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Published: March 27th 2012
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We had a bit of lie in today, compared to the last few days, as we were up at 7am for breakfast outside the cave. After breakfast we had a tour through a museum that one of the locals has built to explain the process and history of opal mining. The museum itself was built under ground, so we first watched a video explaining the history of opal mining in an underground movie theatre before the owner, Yani (Greek) showed us the process of cutting and polishing opals and told us a bit more about the varieties of opals, from black opals to milky white opals – the colourful opals being the most valuable. Yani then led us through a tunnel which took us down further to a depth of around 18 metres, where he has created a mock up of an underground house. Yani explained that the bathrooms are usually at the front of the house so that the plumbing is easier to maintain as they don’t need to dig so far back into the house if there is a problem with the pipes. The bedrooms are usually at the back of the house as these are not used during
the day and therefore saves on lights and electricity during the day.The living areas are then usually built towards the front of the house with glass often used for the front wall to allow as much light in as possible. Yani told us about how he had come to Coober Pedy 40 years ago, hoping to quickly make his millions and move back home. But after 5 years of thinking that tomorrow would be the day that he found that opal which would make him his fortune he decided that it was time to set up a more permanent home and bought his underground house – which you can get for around $100,000.
Yani explained that anyone can come and choose to mine opals at Coober Pedy. All that is needed is to apply for a permit from the Miners Department in Coober Pedy and you would then be given your permit and 4 pegs, which you can use to mark out any section of land 50m x 100m in which you’re going to mine. The only stipulation is that you must be working at least 20hours a week in your mine. You can also change your marked area
as often as you like so if you dig a few shafts within your marked area and you don’t find any indications of opals (creases or lines in the rock where pockets of opal may lie) then you can pick up your pegs and move to the next area. Yani suggested that there is still a lot more to be found as there is plenty of land around Coober Pedy which hasn’t been explored at all yet.
At the end of the tour we went through to the gift shop where they had every colour and cut of opal that you could imagine, but Jo managed to resist and leave the shop without any stones!
Today was then another long drive as we made our way down to a Cattle Station in the Flinders Ranges where we were camping for the night. We stopped for lunch in a picnic area in one of the gas stations and we also stopped at a large salt lake which has developed from the sediment pushed up through the layers of rock.
We also made a pit stop in Port Augusta to pick up a few beers to enjoy with the
campfire dinner, as well as stopping on one of the country roads lined with trees to pick up some firewood for the camp fire later that evening. We arrived at the camp in the early evening and it wasn’t long until it was getting dark so we were all put to work setting up the camp. There was a fire pit established in the centre of the camp area so the boys started work on starting up the camp fire whilst the girls started chopping veggies for dinner. An hour later and the camp fire was roaring and we were enjoying barbecued chicken with a selection of beer soaked veggies – very tasty! And it was of course followed by marshmallows cooked on the camp fire for dessert. The stars in the sky were amazing to see as it was so dark around that we were able to see hundreds of stars, even a few shooting stars. We spent the evening chatting around the campfire and listening to music whilst enjoying a few drinks. When it was time to get some sleep we had to unroll our ‘swags’ which are like a canvass sleeping bag with a thin foam mattress
built into it and place our sleeping bags inside – there was no tents for us tonight! The girls hit the sack a little earlier than the boys who stayed up to enjoy their beers and play with the fire until the early hours of the morning.
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