Who needs artwork when this is the view through the window?
We said our goodbyes to Alice Springs and our new friends and hit the Stuart Highway southwards into South Australia and daylight saving time. We camped overnight at the Marryat Campsite about 100km north of Marla, the town at the northern end of the Oodnadatta Track. The views around the campsite were stunning and we spent time just looking at the scenery.
The following morning we drove the 330km to the opal mining town of Coober Pedy. We checked in to the Big4 Oasis Caravan Park and booked their half day tour of Coober Pedy for the next morning.
Coober Pedy is a very interesting town. It's here because opal was discovered in the 19th century. The climate is unforgiving. It's in the desert and it very rarely rains. Summer temperatures can climb over 50C. Water is a very scarce commodity in the desert and the town's water supply is desalinated water from an underground stream. There's plenty of water now, but it's expensive. There's no water to site at any of the caravan parks. There are several drinking water pumps throughout the town - put in 20 cents for 30 litres of water. About half of the residents live in dugouts which are "houses" carved into the rock. Dugouts are very comfortable at 24C summer and winter so do not need heating or air-conditioning. They do need several ventilation shafts though and a TV antenna.
Our tour was well worth it. We visited Saint Elijah's Serbian Orthodox Church which is underground. The main chambers were carved from the rock in about 6 weeks.
Our guide, Rudi, was very entertaining and informative as he drove us around the town and out to the minefields. There's no mining within the town limits these days - but we could see plenty of old mines. Once outside the town limits we saw hundreds of mullock heaps where soil from the mines has been dumped. Each mine has a shaft about 1m in diameter and 30m deep - there are over 200,000 of them in the area. Shafts are open and are not marked so it's dangerous walking around the mine areas. Opal is found at about 27metres down. There's an area of mullock heaps in the town where anyone can fossick without a licence and we found a small opal chip in the few minutes we were there. We were assured that there's plenty of opal in them for those who want to take the time looking.
On our tour we saw inside a dugout home and also a shop. We watched a short film about opal mining that explained the history of Coober Pedy and the machinery used in mining.
After lunch we drove to The Breakaways, a series of coloured hills similar to the Painted Desert about 30km north-east of the town. The area is sacred to local aboriginal tribes. The scenery was beautiful and we took many photos as we drove around for an hour before returning to Coober Pedy.
Our guide, Rudi, was very entertaining and informative as he drove us around the town and out to the minefields. There's no mining within the town limits these days - but we could see plenty of old mines. Once outside the town limits we saw hundreds of mullock heaps where soil from the mines has been dumped. Each mine has a shaft about 1m in diameter and 30m deep - there are over 200,000 of them in the area. Shafts are open and are not marked so it's dangerous walking around the mine areas. Opal is found at about 27metres down. There's an area of mullock heaps in the town where anyone can fossick without a licence and we found a small opal chip in the few minutes we were there. We were assured that there's plenty of opal in them for those who want to take the time looking.
After lunch we drove to The Breakaways, a series of coloured hills similar to the Painted Desert about 30km north-east of the town. The area is sacred to local aboriginal tribes. The scenery was beautiful and we took many photos as we drove around for an hour before returning to Coober Pedy.
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