COOBER PEDY

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After a lot of driving we decided to treat ourselves to a tour of Coober Pedy. Our tour leader’s name was Steve and he could talk under water! Very informative though and we now all know EVERYTHING about how the dirt is sucked and blown out of opal mines!!! (Lots of suckers and blowers around here). Coober Pedy is an interesting place with most of the houses and even churches being built underground. The town itself has a population of around 3,500, 60% European with 45 nationalities represented.

Coober Pedy was originally known as the Stuart Range Opal Field, named after John McDouall Stuart, who in 1858 was the first European explorer in the area. But it wasn’t until 1915 that opals were first discovered here. Not long after this discovery the O’Neill brothers arrived here becoming the first opal mining pioneers. So that’s another claim to fame for the O’Neill clan. Coober Pedy is the largest opal mining area in the world producing over 85% of the world’s opal. And they still keep finding more.

There is a large mixture of nationalities here and apparently in years gone by if people were unhappy with something or someone they would blow them up with dynamite, including the local gentry.

Our tour took us through the opal mining area which is enormous then onto the Breakaways. This area consists of colourful low hills which have broken away from the Stuart Range. Approximately 150 million years ago this area was part of the huge inland sea. The silica solutions which formed here in fact created opals.

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Photos

Coober Pedy Golf Course
This is the only golf course in the world which has recriprocal rights with St. Andrews in Scotland

Sucker and Blower
These were actually invented in Coober Pedy. They suck the dirt out of the underground tunnels then blow it up to the top.

The Dog Fence
This is the longest fence in the world, keeps the dingos out.