Today we hustled to complete the 253 km drive from Glendambo to Coober Pedy before the temperature got too high. This was probably to no avail as it got to 40 degrees by the end of the day.
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| 251014 Typical countryside 250km of it from Glendambo to Coober Pedy, absent the ridges. The ridges are mullock heaps and started to appear about 15km from Coober Pedy. |
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| 251014 Coober Pedy welcome - an old"blower" truck |
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| 251014 The main street in Coober Pedy |
We settled down at a caravan park and then headed off to do a tour of the town and its surrounds. The town's population is around 3500 and a lot of them do live underground. Coober Pedy is aboriginal for "whiteman burrows" or something to that effect.
We were rather surprised at the mining methods. They drill down to 30m or so to find a "level" or seam of "colour" which signifies the presence of opal. They then go down and drill horizontally, using explosives to loosen the rock. The "pudge", rock not containing opal, is sucked out by a "blower" and left in piles and there are thousands of these piles of "mullock"over the countryside. There is no obligation to put the mullock back in the holes.
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| 251014 Opal mining at Coober Pedy |
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251014 A noodling machine to test the mullock heaps
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| 251014 Living quarters in an old mine |
We drove through many miles of these piles. There is a hole alongside each one and the place is quite dangerous. One wouldn't lightly walk around these areas.
The tour took us to The Breakaways, where the flat mesa top drops away to the plain below, exposing the colourful cliffs and nearby hills. We saw the "dog fence" built to stop dingoes entering the stock growing areas in the south.
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| 251014 Scenery at the Breakaways |
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| 251014 From a hill at the Breakaways - tour bus included |
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| 251014 From a hill at he Breakaways |
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| 251014 A view from the Breakaways |
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| 251014 A kaolinite mountain in the Breakaways |
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| 251014 The "Dog Fence" near Coober Pedy |
The visit to the Serbian Orthodox Church was a must. Built underground, it is a "working" church and is unique by virtue of its siting and the beautiful carvings in the rocks within. It was built by miners as a labour of love, in 19 months. We dropped (poor choice of words) into an underground hotel for a beer at the end of the tour and boy, was it welcome.
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| 251014 The exterior of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Coober Pedy |
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| 251014 A carving in the rock in the Serbian Orthodox Church in Coober Pedy |
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| 251014 Another carving in the rock in the Serbian Orthodox Church in Coober Pedy |
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| 251014 The interior of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Coober Pedy |
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251014 Entrance to a hotel (underground)
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