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Well, you'll all be relieved to know (although not as much as we were), that the night passed without incident... There were no gunshots, no screaming, and in the morning, we were all still present and accounted for. Oh, and all the wheels were still on the Pajero... Pffeww...
However, we awoke to the sounds of a mass pack up and evacuation. Nearly every van around us was moving on, and they weren't wasting daylight in their pursuit of an early departure. I can't say I blame them, nearly 90% of them are oldies, and are probably feeling well out of their depth and their comfort zone. We've decided to give the place a chance to grow on us, or at least for us to familiarize a bit so we can adjust to the strangeness of it all. After brekky, we headed out of town about 23k's and turned off down a dirt road into the 'Breakaways Reserve'. This is a spectacular landscape, almost impossible to describe, and the pictures won't do it justice, so you'll have to come and see it in person. It's an area where mountains were formed many millions of years ago, and then weathered and eroded away by eons of wind and rain. Only outcrops of rock remain, which create this amazing scenery we're looking at today. There was a giant inland sea here during the age of the dinosaurs, and they're still discovering fossils and remains of them, even now. The dirt road ran parallel to the 'Dog Fence' for quite a while, which is the longest man made structure in the world, and was built by pasteuralists and state governments to keep the dingoes out of the grazing land to the east and south. Not very exciting, but something you need to have your photo taken with, to prove you've been there and seen it. Then we went through The Moon Plains, an area that closely resembles the surface of Mars (I know, I've been there too), and where many movies were filmed like Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Prescilla, Pitch Black and others. This was the sea bed all those eras ago, and the place where fossils can be discovered. We looked, but none jumped out of the ground for us, so we left empty handed. All up, it was a round trip of about 70km, on dirt road, which left the car totally filthy and covered in dust inside. (Jo's out cleaning it now). We arrived back in town too early for lunch, so we headed over to 'The Old Timers Mine', to do a self guided tour through an old abandoned mine, which has been opened up and converted into a tourist facility. It was one of the more normal looking places when we first arrived, and had lots of other cars in the carpark, so we thought we'd get out of it alive... It was great, and covered in detail the methods used through the years for extracting opal from the sandstone. It also had a large opal and jewellery display, and a pit where the boys were able to 'noodle' or fossick for their own pieces of opal. We found some, but only white opal, or potch, which is worthless. We went back to the local pizza bar for lunch, the same place we had dinner last night, cause again, it's the only place in town that looks normal, and where we know the food's going to be good. (You'll understand when you come through here...) There was still plenty of time left in the day after lunch, so we went out to 'Toms Working Opal Mine' to see a current mine in action... We came out alive, but I haven't worked out how???... It's as though OH&S doesn't exist out here, as they guided us through the mine, even as they were actually mining. They explained and used the tools right in front of us. They explained to us how miners got silicosis in the lungs, but didn't give us dust masks, or use them themselves. They showed us how they used explosives to open a shaft, and how they're meant to clear the mine when doing it, but don't bother cause it's too time consuming... It was very educational, but not an industry I think I'd be interested in. You've got to be slightly kooky, as in Coober Pedy kooky... We've had a good day, and a walk around the park, and now an afternoon rest before watching the sunset and dinner and a late night moon viewing. (We also want to get a pic of the big steel gate that locks us in each night, and protects us from The Coober Pedy Boogy Man...)
Coober Pedy literally translates to 'white man in a hole', and this is completely relevant. First, because it got the name from all the mines and the underground houses they built. Second, because... well... it's such a hole... The town isn't as scarey as when we first arrived, and we've become slightly accustomed to what we're seeing. It's still difficult to process, that people actually live here, and it's not just a temporary thing, and it's very far from normal, but we can cope, because we know we can leave. There's 5 petrol stations in town, and we think it's so noone has to queue up to get out. To try and describe it is difficult. The physical town, the buildings and junk and mess, you'll see from the photos. It's like everyone is a hoarder and there's so much space, they don't need a tip, so they just leave it there. It's the feeling of the town, and the mood, that's difficult to describe. It's like the town is on a knife's edge, balancing between complete insanity, and a desire to be normal. Many of the people we've met, and the places we've been, want us to think it's normal, but they're prevented from achieving this, because of the complete loonies that are turning the town into sideshow alley. The Comfort Inn is built out of old car tyres, and is located next to a derelict scrap car yard, but it's not the scrap car yard that's out of place... Go figure...
I don't mind that we're staying here three nights, but I'm glad we're staying in an underground hotel tomorrow night. Otherwise, we would pack up and leave tomorrow. There's not enough here to keep us interested, we think we've seen the best of what's on offer, and trying more would be tempting fate too far, I think. I'm also glad that our big gate is there, and there's no way you'd get me outside of the park after sunset. You get the impression here that everyone would have a gun, and would be happy to use it. To sum it up, I think Coober Pedy might be as close to the wild, wild, west as it's possible to get...
Yeehaa!!!
- comments
Aunty Min Bahahaha. Keep drivin Pete, you ain't seen nothin yet!!! Coober may be the bitumen wild wild west, get off the black stuff, that's where you meet the 'real characters'. Try the Plenty 'Highway', now there's an eye opener for ya. It's where you drive out of town & find a size 16 bush, rather than use a loo in the 'town'. Hehehehe