Day 13 - Coober Pedy

I booked I for two nights so we had a chance to check out the town and to wash us and our clothes properly. We hit town late morning, such as it is on a Sunday, most people must have been in underground church. Umoona was our first stop, it had a lot of history of the area, especially involving the aboriginals and dinosaur skeletons and fossils found in the area. Phoebe bought Sarah a birthday present there, but generally the shop was a bit too slick for my taste.

These are the chimneys/vents for the shop!

We aren't too sure what the below was once, but Mad Max Three was shot around these parts, I will have to watch it on our return to see if it was one of the vehicles in the film.

 

After getting lunch at a oddball bakery that didn't have sausage rolls because in wasn't Monday (?), we ate it up at The Big Winch, up for sale and closed, as it had the best views of town. Little chimneys and satellite dishes poking out of the dirt are the best indicators of where the underground houses are. Only 30% of housing here is underground, as A: they are running out of jumpups (hills) to dig them into and B: air conditioning is possibly cheaper than digging out a home.

Below is the front of an underground house.

 

Next we headed out of town a few kms to Crocodile Harry's. It was hard to get a feel for the man from everything he had left behind in his underground house at his death. It had a huge eclectic collection of art, tourist mementos, student cards, flags, photos, hand painted discs and women's underwear. There were photos from his youth, spent catching crocodiles to sell the skins, in far north QLD. It wasn't clear how he ended up in Coober Pedy. His home features in Mad Max Three, more things to look out for during the movie.

 

The Old Timer's Mine was our next port of call, and well worth the visit. After five minutes of hunching over with a hard hat on my back had had enough! I can't imagine doing is all day and hauling the rocks out by hand as they did in the 1880's.

Terrible photo sorry, I had flash issues.

Trevour took us outside for a demonstration of how a modern day blower works, used to separate the rocks from the dust and dirt. Phoebe and Justin lined up to have a turn getting the rocks sucked off their hands, Phoebe cracked up doing it. I thought the dog might be in danger....

At the end of the tour Phoebe purchased an opal necklace as a souvenir with her holiday money, the other girls decided that was a great idea and bought necklaces also. Home then as most shops were shut and dusk was imminent. We had chicken fajitas for dinner, very tasty, easy camping food.

 

I forgot to include this in yesterday's blog.

 

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