Coober Pedy

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I got here and had a decision to make go South and visit a friend along the way or go North to Coober Pedy. Well the friend was moving on and Ken was keen to search for Opals, so North we went.

First stop was at the Woomera Rocket range. Also the sight of the launching of the first Aust. Satelite into space. The information centre has a reasonable display of all the rocket movement in the area. From here we had a much needed shower at Spuds Roadhouse. then another 350+ km to Coober Pedy. We camped in the bush for the first time and had dinner with the flies. Ken loved that (not). A chance for him to learn the Aussie Salute. Did a tour of the town, including the market (about 5 stalls). We waited for the info centre to open. Sign said 10am till 1pm. stopped waiting at 11.30am. did a tour of an underground Serbian Church and an abandon mine. Then we did an Underground mine tour at Umungo.

The flies were still bad until sundown. Tried our luck at Noodling at night with a Black light (UV). Could only find Potch. Next morning before the flies got up I wandered around some of the Ant Hills and found some more Potch. Although at the time I thought some of it could of been opal as there was some sign of color. We then tried 30km out at the Shell Patch no luck, only more flies. From here we went to the Breakaways and the Dingo Fence. Took some good photos, but you wont see them as there was no card in the camera. Without machinery of some sort it is very hard to find any opal, and with the over population of flies we decided opal mining wasn't for us in 37deg heat. So South it was. And now I'm back in Port Augusta writing this Blog. Maybe I will still go further South to Port Lincoln or West to Ceduna.

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Comments

[Marsha]

Ute & trailer looks fab great job