pineapples

It has been so nice having my brother visiting me for the last 2 months. we have had a great time together.

working in the studio with deb and enjoying some well earned beers at the end of the day

visiting with friends and enjoying the sunny winter weather we have been having

and maybe best of all - just hanging out together at home, watching tv, making dinners, with no plans at all.

one other fun thing we did together was to get sibling tattoos.

we had discussed this idea when i was visiting him in montreal last year, but it never happened

but since we had a bit more time this visit, we booked in and got them done

we went to meet our tattoo artist with a few random ideas, and then settled on one. she drew it up and a few days later we were there getting the tattoos.

yup, matching pineapple tattoos. a bit silly, but hey why not? the style matches with the random collection of tattoos that adam already has. i haven't had had a new tattoo in almost 10 years, and i was happy to get a simple black tattoo with adam. for me tattoos are less about the image and more about marking a moment in time, and for me this is the time adam came and lived with me in adelaide for 2 months.

 

i miss him heaps. we had a great time, and i have a great brother. i cant wait for the next time we are hanging out, having a beer and talking about the next road trip to take together.

coober pedy trip - part 4 of 4

the last part of our sunset tour was to visit the dog fence. this fence runs across a large section of australia. it is designed to keep the dingos out of farming area.

the whole things is a massive undertaking, to get setup and also to maintain the fence.

 

looking out to the horizon following the fence in one direction.

and in the other direction.

adam leaning on an original timber fence post.

 

beautiful sun set lighting and landscape

 

borris next to the dog fence.

 

after the dog fence it was on to the moon plain. about 35 km out of coober pedy it is a fossil site. more info on that here. from here you can just see the breakaway rock formations on the horizon and watch the sun set behind them.

its called the moon plain because parts of it look like it is from another planet.

it was so nice to be out in the open, with the big sky above and nothing to see. i really enjoyed being out there and felt very free and at ease.

 

i definitely need to make time to get out into the open space and away from the city more often.

 

the sunset was beautiful

the wildflowers just starting to bloom in dusty red earth

 

the end of the tour.

the next day we left town early for the long drive home. it is the centenary of coober pedy and this sign was at the entrance to town. 

 

i love how it was made from an old car bonnet. it perfectly describes the approach to life in the outback. make use of what is handy and adapt.

the more official coober pedy town sign we drove past on the way out of town. we had such a great time, winter was the perfect time to visit.

coober pedy trip - part 3 of 4

we wanted to get out of the town of coober pedy and see the surrounding areas. we decided the best thing to do was go on a small sunset bus tour.

we left town and not very far away were the opal fields.

 

we were not off the bus but looking out the window you cold see these large holes in the ground. very easy to fall into if you were walking in the dark or not paying attention while texting.

 

these holes are dotted all around the place. there are over 400,000 holes around coober pedy!

 

you can see here a machine drilling the surveying hole

this post with 2 metal flags lets you know that someone has the mining rights to this area and you must keep off this area.

 

not all mining is small scale, this is a huge open cut opal mine. they must be finding something worthwhile in there, the cost to do this all day everyday would be enormous.

after the opal mines the tour took us to the breakaways.

its a set of rock formations that are the most amazing colours

 

 the area is of significance to the aboriginal people of the area

 

it was the perfect weather for seeing the sites

 

lots of photo opportunities

 

the rocks are all red and white colours. the white parts have been exposed to the elements for the longest, and will wear away faster than the red rock areas.

 

it was very nice being out in the open space

the landscape and plant life was amazing. being winter and the fact that there has been a fair bit of winter rain means it was very green out and the wildflowers were just starting to bloom.

 

as i said many great photo opportunities

 

the breakaways are beautiful

 

and the trip continues...

coober pedy trip - part 2 of 4

one of the other attractions we went to check out was the underground Serbian Orthodox church

the entrance was in the side of the rock face and then you walked down a huge ramp into the rock.

 

the tunnelling machines were used to make a decorative ceiling space and pattern. it was quite impressive digging work.

 

we drove past a for sale sign

 

this could be the hillside that is for sale and has the potential to be a new dug out home.

 

another look out over some dug out homes

 

and then we went on a self guided tour through a 100 year old opal mine

 

this photo is hard to see but there are fossilised shells in the rock face that have been exposed through mining.

 

the mine has some mannequins set up to show you what conditions were like for miners. it was a very interesting tour. the mine was closed up and then rediscovered later when someone was digging out an extra bedroom and accidentally dug into the mine shaft.

another stop was crocodile harry's.

crocodile harry was a crocodile hunter, then opal miner, who dug out a huge home. this home has become a bit of a legend in his time and this place is full of memorabilia.

it was also the scene for some of the end parts of mad max 3 thunder dome. and we got to explore around and check out the place.

it was vast, eclectic, and very interesting place to visit.

the kind of place where cars become garden beds, and things stay the same for a long time.

more on soon.