Wilcania to White Cliffs

We have never been to White Cliffs so decided to drive here for one night. We refuelled at an unattended fuel pump in Wilcania where diesel was 7 cents cheaper than at the service station. I bought coffee at a small cafe run by two young Aboriginal women. They had run out of lids for their cups - a supply problem in remote areas. 

The sky looked ominous before we started the 95km drive to White Cliffs. I checked the BOM radar but it didn't know there was thick cloud, thunder, lightning and rain all the way to White Cliffs! I check again after we arrived and BOM still did not show any sign of rain here. 


Driving here was tricky as it was very dark under the thick cloud, but we were driving towards a narrow strip of bright sunlight. The caravan park has concrete strips to park the van and car on, but everywhere else is mud. 



The rain eased off after lunch so we took Blue for a walk, carrying him across the muddy areas. The only place he could walk and wee was on the bitumen road. He had to wait on the step to be towelled dry.


There is a hotel/motel and general store in town. We are not tempted to visit any of the underground sites. A disused solar farm was originally commissioned  in 1982 but ceased operation in 2004. It is very different to modern solar farms being based on parabolic solar reflectors.

The town was built because of opal mining, but tourism is now becoming a significant source of income. This attractive house is rare as many homes are underground, and lots of rusty old equipment is left lying around. The mural featuring camels used in the 1800s is on the wall of the general store.

I managed to connect our Telstra booster to the caravan batteries by running the power lead outside the car to the cargo bay. A more permanent solution may be possible if I extend the aerial lead. This booster works if there is at least one bar shown on the phone. So far we have good connections this way.




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