Coober Pedy

Wow, so much to catch up on!! We havent blogged for a few days as we were so busy at Coober Pedy, out of range for 2 days when travelling from Coober Pedy to Yulara and then havent stopped since arriving at Yulara.. anyway, here goes!
Coober Pedy was a crazy mixed bag, full of surprises -all good! When we arrived and drove down the main street which looks run down it felt a bit oppressive and we didnt think we'd stay long, but it was a small part of the whole picture of Coober Pedy. When you drive around you think you're in another country -3rd world almost to look at. It reminded me of a shanty town. Scratch the surface though and such interesting and beautiful country side and history, friendly people and great food. We had a ball learning about the amazing geological history of the opal and how it's mined. In the mining areas its shaft holes as far as the eye can see and warning signs leading into town warning you not to walk backwards in Coober Pedy!! We visited mines, kangaroo orphanage, underground houses called 'dugouts', undgerground churches and went on a great tour which took us to the dog fence the longest fence in the world at 5,300 kms long all of which is also 30cm under the ground, and the Breakaways which used to be attached to the Macdonnel Ranges. We also went 'noodling' where the boys found their own little bits of opal! We had such a great time here that in contrast to not staying long we booked an extra night!

We met a lovely family here with two little girls that the boys get along really well with and we've since had some adventures with, but more about that on the Uluru page! Hopefully the photos will give you a good idea of CP but theres so many it was hard to choose!
Flies were in abundance at times, as you can see Harry took great delight in patiently seeing how many he could collect on one hand at a time! The stick figure on the stubby holder is holding a camera by the way, not a gun! The last photo is of some of the outback landscape on the drive, so beautiful and always changing. The boys LOVE the outback! 7th photo is the Breakaways, those colors are all naturally occuring. The men in uniform are the local constabulary, they wear khaki in SA.. more photos of NT police in the next chapter!
I now have a new respect and love of the opal now i know its geological history -it started 150 million years ago when the centre of Australia was an inland sea! Coober Pedy is all about opal!!