Cooper Pedy

8th September

Coober Pedy is a town in South Australia, which was originally established for Opal mining about 100 years ago. It is in a very desolate area – not a scrap of green to be seen. But it is a fascinating little town!!

 

As you approach the town, the most notable thing is that there are mounds of dirt lying around everywhere, a stark contrast from the otherwise completely flat landscape. This is where they’ve dug to look for opals.

 

The roadsigns warn of the danger 🙂

 

There is some really cool, unique mining machinery throughout the town.

 

We also did a great mine tour at one of the few mines still in operation. Very cool to explore all the underground tunnels and see the equipment they use. We finished off with a bit of ‘noodling’ for Opals.

 

Many people in Cooper Pedy live in underground homes to avoid scorching summertime temperatures. Most of the churches are also built underground.

 

And about 20km out of town you can drive along the Dog Fence – the longest continual structure in the world. It is over 5000km long and was built to keep the dingoes from coming into the south. The landscape is very desolate here – almost like a lunar landscape.

 

And then , just a few kilometres further along, are the Breakaways – beautiful coloured rock formations, rising out of the desert. Just stunning!!

 

Perfect backdrop for a song for the “Cam&Matt in the Van” Challenge

 

And to top off our time in this quirky little town, we went to the ‘drive-in’ on our last night. Not many left in the whole country – the kids loved it!