Rolling into Manguri

We woke up to another amazing sunrise in the outback while we made our way to the remote railway siding of Manguri in South Australia just 42kms west of Coober Pedy, having crossed the border from the Northern Territory to South Australia overnight. We arrived at Manguri about 9.00am.

Manguri siding sits on a privately owned cattle and sheep property of Mount Clarence Station. It is 2500 square kms.

After yet another amazing breakfast of Cosmopolitan Breakfast we boarded our coach to head into Coober Pedy. We had another very knowledgeable tour guide who has lived in the area most of his life after taking a bad fall for a race horse and breaking his back. He used to ride for Bart Cummings. So much information again it got a little overstimulating.

First stop was The Breakaways where we nearly got blown away. We have an alcoholic toast at The Breakaways and the wind was so strong the wine splashed me in the face from the glass.

Next stop was an underground mine for lunch. Before lunch we got to try our hand at fossicking but unfortunately didn’t find any opals. The lunch was Greek style food due to the large number of Greek people who settled in Coober Pedy. Lurch was finished off with a shot of Ouzo.

We then made our way to the underground Greek Orthodox Church for a very quick visit before boarding the coach again for our next stop at another underground mine for a talk about mining and showing an example of a house underground. We then had the opportunity to shop and I purchased an opal pendant as a birthday gift from mum, dad, Chris and Jo who had all given me money before the trip.

We did a tour of town and the gold course before heading back to the train on what can only be described as an extremely bumpy road. It was the old Stuart Highway of red dirt, corrugation and bull dust.

Once back at the train, we got to go on the other side of the tracks on the coach and had a quick photo opportunity of having our photo taken with the full length of the train. The photo we had taken didn’t really work out so Dave and I with our trusty 10 second timer on my phone took an amazing shot.

Back on the other side of the tracks, we had a bonfire, drinks and canapés watching the sunset before heading back into our room to pack, shower and head to dinner for our 8.00pm reservation. Another amazing 3 course meal where I had cheese soufflé for entree, tandoori pumpkin and rice and the most amazing gluten free chocolate mudcake I have ever tasted for dessert. Dave had kangaroo fillets for entree, the same main as me and a honey and macadamia nut parfait for dessert. We had a few alcoholic beverages before and during dinner and finished it off with a beautiful barista made cappuccino and hot chocolate.

Coober Pedy was an extremely different township and way of life. This part of the trip was the most rushed tour and we didn’t really have time to take in there was to offer. The bonfire back at the train, despite the flies, made up for it though.

Back to our room to settle in for our last night on the train.Read more