29. ALONG THE STUART HIGHWAY TO COOBER PEDY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
a cassia bush is flowering celebration yellow along the sides of the straight road inland, brumbies are large, loose and colourful, the desert horses go on foot,bon clay drainage soil by the roadside, we wondered what they were doing there, the sign we didn't want to follow glinted like cunning in the sun; welcome to woomera rocket range village, just down the road is coober pedy, is more touristy and above ground than I had expected, seems it may be getting trendy to be living in a dug out, i wonder why they did this for the quick buck, it takes away from the character of the town the more above ground it is, it looked like miner's peak hour all the dust being thrown up, drunks of all nationalities, camp dogs, one emaciated and 'old for its age' pup, always inbred and jet black, just stood in the middle of the street and yelped, it had obviously been disconnected from the pack, we stopped our car right in front of it, it looked so forlorn, soon two older camp dogs approached it, they exchanged licks and muzzles, then they all ran off together down the street, i think they know what they're doing, perhaps they are headed back to base camp, or to where they could get a drink, where do these inland street dogs get a drink?, coober pedy is a town with a big ego, simple dust, the potential for something to be uncovered, a lot of money passes through hands here, through the hands of forty nationalities, as a place you love it, discover transparent pink potch and dusty winter dusks, miners headlights are coming in the peak hour rush, it's lively and has a wry old eye on the out of town types, more money than common sense, 'i spend all me money from me slavings account at fucking coober greedy, even paid for me shower water and i bought a fucking big opal from a greek bloke, probably a triplet', thirsty camp dogs patter along the streets, miner millionares with dirty fingernails sit at the outdoor cafes, they are dining on pizza and glasses of coke |
