| Tips and photos of unusual, out-of-the-way State of South Australia attractions, posted by real travelers and locals. Map |
 | State of South Australia Off the Beaten Path | Tips 1 - 10 of 23 |  |
 Coober Pedy - white man's
hole. by K.Knight
Coober Pedy was named by the local Progress and Miners Association in 1922 from the aboriginal 'Kupa Piti', meaning white man's hole, or waterhole.
A cosmopolitan town with a floating population, it, with the Mintabie opal fields near Marla, further north, produce 90% of the worlds opal. Over 30 fields dot the area extending from 30km. north of town (The Shellpatch) to The Craters, 10km. south-east, and 'Rose's Folly', 15km. west. There are piles of used rubble everywhere from the shafts sunk deep into the limestone rock. Leave a Comment
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 Treeless & barren it goes on
and on and on! by K.Knight
From Ceduna to the Border Village the Eyre Highway follows the coastal cliffs of the Great Australian Bight. There are several lookouts providing wonderful ocean panoramas and between June and October the waters along the coast become a safe haven for Southern Right whales to breed.
The word 'Nullabor', while sounding aboriginal, actually comes from the Latin for 'No Trees'. and is dramatically correct in its description of the vast Nullabor Plain.
Treeless and barren it goes on seemingly indefinitely, here and there passing through a small roadside town or service station with the road mostly gun-barrell straight.
This is an experience that I can recommend to all travellers in Australia. Leave a Comment
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 The arid Australian landscape
- a salt lake. by K.KnightLeave a Comment
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 An arid town in a remote part
of Australia. by K.Knight
Many of the towns residents live underground in 'dug-outs'. Begun as mines, these comfortable homes develop as the mine gets larger and larger. Fully furnished and decorated they are an ideal way of living in the hot climate of the desert, and the natural insulation keeps temperatures constant. Many are lit by cutting holes out through individual channels, and concreting glass panels into the holes. Some dug-outs have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Many places in Coober Pedy specialise in opal sales and there you will find several galleries and craft shops in the town to purchase from. Leave a Comment
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 The Big Galah. by K.KnightLeave a Comment
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 Ibis by kyoub
Each September around 200,000 straw-necked Ibis come to the wetlands to breed in the tea tree areas,
There is a boardwalk and hide so you can observe all the action after the chicks arrive. Leave a Comment
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 Sealink by kyoub
There are a couple of departures very day that crosses the Backstairs Passage and it takes 45 minutes for the crossing.
The ferry is very nice with a large passenger lounge or you can go out on the deck..
We took our rental car over on the ferry with us. Leave a Comment
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 White roos by kyoub
There we saw white kangaroos running and playing. Some had been brought there originally in 1980 and were doing fine.
There were also red kangaroo, and other Australian animals. Leave a Comment
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 Well preserved by iandsmith
It's one of those towns that tempts one to explore and one is not disappointed.
The area originally was inhabited by the Ngarrindjeri Aborigines. The river provided abundant food and they lived well off a diet of kangaroos, emus, wombats, goannas, lizards, ducks, turtles, fish, snakes and bird eggs, none of which except roos can be found on a menu today.
In his futile search for an inland sea but also an understanding of where all the westward flowing rivers finished, the first European into the area was Captain Charles Sturt who rowed a whale boat down the Murrumbidgee and reached where Murray Bridge now stands in early February 1830.
From this point onwards there was always the thought that the Murray River could be used for transportation and access to the western areas of New South Wales and Queensland. With the formal establishment of Goolwa as the port at the mouth of the Murray in the 1850s this became a reality.
The area was established when a road bridge was opened over the Murray River in 1879. It was followed in 1886 by the Adelaide-Melbourne railway line which cemented the town's importance as a vital link across the river.
The town was laid out in 1883 and was called Mobilong. Land was sold in Adelaide in 1884 under the advertisement 'Murray traders, woolwashers, builders and all men of enterprise. Give heed to what is now offered to you.' Later it was called Edwards Crossing but it became Murray Bridge when a new railway bridge was constructed across the river in 1924.
The town's most recent Swanport Bridge, built five kilometres downstream from Murray Bridge, was completed in 1979.
Today the town is an agricultural centre driven by dairying, chicken raising, pig breeding, tomato and snow pea growing.
Wandering around its historical centre (start from the Tourist Centre who will supply you with a free map) is an interesting diversion. Leave a Comment
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 The Big Kangaroo. by K.KnightLeave a Comment
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