17-18 Coober Pedy

What an unusual place. Middle of no where with odd cone shaped mounds as far as the eye can see stretching across the desert plain. The cone shaped mounds are from the over 1 million holes in the ground that have been created by the opal miners since 1915. It is a tough job being a miner. One miner that Tim spoke to said that his best day was when he found $50,000 worth of opal. His worst was when he found only $270 worth of opal in a year!
Some opal miners have also created homes that they have dug out of the earth because living underground helps to beat the 50+ degree heat of the summers. We decided to stay at an underground hotel for our 2 day stay in Coober Pedy. What we hadn’t realised when we booked was that the hotel also had some above ground rooms. We ended up in the above ground (cheaper) rooms so missed out on the underground sleeping experience. Never mind we still got to eat, shop and tour underground which was enough for us.
We have had a busy day in Cooper Pedy, shopping for opals (kids are rock mad), visiting an underground church and an underground bookshop, visiting the “Big Winch”, going on the Old Timers Mine tour, going to a mine machinery demonstration and a bit of noodling (term used when looking for opal amongst loose stones). Pheww! The highlight from Tim’s point of view would have to be the access to a television so that he could watch the Bledisloe Cup (I hope the Aussies win).
This is the last of our sightseeing stops before we reach Mudgee on Tuesday. We will be driving 1,900 km over the next 3 days! We are looking forward to catching up with the Nicholls and Bairds for a few days of playing in Mudgee before heading home on Saturday.