Blogs from Coober Pedy, South Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 7

Coober Pedy comes from an aboriginal way of describing the dugouts the miners lived in "kupa Piti" - white mans hollow. This is a wild bit of Australia!! Took to the air today to fly over Lake Eyre. First we did a fly over Coober Pedy so that our view to the "mullock" hills were fascinating. The small excavated mine sites looked like an ants entrance. The opal deposit runs for about 70km and the mullocks and holes are littered everywhere. It is something to behold. Think the 'sand - tuscan raiders - Jahwahs' from Star Wars and you are getting close. We then flew straight out to Anna Creek Station which is Kidman Cattle Country - taking up the same area of land as the country of Belgium. It is running 10,000 head of cattle, ... read more

The first thing we did today was hit an old opal mine and watched a video from circa 1992 about the history of opals, we were then shown how the stone is cut followed by being taken into the actual mine. In Coober Pedy, the majority of people live underground. The "houses" are actually quite nice and if you didn't know you were underground, then you wouldn't know you were underground (funnily enough.) We were guided to an example of one of the first underground burrows and then to a "modern" one (from the 70s). I reckon I could probably live there if I had to. They then went down a further level into the old mine and that's where my claustrophobia kicked in. I made it down the stairs but turned around and came straight ... read more

Hey all, Day 6 had us Leaving Uluru for Oodnadatta but it wasn't to be and we ended up in Coober Pedy. I was absolutely shattered yesterday arvo! We heard on the UHF that the rain we had at Uluru had gotten worse and moved towards the Simpson closing all roads down the Oodnadatta. No access in or out. I called the roadhouse to confirm and he said at least 2-3 days until roads might be opened. When we got to Marla we drove 500m down the Oodnadatta track to the signs and sure enough everything was closed, NOT HAPPY JAN!!!!!!! We decided to put in a big day then and drive to Coober Pedy and stay in an underground Hotel for the night which was great. They drilled a big horizontal hole into the the ... read more

We had a good night’s sleep in our Underground Motel room (and endured a cold shower) and then started to explore the town in more detail. After doing some shopping at the Supermarket we went down to an Underground Shop and Museum where Sandy purchased a watch. After lunch we went to the Old Timers Mine and it was here we appreciated the hardship the miners went through to make a living chasing Opals. Sandy got claustrophobic and had to leave the cramped tunnels. We then saw a display of the more modern machinery used to excavate the rock and blow it up to the surface for processing. We are having a rest day in preparation for the long haul to Kings Canyon tomorrow. We found a fantastic restaurant where the pizzas were amazing and we ... read more

Heello peeps. I travel about 3 months of the year evry year. I have good job that takes me to some wonderful places. I go in search of Drugs, and try to see cultural use of these in everyday lives. Last year went to Brazil and Columbia. What can I say...What a time I had. This year I went to Australia, and tried to find out all I could from the Aboriginal peoples about "special" medicines they may have used in their culture. The American Indians used Piote to enter the spirit world, a form of LSD. I was amazed to learn that in fact there are numerous natural plants, seeds, barks and plants that produce or contain LSD. Upon meeting with some older Aboriginals, I came up with a list of plants that hold cultural ... read more