Hanging out underground

OWell the most talked about stop on the trip inched closer. The boys were very excited about staying underground in the sleepy little hollow of Coober Pedy. They were so excited that when people asked them where their favourite place was on the trip, Coober Pedy was always said - even though they were weeks from actually visiting it!

It is a fair distance from Uluru so we had to break the trip over two days. We made our way towards the Kulgera roadhouse as our overnight stop to break up the 700km or so to Coober Pedy. On the way we passed through Eldundo roadhouse and stopped in for fuel.

They had a small number of emus in captivity there and for just $2 you can feed them some pellets. Well the boys were most excited and Dad succumbed. The bag they got was certainly bigger than expected, a good half a kilo of pellets came out. The next 25 minutes or so was entertaining watching Katie who isn't the biggest fan of birds to start with get amongst it. The boys thought it was hilarious. They claimed it as the highlight of the day! Yes it even beat a helicopter ride, or was at least right up there said Griff.

Onwards to the roadhouse we went and settled there around 3pm or so. It was a nice surprise to see people we camped with at Palm Springs setup there and had a good yarn over the fire that evening to see what everyone had been up to. 

Old school playground at the roadhouse.

Next morning we were Coober Pedy bound. The landscape changed with the trees disappearing, the red colours fading somewhat and the roads straightening.  It's amazing how the place changes. 

We also made our first entrance into South Australia, the boys are most proud that they now only have to go to Tasmania and Western Australia to tick off all the states. 

Before we arrived in town we did a quick detour out to the Breakaways. It was the closest thing to the painted desert we could get to. As part of the Stuart Range, the breakaways are scenic set of hills that show the amazing weathering process of different sedimentary rocks.  

These are known as the castle or salt and pepper. They made of the same stuff, just are different sizes and therefore as the layers are eroded, different minerals are visible. 

You can also get the closest to the dog fence, this section is around 2250km long but the whole thing is around 3500km, stretching up into NSW and Queensland. 

Seeing the fence brought back memories of the book Uncle Chris was reading about the fence on our last journey up north to the Cape. Here is a pic for you!

We couldn't hold off the boys for much longer and we made our way into town to JAM B&B. Well it certainly is a strange place where you first arrive into town. Mounds of dirt dot the landscape like someone has been looking for treasure. The famous road signs indicating deep shafts etc are very apt. 

We arrive at our B&B and the boys are jumping out of their skin with excitement. We leave Ernie upstairs and take down some essentials. 

Ernie gets a break for couple days. Our house is under him!

We are greeted by our host Julie and shown around the place. It's the house she used to live in when she first moved to town 13 years ago, (turns out that Julie spent time in Rutherglen, Victoria of all places). The house has 3 bedrooms, 2 dining areas, 2 living areas with a hugh laundry space. Massive place considering that its underground. It was built in the 70's and being about 4metres underground gives you 21-24 degrees all year round. 

The front door!

The living area

Our room

It was certainly very comfortable. The boys expectations were met and exceeded!  

Julie also had a couple of little critters as well, Minty an 8 year old pup and Scratchy the cuddliest cat in town.

The next day we did a bit of a tour of town to get our bearings. Quite a picturesque place, although things do seem to be a little run down at the moment. 

Every town must have a "big" something. Coober Pedy has the big winch. The bit down the bottom is the handle of the original winch that came down in a cyclone in 1966. It's not quite apparent why it's still on show!

We headed towards the Umoona mine and display for our tour. Amazing setup with information about the town's history of opal mining, the mining process and how it's changed over time.  This is all free of charge and a really good read. 

Turns out Coober Pedy invented the blower. It is essentially a large vacuum cleaner that sucks out the rock dug up by the tunnelling machines. They are dotted everyone around the landscape. Some more functional than others.  A picture of a blower truck from Google.  The vacuum sucks out the dirt till the container is full then it empties the container as spoil near the mine site. 

The tour also showed how miners lived at the turn of the 18th century and then compared this to how they live in modern day underground house.  The difference was stark!

The other interesting stories relate to the fact you don't need to report how many opals you have found, in fact its shunned upon as it encourages others to either help themselves to your opals if they aren't protected enough or they stake a claim for the ground around you.  So the spoils of your find is kept pretty quiet - seems almost devious!  The B&B we were staying in also had a ongoing dig down the road.  They had 24x7 protection to ensure that no one came visiting in the night to help themselves.  Its more wild west out here than you think!