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We were quick to pack up this morning and are on the road at 8:15 heading to Coober Pedy. Turns out we can get packed and on the road earlier than 9:50. It just takes a decrepit old campground to motivate us!
The trip to Coober Pedy is easy. Emily falls asleep after a half hour in the car and William is chatty. We pull up to a rest stop thinking it's about time for morning tea and William doesn't want to get out of the car. Emily is asleep. We continue on and Emily wakes just before we arrive in Coober Pedy at 12:15.
There are no fences along the sides of the roads and the livestock is free to roam. Fortunately you can see them from a long way as we are travelling at 110 km. There are very few livestock but today we have to stop for a cow to cross the road!
As we approach Coober Pedy all we see is dirt, there is no grass and very little green. There are mounds of dirt everywhere from all the mining activity (slag heaps). In some areas there are many mounds of different sizes where opal has obviously been found. There are hundreds of shafts and signs around everywhere telling you not to step backwards as chances are you will fall down a shaft. It seems there is no requirement to cover shafts or clean up your mounds of dirt once you have finished in an area. As soon as we get out of the car William can't help but kick the dirt with his feet and make dust, he and dirt are like magnets. Emily prefers to eat it.
We check into 'Ribas Underground Camping' and pitch our tent in their underground cavern. The temperature is constant underground so it doesn't matter that the minimum will be 2 degrees one night. Our tent only just fits into the space. We head to the local IGA for supplies. Surprisingly, this place stocks some real foodie groceries.
We get our first taste of the flies. Well, Mark, William and Emily do... I only got to shoo them away!
That night we do an opal mine tour with the caravan park manager (Basil Fawlty?). There are lots of rules in this caravan park and he watches over things like a hawk. It is also the first time we have had to pay accommodation for Emily. The tour is informative and we enjoy it. William prefers watching the lizard climbing the wall. Emily sleeps.
The sleep in the tent is comfortable and when we leave the cave in the morning we definitely notice a dramatic difference in temperature, it is cold in the mornings. The days are around 16 and 17 degrees and quite windy.
In serious need of clean clothes we use the one and only laundromat (the washing machine at the campground is broken) in Coober Pedy. As we arrive one of the colourful locals parks his car alongside us, his car loaded to the brim with clothes and linen. He proceeds to start unloading it and filling up the machines. We manage to stake our claim on 2. He chats non stop to Mark. We finally finish the washing and head to a bakery to get some lunch and bump into him again. Small town. I love the apple turnover (reminds me of NZ) and return the following day for another - yum.
We enjoy some conversation with other travellers in the camp kitchen on all 3 nights. Specifically, a NZ couple and some older ladies (who are sleeping in the back of their car) and in their 70's. They are inspiring. The kids are loving the dirt and we are watching their clothes slowly change to browns and tans.
We visit Faye's house. Her house is 3 bedrooms and built underground. She dug it out herself with a pick. It is pretty impressive, any time she needed a cupboard, shelf, extra room etc she just got out her pick and chipped away at the rock! She doesn't live their anymore. When she left Coober Pedy she loaded what she could into her car and drove off leaving all furnishings, ornaments etc... Too expensive to get them transported from Coober Pedy. Everything is expensive here due to the transport factor.
Off to check out some opals, after all we are in Coober Pedy and they do produce 80% of the worlds opals. There are areas you can noodle (which is basically sifting through the dirt that has been left by previous mining activity.) We had decided against this as it was too dusty and the chances of finding a big one super slim. If you want to mine for opal you can pay a fee ($165) and look for opal where nobody has previously staked a claim, you then pay a further fee ($135) to stake a claim on a piece of land. Then you can go for gold (or opal in this case) and dig in your 100 x 50 metre piece of earth. Anyway, we opt for the easier option and handed some dollars over the counter and leave an opal shop with a pair of earrings.
We are leaving Coober Pedy tomorrow but I think the dust will stay with us a little longer. It is well impregnated in our clothes, hair and skin!
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