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Van Trip 2007
Glendambo to Coober Pedy
Days 22 to 23
Kilometres travelled today......271
After leaving Glendambo we travelled through mainly desert scenery for 271 kilometres, arriving in Coober Pedy in the early afternoon. We checked into the Oasis Van Park, and had a fairly ordinary site with no water connection and no room to put our TV antenna up because we were parked under a low strung net.
We spent 2 nights in the town and made the most of our time there with a full-on touring schedule.
Coober Pedy is 846 kilometres north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway, and has a population of 1,695. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. It is also renowned for its below-ground residences, called "dugouts", which are built to ease the scorching daytime heat. The name 'Coober Pedy' comes from the local Aboriginal term kupa-piti, which means "white man's hole".
Opal was found in Coober Pedy on 1 February 1915; since then the town has been supplying most of the world's gem-quality opal. It has over 70 opal fields and is the largest opal mining area in the world.
Some of the most interesting things we visited in the area were...the Underground Church, the Underground Hotel, the Breakaways and Faye's Underground House.
The harsh summer desert temperatures mean that many residents prefer to live in caves bored into the hillsides ("dugouts"). A standard three-bedroom cave home with lounge, kitchen, and bathroom can be excavated out of the rock in the hillside for a similar price to building a house on the surface. However, dugouts remain at a constant temperature, while surface buildings need air-conditioning, especially during the summer months, when temperatures often exceed 40 degrees . A wonderful example of an early dugout that has been expanded into an impressive underground residence is Faye's Underground Home. It started out over 60 years ago as a one room dugout used by the mail truck driver. Faye Nayler bought it from him, and that original room is now the kitchen. The present home was built over ten years, by hand, using only picks and shovels, by Faye and two of her lady friends. Three bedrooms with walk in robes, living room, bar, wine cellar, billiard room and swimming pool.
Faye is still alive and lives in Queensland now. Luckily there is a lovely caretaker couple living in her Coober Pedy underground home, and even though it is a private residence visitors are welcome. Faye's is the only Coober Pedy underground home open to all visitors that is actually lived in.
Our sunset trip to the Breakaways, featuring the Painted Desert, was one of the highlites of our stay in Coober Pedy, Located 33 kilometers north of the town the scenery was spectacular. On the way out we also viewed the Moon Plains. These great desert locations have attracted film makers from around world, for movies including 'Fire in the Stone', 'Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome', 'Ground Zero', 'Pitch Black' and Val Kilmer's, 'Red Planet'.
During this trip we also drove along part of the Oodnadata Track, and travelled along part of the Dingo Fence.
The Dingo Fence was built during the 1880s and finished in 1885, to keep dingoes out of the south-east part of the continent and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland. It is one of the longest structures in the world and is the world's longest fence. It stretches 5,614 kilometres from Jimbour on the Darling Downs near Dalby through thousands of kilometres of arid land ending west of Eyre Peninsula on the cliffs of the Nullarbor Plain above the Great Australian Bight near Nundroo.
Days 22 to 23
Kilometres travelled today......271
After leaving Glendambo we travelled through mainly desert scenery for 271 kilometres, arriving in Coober Pedy in the early afternoon. We checked into the Oasis Van Park, and had a fairly ordinary site with no water connection and no room to put our TV antenna up because we were parked under a low strung net.
We spent 2 nights in the town and made the most of our time there with a full-on touring schedule.
Coober Pedy is 846 kilometres north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway, and has a population of 1,695. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. It is also renowned for its below-ground residences, called "dugouts", which are built to ease the scorching daytime heat. The name 'Coober Pedy' comes from the local Aboriginal term kupa-piti, which means "white man's hole".
Opal was found in Coober Pedy on 1 February 1915; since then the town has been supplying most of the world's gem-quality opal. It has over 70 opal fields and is the largest opal mining area in the world.
Some of the most interesting things we visited in the area were...the Underground Church, the Underground Hotel, the Breakaways and Faye's Underground House.
The harsh summer desert temperatures mean that many residents prefer to live in caves bored into the hillsides ("dugouts"). A standard three-bedroom cave home with lounge, kitchen, and bathroom can be excavated out of the rock in the hillside for a similar price to building a house on the surface. However, dugouts remain at a constant temperature, while surface buildings need air-conditioning, especially during the summer months, when temperatures often exceed 40 degrees . A wonderful example of an early dugout that has been expanded into an impressive underground residence is Faye's Underground Home. It started out over 60 years ago as a one room dugout used by the mail truck driver. Faye Nayler bought it from him, and that original room is now the kitchen. The present home was built over ten years, by hand, using only picks and shovels, by Faye and two of her lady friends. Three bedrooms with walk in robes, living room, bar, wine cellar, billiard room and swimming pool.
Faye is still alive and lives in Queensland now. Luckily there is a lovely caretaker couple living in her Coober Pedy underground home, and even though it is a private residence visitors are welcome. Faye's is the only Coober Pedy underground home open to all visitors that is actually lived in.
Our sunset trip to the Breakaways, featuring the Painted Desert, was one of the highlites of our stay in Coober Pedy, Located 33 kilometers north of the town the scenery was spectacular. On the way out we also viewed the Moon Plains. These great desert locations have attracted film makers from around world, for movies including 'Fire in the Stone', 'Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome', 'Ground Zero', 'Pitch Black' and Val Kilmer's, 'Red Planet'.
During this trip we also drove along part of the Oodnadata Track, and travelled along part of the Dingo Fence.
The Dingo Fence was built during the 1880s and finished in 1885, to keep dingoes out of the south-east part of the continent and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland. It is one of the longest structures in the world and is the world's longest fence. It stretches 5,614 kilometres from Jimbour on the Darling Downs near Dalby through thousands of kilometres of arid land ending west of Eyre Peninsula on the cliffs of the Nullarbor Plain above the Great Australian Bight near Nundroo.
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