Coober Pedy
Trip Start
Sep 02, 2007
1
187
326
Trip End
May 13, 2009
Coober Pedy,
South Australia,
Australia
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
After only 20km we stopped for a dip in a hot spa - it was lovely - just a tad cold so we didnt stay long - it got the flys away from us and was our buch needed shower for the day - it was very cool and only ost us 41 each - a snip!
After the Spa the road took a turn for the worse. Because of the heavy rains the past couple of days and the trucks still plow hrough bit leavs big tyre grooves in the road - all over the road. Then this gets hardened by the fearce sun and you are left with an increadibly bumpy road surface.
We will be flying along at 80km an hour on the dirt roads and suddernly we are bumping, heads hitting the roof and slowing to 30km an hour without warning - uyou cant even see the groves they are so small, the problem is that although small they are seriously deep!!
Spa
!So, the 400km or so took us about 7 hours, I had a very hard 4 hours and then Fabrice took over and had a much easier 3 hours - he was very lucky - it was hard driving.
We passed thorough the smallest town in Australia (William Creek, population 12) - supprise, supprice they didnt have LPG so we have to go the last 150km or so on fuel - not so bad. The weather is SO HOT but we got through and made it to Coober Pedy at about 3pm.
We crised around town (which took a mere 10 mins) and filed up with LPG at a more resonable rate and pulled up to Ribas. A lovely lady who allowes you to camp UNDERGROUND!
The whole of Coober Pedy is buit undeground, into cliff edges to make the days cool and the night warm as the weather is so unhospitable. Coober Pedy is the setting for films like Pitch Black, Mars, Precilla Queen of the Desert and Mad Max. If you have seen any of these films you will get an idea what it is like!
the camping underground option is crazy, vast chasms split into small pitches to errect a tent and sleep, they are drilled out by the miners who are all in search of their Opal fortune - there are 20 different Nationalities living here (a vast majority Greek) and other than tourism the 2,000 people get all their money from opal finds
The Big Winch
.we had a tour of the mine which was very facinating and the guide was extremely descriptive and informative - I learned a lot.
During the tour Fabrice noticed a german girl he knew from Sydney (they had agreed to meet here) so I left them too it and laid down on my airbed it the middle of this massive space underground and felt fine. NNo need for a tent and it wasnt too cold. After a few hours (about 2.30am) Fabrice came back and started the most hiddeous snooring ever, this reverberated off all the walls and must have kept everyone awake! After 30 mins I moved to a different area which was completly horrible, it was at the end of a dusty corridoor with small lights lighting the rocks underground - it was like some alien crafts research lab, before the Aliens could start cutting me up I moved back to Fabrices area - the snooring got even worse so I went back to the van in the freezing cold and at least managed a couple of hours sleep!
In the morning Fabrices German girl left and Fabrice and I walked around tht town for a whole day - way too much time in the heat. We saw lots of opal place, got a few bits of food and very hot and bothered. this is the 1st place we have really encountered aboriginals and they are very different in appearance to what I thought - with much darker skin then I have seen before and a real drink/drug proble. the women are in control and I slyly took some photos of them but only slyly as they are very scary and I didnt want to get beaten up by them :-) - the heat is oppressive and we elect to get out of town after taking pictures of about everything we see.
We are heading up to a view point which shouold be nice.
