2002/11 Australia trip - Coober Pedy |
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After breakfast, they dropped us off at the campground and we quickly packed up and were off south down the Stuart Highway, headed for Coober Pedy in South Australia. There isn’t much to see for the first couple of hundred miles, so to break up the trip we took a twenty-mile side trip along a rock road to the Henbury meteor craters for lunch. The craters are very large holes for what were supposed to have been some small meteors, only barrel-sized.
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Henbury (6.53) |  |
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There were more dust storms in the area; we'd learned that the Aussies call them willy willies.
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Willy willy (0.45) |  |
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Wedgie (1.02) |  |
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From there it was a very empty road south past a few roadstations. We saw the occasional emu, and 
counted about a dozen or so eagles dining on roadkill. There were no kites here, just wedge-tailed eagles. They were very reluctant to leave their food, even when we stopped. I think if we’d got out with knife and fork they’d have fought us for the food.
As we got closer to Coober Pedy the traffic picked up a bit and there were signs of opal mining, acres and acres of rock piles, and signs warning of abandoned mine shafts “Don’t step backwards!”
The sun had already set so we checked into the first campground we saw as we entered the town. It was on the main road, attached to the Opal Inn, not a great spot, but it had the laundry we needed. This was our first really cool evening since arriving in Australia.
Sunday October 27th
I was off at dawn to see if there was anything for us to do early on a Sunday morning in Coober Pedy. At 
first there was just me, and an eagle cruising down Main Street, but it looked like a couple of places were going to open before long. The town is chaotic with rock piles next to hotels, piles of old mining machinery, offices, houses, and mines, all higgledy-piggledy.
It has some beautifully outlined sidewalks, with concrete kerb stones but no paving stones on the sidewalks, just sand. It even has a new roundabout in the town centre, but it’s so tight that most drivers hit the curbs. The others drive straight over it. The miners keep threatening to blow it up.
We went to the Opal Cave, a pile of dirt on the main street, and picked up a nice opal mineral sample, and then on to the Old Timer’s Mine in a street called Crowders Gully. This was one of the original mines, but it’s now been converted to a museum and tourist spot. We went down the mine and spent an hour or so climbing around the diggings.
Opal is found in sandstone rock, which is self-supporting, so they just leave enough rock in place to hold the roof up, and don’t need pit props like in a coal mine. I guess you find out how much is “enough” by other people’s bad luck.
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Coober Pedy museum (11.44) |
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There aren’t any trees around for building houses, so the early miners lived in their mine tunnels, not a bad 
idea as summers hit 120 and winters drop to freezing. In recent years, the underground houses have got a lot fancier, and the mine had rooms decked out in 1950s and 1980s styles. “Coober Pedy” is Aborigine for “white man’s burrow”. We could have spent hours in the museum, but we didn’t have hours. We bought some books, and a piece of potch (basic opal, not a gem), and then had breakfast in a local café (underground of course).
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