We knew we were stopping at Coober Pedy and we knew we would go noodling and venture underground. What we didn’t expect, was to find the highlight of our visit just outside of town. Visiting The Breakaways and the Dog Proof fence were an after thought and geez, we are so glad we went. Plus, this is another story about how a wrong turn ended up being the BEST adventure! (just like our visit to Gosse Bluff) A highlight of our Red Centre Adventure!
Firstly, I LOVE film…movies bring me so much joy…so when we were deciding if we would stay another day in Coober Pedy and searching through the brochures in the caravan park (we stayed at the Oasis Tourist Park) I spotted the reference to Priscilla Queen of the Desert being shot at the Breakaways. Too easy, let’s check them out.
Hugo Weaving in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert.
Then came the discussion about which way to go. We headed out of the caravan park with the intention to head back to the main highway, head north and head in via the signs we had seen on the way into town when we arrived a few days earlier. I have to admit that that sometimes I am not the best at navigating, and I use the word ‘sometimes’ loosely hahahaha. I told Wayne to turn right instead of left and we ended up on the road out towards the Oodnadatta track….um…yup…not the right way to go…a quick reference back at the map and I assured him that we can still get to the Breakaways this way…I think…
At this time, it was not clear to us if we had made the right decision. We we heading out of Coober Pedy and within minutes we were in the middle of nothing! A ‘nothingness’ that we had not seen before. A lot of our driving in SA has been filled with wide open spaces, but we had never experienced anything like this. The ‘nothingness’ was NOTHING…not a tree, shrub, bush, flower, grain of anything in sight! This ‘sight’ was INCREDIBLE! We drove for, what seemed like, forever and numerous times we considered turning around to go back. We finally spotted a sigh “The Breakaways Conservation Park”. Phew…we were still heading in the right direction. We turned left into the ‘nothingness’. 360 degrees of NOTHING!
In the distance we could start to see the rises of the The Breakaways, the arid scenery was breathtaking. Not only for us in the front seat, but for the girls in the back as well. Lots of ooooo’s and wow’s, lots of questions about dirt and why was there so much of it. The flyer we had said that 70 million years ago, a vast inland sea covered the whole area. WOW
On our right, as we drive into the Breakaways, was the Dingo Fence. We had heard about this and what a bonus to be driving beside it. We started to wonder what the drive in would have been like if we took the ‘tourist’ road in? We checked the map again and saw that we would loop out that way… YAY!
We stopped at the information sign and took in the vastness next to the longest fence in the world. “In the whole wide world Mum?” Yup…5614km long… WOAH…
It is very hard to explain what it was like to drive INTO The Breakaways….Magnificent, Impressive, Astonishing…
Driving through the base of The Breakaways was amazing…we then headed up to the main look out and took it all in…looking out at where we had driven, tracing our adventure as far as our eyes could see. We were pretty sure we had driven in the BEST way and as we headed out to the main highway, looking back at every chance. We were right!
Our top tips for your visit to The Breakaways
- Driving into The Breakaways from the north and along the Dingo Fence was BREATHTAKING! You get to enjoy the vastness of the arid land and travel along the fence as you see The Breakaways come closer and closer…
- Don’t rush it. Take it ALL IN. Read the information signs, discuss the history and significance. It is all fascinating.
- RESPECT! Please don’t drive or venture into areas that are no go…
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