Another nice bit of down time this morning and my biggest laugh for the
day came from a phone call from mum to say it was snowing at home. I has only snowed once in the 16 years I’ve
lived at Barongarook so while I was a bit sad to miss it – I can’t say I was
sad to have missed a day THAT cold and I’m pretty sure our water pipes would
have been frozen just to add to the amusement.
We headed out to take a look around Coober Pedy about lunch time. Fascinating town with so many tiny shacks
serving as homes but what was really striking was almost every house with bars
on the windows and many of those that didn’t had broken windows. It put into perspective the grave warnings
issued by the gentlemen ushering campers to their sites as we arrived to ensure
everything was locked at all times and nothing was left out over night. The underground homes tucked into the
hillsides were deceiving. Looking at the
ventilation pipes coming from the hill, some were obviously very large. I couldn’t help but think valuations for
Council rates must be a complex operation!
Underground homes
We took a tour through an opal mine, spotted the local drive-in theatre
and then drove out to the Breakaways – a spectacular series of multi coloured
hills just a few kms from Coober Pedy. Along the way it was mind boggling how many mines have been sunk in this area. The little piles of rock and soil literally covered the landscape like thousands of miniature pyramids. Unfortunately road closures meant we had to travel back into Coober Pedy
to head out the Oodnadatta Track to the Dingo Fence – the world’s longest fence
which stretches more than 5,600km.
Coober Pedy Drive-In
Old Timers Mine - Coober Pedy
The Breakaways
Discarded rock and soil from Opal Mines
Oodnadatta Track
The Dingo Fence
In the meantime – this was the view from my door this morning.
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