Saturday 4^th July

Finally back on air.

Left Glendambo early and headed to Coober Pedy. Not a long drive only about 260km. Stopped at a rest area along the way for a cuppa and a few selfies.

Hard to get the timing right. It is hard to see in this pic but we are on the edge of a platform and the land drops away to a very large flat plain.

Yes we did it

First chip in the windscreen today from a truck flying in the opposite direction Just unlucky but only small. On approach to Coober Pedy the landscape is doted with piles of dirt and rock everywhere, the direct result of why the town originated that being mining for opals. Every time you see a pile of dirt there is a hole wide enough for a human to be lowered down to an mine. There are big signs everywhere 'Don't walk backwards ever it's too dangerous'. It’s not the prettiest sight.

This is what you see everywhere around, small piles of dirt - unusual to say the least

This is a very unusual town with approx. 80% of the population living underground. We decided to stay in an underground hotel just for the experience so we booked into the Comfort Inn which was perfect. Close to town and the hosts could not be more accommodating. Very unusual living underground no windows and the only ventilation is by a long shaft from the ground level above which is covered with an umbrella to catch any loose rocks that occasionally fall. 

Walls and ceiling are rock and they put wood panelling halfway up for effect. The blue umbrella is under the ventilation shaft.(room we stayed in)

It is hard to believe but this is the Comfort Inn. If you look closely on the bottom left is the van parked out the front. All the landscape behind hides the underground hotel. This picture typifies the Coober Pedy landscape.

Yahoo, knee good enough for a bike ride so off we went exploring the town. Not much to see in main street although we did come across the new Desert Cave Hotel that has set up an underground display depicting the area and all about opals and their geological formation, very interesting.

Rode around but not a lot to see but dust and hills with what looks like carports sticking out of the hills as the homes are buried.

 We ended up at the Italian Club on the hill overlooking the town, run by volunteers for a well earned beer in the dust.

This is one of the first sights when entering Coober Pedy. These contraptions are everywhere especially on the opal fields as they are called blowers. They separate the rock from dust particles so you are left with the hopeful opal infused rock. Most are rust buckets.

Tourist attractions in the main street

One of the many signs that are around town

The main street

Wherever you see pipes sticking out from the ground you know there is a home underneath. Most just have a carport or small verandah.

At this stage Coober Pedy is the top of my list of places never to return to.

Sunday 5^th July

Today we booked in for a tour with Wayne who owns and runs Arid Areas Tours. If you ever come to Coober Pedy book a tour as after today we have a total different view on the town and opal mining. It was just the two of us and Wayne and he has a plan of where to take you but will change it up at any stage to suit what you are interested in. It was to be a 4 hr tour which ended up being 5½ hours driving back along dirt roads back towards the lights of Coober Pedy at the end of the day.

I have got a little ahead of myself talking about the end when the beginning was very interesting. I’m not going to bore you with a blow by blow description of the day but let you in on some of the more interesting features of the day. We started by donning hard hats and walking a self guided tour of an old working mine and how the miners lived. I only hit my head 4 times thank god for the hat. 

Underground mining. This was a good tour depicting life of the miner.

We drove through the area looking and listening to the history and present day facts. Can you imagine being part of the local sporting team eg. The AFL Team that have to travel distances of 900km round trip to play. The annual average rainfall is what we get in one downpour. 

One of the underground churches that we visited which has been carved out of the rock in the shape of a cross.

This is the pic of the 2 air ventilation shafts that are behind the alter in the above pic. Had to lie on the ground to get this pic.

We visited the place where the movie Mad Max was filmed.There have been many movies filmed in CP due to the very different landscape eg. Priscilla. 

This place featured in one of the Mad Max movies. It was owned by a very colourful character that uses to catch crocs so was known as the croc hunter. He came to CP for a change of pace and hunted opals.

Some of the many pics of the inside of this place.

You can get the drift from the pics that Mr Croc Hunter was a wild one.

Drove out to an open cut opal mine. 

This was from the base of the open cut mine. This one was deeper than most as the opal layer was much lower. We were able to drive into it because it was the one that Wayne and his brother has staked and worked. They no longer work the mine so it is just left. The landscape is literally littered with sights like this. 

One of the many entrances to the side cuts that are done from the main open cut area

Inside looking out

The dryness of the earth

Inside one of the caves made by the massive machines used to search out the opal.


The golf course is very different to what we know.

A fairway leading to the green! They give you a small piece of synthetic grass so you can put it next to your ball so you don't ruin your clubs. I would need a large piece and would probably be buying clubs regularly.

It is a completely dirt course. The greens as you see in this pic are compacted dirt and when you go to putt your ball there is a special rake that smooths the path of your ball and then once putted you turn it over and make it rough again.

 We drank champagne while watching the sun go down over the small mountain range known as The Breakaways. Wayne our tour guide supplied cheese and bikkies very nice but the diet is in need of an overhaul.

One of the many geological features of this area

If you look at the top right hand corner there are rocks in the formation of  a camel. I have close up pics of this and it really does look like a camel lying down. Would have put more pics in but the internet is sooooooo slow it is taking for ever to load a pic.

Sunset on a long but interesting day.

 We finally drove back to CP along dirt tracks that followed the Dog Fence the longest fence in Australia over 5000kms.

Long drive to the Northern Territory tomorrow by the end of tomorrow we will have visited 4 states of Australia in 8 days.
Keep you posted.