Coober Pedy

Don't forget to look in the archives for the Alice Springs episode, that was late in the publishing department. Can't rely on anybody these days.


Anyway we made it down to Coober Pedy with only three stops. Desert Oaks, Kulgera and Marryat.


What a sight coming into town. It looks like a rabbit warren. Little piles of white dirt all over the place, and every one associated with a hole in the ground where some silly bastard is trying to make a living, digging through the sandstone like a mole looking for opals. Bloody unbelievable.

You would not believe the difference in temperature. It's back to normal. 28 during the day and 24 during the night.
Whoops, spoke too soon. Our second day was windy and as soon as the sun pissed off it was cool again.
Bloody whinger, I know. Even with the wind it was only about 21.

Half the town is made up of houses that are dug into the side of the hills, and most of it is underground. This keeps the temp to a constant 25 degrees during the summer. It's amusing to see all the chimneys and air vent and TV aerials sticking out of the hills.


Bob and I went to a tourist mine  (while the chooks went opal shopping) called 'The Old Timers Mine'. Very interesting seeing how the old timers used to mine for the opal. They would dig a hole about 1 metre square and 20 metres deep and cut steps into the wall to climb up and down. Then they started to tunnel out to try to find the ore. All this was dome with a pick and shovel and then hoisted back to the surface by hand up the hole with a hand winch.

 

Mum got a couple of nice specimens for you to look at when we see ya's.


We had a Pizza lunch and the girls went for a walk down the creek behind the place where we stayed to see if they could find some opal. Unfortunately they only came back with some pet rocks.
Bob and I retired back to the van to have a refreshing ale and get ready for tommorow's journey southwards towards Pord Ugudda.


We'll be off the air for another couple of days, so, catch ya in the soup, we'll have a pea together.