Thursday, June 25, 2009

the frontier's edge











yesterday after perusing glendyn ivin & tom russell's incredible the last ride movie production blog where outlined are the 7 most epic road trips ever, i was inspired. with no time to leave the city to go on a road trip this month, here are some photos of my own from a previous trip in the stunning south australian desert.

a day in the life of wild west outback town coober pedy: all that is missing are the scintillating saloon girls. the prospectors & cowboys run amok in this small town of broken dreams where the townspeople have opal fever burning in their sideways shifting eyes.

opal licensing restrictions mean that there are confirmed solitary bachelors in town who are excavating their fifth bedroom in underground housing that predominates the desert landscape. these men leave with full sacks in the dead of night...

my greatest memories of this place were mistakingly ordering the prawns so far from the ocean in a bizarre greek restaurant. later driven by awkwardness & possibly irrational fear of the overzealous proprieter i stuffed them, sauce and all, into my jacket pockets leaving not a suspicious trace on the plate.

in a town like coober pedy you're never quite sure how anyone is going to react. "mmm, delicious thanks"... that coat has never been quite the same.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Punk Monk,

    Beautiful photos! Love the intense colours.
    The 2nd one down with the old lady walking, looks as though it could be anywhere in the world, but the 'Utes' give it away.

    Thanks for the link to the Last Ride Blog too!

    Glendyn

    Glendyn

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  2. if you look closely enough you can see kevin rudd hiding behind one of those. :)

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  3. No, prawns you're supposed to have live in a bowl upturned on your naked stomach.

    Guess what I was watching last night :)

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  4. my best memory is the grocery store me and dan went to for cheap eats in our underground hotel room.

    one thing not in the pictures are the buses of crazy european tourists pouring into and out of the opal stores. what a crazy place.

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  5. i love the fuck out of coober peddy. what a weird, messed up town.

    my favourite part is the dirt cones everywhere:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/danox/89262768/

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