Yowah - An Outback Oasis

We planned to stay one night at Yowah and ended up staying for 3 nights.  This is a real gem of a place, and not just because the main "industry" here is opal mining.  Perhaps it should be "Desert Sunsets".

Yowah is located within the grazing property "Moolya".  The property owner gave 700 acres of land to the Paroo Council in the early 1900s to establish the town.  Miners are not permitted to live in their mines and must live in the town about 4kms away.  This has resulted in a friendly town with about 70 permanent residents and about 200 people who live there for 6 months of the year in the cooler months.

We drove around the town checking out the sights.  Emus wandered across the road and we need to watch out for lizards and goannas sunning themselves. Yowah has an 18 hole golf course with a tin shed club-house and an "International Airport" will full flow through ventilation and 2 chairs for waiting passengers.  The bore drain provides a permanent water supply for fire fighting.

The fossicking fields are close to the town and there's some serious mining going on as well.

The bore provides an abundant water supply for the town.  Over 1.1million litres per day flow out of the Great Artesian Basin at 57C.  Local sculptor Linda scours the rubbish tip for car parts to turn into her "family".  Her imagination is boundless and she has some fabulous creations.

Our hosts at the caravan park are Georgina and Colin and they also have the Kaleidoscope Opal Mine which is a working mine.  Georgina took us for a tour.  It was very pleasant in the mine at 22C, much cooler than out in the sun where it was 35+C.  Small swifts migrate from Italy to nest in the mine tunnels.

There's plenty of social life here.  Thursday night is "Cooks Night Off" with Colin and Georgina cooking dinner at $15 per head.  Sunday night is "Bring a Plate Night" with everyone sharing.  There was plenty of food on offer on Sunday and no-one went away hungry.