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Early To Bed, Early To Rise...
4am could not have come any quicker for me as I was really beginning to feel the cold in my swag, despite being assured that they were warmer than the tents. As soon as the alarm went off, I was out my swag, rolling it up and heading for the bathrooms to get some warmth and changed for the day ahead. As a group we were beginning to get good at packing up and loaded into the bus in time for Sauce's preferred departure.
We had around two and half hours drive ahead of us to Erldunda, which was on the Stuart's Highway, where we were due to meet our new Tour Guide, Ben. Most of the group slept for the duration of the journey, however Gary and myself took slightly longer to nod back off as we got talking to the Tour Guide and Anna, who was on Kangaroo Watch at the front of the Bus.
Soon after we said goodbye to Sauce and welcomed our new Tour Guide to the group we were back on the Stuart Highway heading south to Coober Pedy. We were well advised that they day ahead
was going to consist mainly of driving however we did stop off at a number of rest areas on the way to Coober Pedy in order to stretch our legs.
Coober Pedy is a small mining town in the northern outback of South Australia. The name Coober Pedy is an Aboriginal term which means 'white mans hole' as they did not understand why all these people were digging holes. The first European to pass near the site of Coober Pedy was John McDouall Stuart in 1858, but the town was not established until after 1915, when opal was discovered by Willie Hutchinson. A year later the Miners moved into the area. Today it is known as
The Opal Capital of the World due to the quantity of precious opals that are mined there.
Coober Pedy is infamous for its reputation of violence and alcoholism. Liquor stores have a restriction of two litres of alcohol to be bought before 4pm. Our tour guide also advised us on the pubs which were 'safe' to go into. Apparently Coober Pedy is not as bad as it used to be however it is good to be cautious and Ben made sure that the van was emptied of
Miner
Light at the end of the mine shaft. all our belongings before dark as they have had problems with break-ins in the past.
75% of the residents of Coober Pedy live underground, and for the third night of our trip we were going to live like the locals in an underground hostel. The accommodation was really nice, it was strange to be living underground with no windows so when the lights went out it was completely dark in the rooms. As the sun went down outside the town became quite cold, however the warmth remained underground resulting in a cosy nights sleep.
We went on a tour of one of the local mines where were were given a insight into the history and formation of Coober Pedy. We were also advised on the different types of opals, there likely whereabouts as well as being shown how to shape and polish an Opal. Following the demonstration we were taken down to one of the mines and shown where some Opals were discovered as well as one which was still to be taken out. We were also shown an example of the types of houses the locals stay in and they looked very homely! It was pretty surreal
as a lot of residents would constantly be extending their houses deeming it "refurbishment" (mining in the town itself is now deemed unsafe) in an effort to find more opals or purely to add extra rooms. We also had a browse of the town and spoke to a local shopkeeper who began ranting at how the tour buses are all scam artists and putting honest shopkeepers like him from earning a living due to deals they had with other opal companies. I ended up buying a really nice opal so getting to take a little bit of Coober Pedy home with me.
We were lucky enough to be experiencing the real life in Coober Pedy, as we were staying underground in a hostel beside the Opal mine. After showering, we all headed across the road for some dinner at a Pizza restaurant. Following dinner we headed to the one underground bar that was apparently safe enough to drink in. The bar itself was quite disappointing so we didn't stay for very long. One of the girls in the group did however have to buy her jumper back from an Aboriginal drinking there, which could have ended a lot nastier
with our tour guide diffusing the situation. As said earlier, Coober Pedy is still regarded as a pretty rough town, but definitely worth seeing.
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