Day 118 : Where are all the dead fish?

Coober Pedy to Port Augusta

High point: Beating the boys at their own game of Risk (just the once)

Low point: Port Augusta. Quote from the Lonely Planet ‘it is a sad and tatty place’

No point: Fuad opening his book to read it and remembering he’d finished it on the plane

Quote of the day: Paul Barham “Where are all the dead fish?”

Dish of the day: ham and cheese toasties

It was sad leaving Coober Pedy, it really is like nowhere else we’ve been or probably will go again.  Apparently the name Coober Pedy means ‘white man’s hole in the ground’.  Sleeping in an underground dorm in bunks made for little people the place really did what it said on the tin.

The people we met were really friendly, even if they won’t necessarily tell you their real name, quote “What’s your name?”, “Er, er, let me see, what is it today, John, no call me Alan”.  The same guy told us there are two types of people living in Coober Pedy, the ‘wanted’ and the ‘unwanted’.  I don’t really believe that applies to everyone but about half the population live in dugouts underground due to the weather (which can reach over 50 degrees in summer) so it must be an easy place to hide if you need to.

The drive from Coober Pedy to Port Augusta was pretty uneventful, the roads were long and boring.  Going for a little wee proved to be a bit of a problem due to the lack of adequate foliage at the side of the road, that and the fact the boys were beeping the horn and laughing as me and Louise tried to hide behind the only two trees for miles around.

The highlight of the day was stopping at Lake Hart, a huge salt lake that looked like you could ice skate on it.  So what does happen to all the dead fish?  Apparently very few species are able to live in salt lakes because of, you guessed it, the high level of salt. The largest population is brine shrimp which are fed to prawns in Asia, sold as novelty “sea monkeys” or live/dehydrated as fish food.  To be honest I don’t really know where all the dead fish go but I do know I’m glad I’m not a brine shrimp.

Amy

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