White man's hole in the ground

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I headed off in the direction of Coober Pedy in the glorious sun. It's now impossible to get lost or take a wrong turning as for the next 2000km it is one straight road, with the exception of Ayres Rock.
This was the first day I truly experienced the 'outback'. Just a few minutes out of Port Augusta and the land opened up into a massive expanse of nothingness. Now and again the odd dead animal would break up the driving and I'd have to swerve to miss it, but other than that it was one very long drive. I stopped first of all at Hart Lake. Well it used to be a lake at some point in the past. It's now covered in salt. I walked a short distance onto the lake until I came across I sign that read "DANGER do not venture on to lake surface. Lake is a live bombing and ammunition target area. Unlocated live ordnance may be on or just under the lake surface."
A live bombing area? Who for? Osama Bin Laden? Well it stopped me from going any further, and also made me wonder if they planned on doing any target practice on a Sunday.

Moving swiftly on from the lake I reached Glendambo, the last town (sorry group of small houses and a petrol station) before Coober Pedy. The sign at the entrance said "Welcome to Glendambo, home to 22,500 Sheep, 2,000,000 Flies and 30 People! They were not wrong about the flies.

When I eventually reached Coober Pedy I was shocked. It was like a movie set from Mad Max. Actually Mad Max III was filmed here, but seriously I've never seen a town so backward and constructed out of nothing. The name Coober Pedy is from an Aboriginal language and is said to mean 'white man's hole in the ground'. This aptly describes the place as about half the population lives in dugouts to shelter from the summer temperatures and winter nights. There are over 250,000 mine shafts in the area so you have to pay close attention to where you are walking. Australia is the opal-producing centre of the world, and at the heart of this is Coober Pedy. The town is built entirely into the slag heaps. It really is like a movie scene. It is also quite scary being populated by aboriginal people. Making it even scarier are the numerous signs outside shops and the post office reminding locals not to bring live ammunition into the stores. Apparently several places have been blown up by accident.

I have had a quick drive around Coober Pedy. I didn't feel like walking!! It certainly is a town risen up out of a desert. Sand laps the few tarmac roads and what isn't made out of wood or corrugated iron is made from earth. It’s amazing to see!!

Tonight I will be staying in a cave! The front of the hostel is on the side of a hill and the rest of it is dug into the ground. You go down about 50 feet into the earth via steps cut out of the rock and follow a long cave. Off this cave on either side are numerous little alcoves and in these smaller caves are beds. Probably one of the more interesting places I have stayed in. It seems to be warm. It’s lit with the odd light bulb and floors, walls and ceiling are all bare rock. This certainly no longer feels like Australia, instead I have slipped into some surreal movie and I’m waiting on a few big explosions and fight scene.

The following morning I woke to darkness, that’s the down side to sleeping in a cave. Once I ventured up to the surface it was clear blue skies and sun so strong and bright it would burn your eyes out.
After spending the morning visiting a couple of mines I decided that the best way to see this amazing place was on a tour. A good decision as well as the places that we went to would have killed my car. So called roads were nothing more than a previous persons tracks across rocks and rubble. We were taken to some fantastic places where films had been made. Most of these films use this area as it closely resembles the surface of the moon or mars. Far handier than actually going there.

We also visited the dog fence. It may only be a wire fence in the middle of no where but the amazing thing is that it is 5,600km long. Making it the longest fence in the world. It’s designed to stop dingos from leaving the outback and killing the sheep in the south of Australia. I left Dad's business card attached to one of the posts just in case they plan on building another one. That would have to be one hell of a job!!!

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Comments

[pianosupernova]

I love coober pedy...
Ah i'm so glad you got to coober pedy! I was so happy when I finally went there after wanting to go for months and months :) The outback is truely amazing, the best part of my australian adventure i think...only 16 days left now :( take care lucy -x-