery of animals on the lake. In the article I have highlighted their is a mention that their are tours to Lake Eyre from Warbuton Creek, I'm guessing this is were the magic is.

Meeting expectations

Driving towards the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. I have been searching for mountains with no trees. Don't know why, just something I thought about since I left Queensland.  I found it in South Australia, beautiful landscapes and spaces with the colours and land lines that are dominate, free from trees. Hans Heysen is a well known artist from South Australia who paints these landscapes.

We camped at Wilpena Pound. It turns out that Kangaroo's eat cardboard. I thought it may have been the green colour that attracted this Kangaroo to eat this box. However I was told it was not the colour, but the cardboard. See the baby Joey in  mothers pouch.

We walked to the pound, in camouflage

From the Flinders Ranges we drove North to William Creek. For me this was were I really felt like I was in the outback. It epitomized everything I believed the outback was. Basically a nothingness with a Pub. All my expectations were met on this visit. I started to feel like the adventure was just about to start.