6/26/01: We awakened very well rested and enjoyed breakfast at the motel dining room…had “rashers” of bacon…thin sliced bacon about 2-3inches wide…no strips of bacon.  I also noticed breakfast items on the menu such as “homemade baked beans on toast”, and “spaghetti with tomato sauce over toast”.  Almost all breakfast meals are served with a wedge of tomato…some grilled, others uncooked.

Headed for Coober Pedy after a quick stop for fuel and “orange-mango juice” …our favorite!  Picked up a few groceries in PP then back on the road.  We soon discovered that very few businesses accept Travelers Checks, neither in Australian currency or US currency.    Good to see the lovely gum trees again with their bark stripped trunks and narrow pointed treetop greenery, salt brush, acacia (mulga) trees and red dirt with gibbers (walnut to fist sized jasper, hematite and quartzite rocks).  Viewed our first wedge-tailed eagle.  As we neared Pimba, the amount of vegetation had thinned.  There is a long pipeline parallel to the Stuart Highway…I’m not sure if it is for water, or gas.  Remembering a delightful fresh food roadside stand, we kept our eyes peeled, until we found it.  There we picked up some fruit, vegetables and smoked fish.

In a couple of hours, we pulled off the road in one of Australia’s numerous rest stops.  A pull out with a garbage can, picnic table, overhead shelter, but seldom any toilets.  A couple from Victoria (they are safari guides…take 4 people anywhere they want for up to 5 weeks) invited us for a “cuppa”.  We pulled up a chair while they fixed some coffee from their unique homemade trailer (for camping in the bush).   We shared coffee and biscuits (cookies) and, of course, a few jokes.

We took off for Coober Pedy once more.  By the day’s end, we had seen 8 emus.  We checked in at Anne’s Dugout B & B in Coober Pedy, made one phone call, and then out to dinner at Tom and Mary’s.  We went straight to bed.