Coober Pedy

This post is super late, but I had it all written with photos so thought I would just post it anyway!! We are in Alice Springs and in the next post will fill you all in on our latest change of plans!!!!

Well we made it to Coober Pedy “ The opal capital of the world” where 95% of the worlds’ supply of commercial opal comes from.  Most of the population lives underground in ‘dugouts’, which are thought to have been introduced by soldiers returning from the trenches of World War 1.  The miners quickly discovered the advantages of this when the temperature outside can be over 40C and inside is a comfortable 23-25C all year round!!  Its estimated that around 50% of the population live underground now, with most of the homes excavated into hillsides now rather than being dug from the mine shafts themselves.

 

I had been really excited about experiencing this whole staying underground business so we spent a couple of nights above ground in the caravan park whilst we had a 

look around town and then treated ourselves to 1 below ground.  

We visited ‘The old timers mine” which is a historic opal mine hand dug in 1916 where we conducted a self-guided tour which was so interesting….These are some of the interesting things we found out about opal!!! We are both a little concerned how interested we have become in all things stone and rock!!!

Opal itself is a solution of hydrated silica that has been concentrated by evaporation to forma gel which permeated through sandstone and deposited in cracks and cavities in the rock below.  Over 2 million to 70 million years since then, this gel has hardened under great pressure to form……OPAL.  The amazing colours produced come from very small spheres of silica, the way they are stacked causes them to act as a prism and as such, this ‘play of colour’ changes when you move the stone, so every opal is unlike any other opal!  The main factors that determine the value of an opal are its ‘brilliance’, the colours visible (predominant red colours are the most expensive then green and then blue), the pattern, the weight and to a lesser degree the shape.   

This is the oldest underground church in town.

We stayed at the ‘The lookout cave-underground motel’ timed to perfection for the 40C day by my personal meteorologist-Lyndi!!! It was so weird that outside was boiling and then by walking a metre or so into the hotel it was perfect, and all without air-conditioning.  The patterns on the walls are all made from the machinery that excavates the rooms and then they just apply a coat/lacquer to it, no need for wallpaper or paint!! Cheap and really interesting to look at!!

Water is super scarce around these parts, with town water coming from somewhere a long way away!! (I cannot remember where) and it is filtered about 3 different times but it tastes amazing!! The caravan parks themselves don’t even have water taps, you go to a water station in town which is just like a petrol bowser!! You put your 20 cents in and get about 30-40 litres, we didn’t even really need any, but just wanted to do it for novelty value!!

I will leave you with the hilarious warning signs that are everywhere around town!!!

Flinders

From Innes NP we cruised North (no choice really, as South would have landed us in the Southern Ocean!!).  We visited multiple coastal towns including

Port Pirie….an industrial city with the worlds largest primary lead smelter.

Port Germein…known for once having a jetty 1.7 kms long/alas much has been lost through the passage of time, still a pretty little town which has no diesel/petrol for sale….oops not good!!!  This was valuable lesson # 2.

Port Augusta…the crossroads of Australia due to the fact that roads from Sydney to Perth and Adelaide to Darwin all pass through.

Then onto Mt Remarkable National Park.  Our favourite campground so far…..Mambray Creek at the foot of the Mount itself.  As part of my fitness program (designed by Ms Natasha Davies) we climbed up to Sugar Gum Lookout (3 hours), and through Hidden Gorge (7 hours)!!!!! Yes I was tired after these adventures but was kept awake at night by the goanna with his head in our water bucket and the emu knocking over all our empty beer cans!!!

We then travelled up to the Northern section of the Flinders ranges, where we camped at Brachina Gorge and Wilpena Pound.  

The pound is probably the centerpiece of the entire Flinders Ranges with a natural ampitheatre measuring 8kms by 17kms.  

There is a spectacular view from Mount Ohlsen Bagge (of course she made me climb this (4 hours)!!!

We biked, walked (and at times I thought crawling may occur due to exhaustion) around the Brachina Gorge geological trail and Bunyeroo valley. 

 

Now I am no rock guru, but for the first time in 120 years a new geological period was discovered called the ‘The Ediacaran era’.  It is the oldest period and dates back to 630 million years ago based on the rocks discovered along this trail…..Now that’s impressive!

These are the views from our lounge room, and you can see how these have inspired many artists including the famous Australian landscape painter Hans Heysen.

Having no internet/phone access for over a week gave us much time to ponder our travel plans.  Consequently we are going …..NORTH (and not West after all).  This will include maximal sunshine and minimal rain (well this is the plan!!).

Next stop is noodling for opals at Coober Pedy……