Friday 18th May - Around Coober Pedy

Opals

Coober Pedy SA

Cooper Pedy is one of the driest places in Australia and water is scarce.  In the early days the water was brought in tanks by camel.  Nowadays there is a bore into the arteisan basin 24km out of town.  The water, which is very salty, travels to a reverse osmosis plant in the town and it is very expensive.  We had been warned there are no hose connections in the caravan park so we had filled our tanks in Peterborough.  The water in the showers is metered too.

Underground home, Coober Pedy SA

Cool night but warm daytime temperature.  We visited an underground home, which was occupied until quite recently.  The home was above a mine which gives a new meaning to living above your business!  In the old days this was common.  Nowadays underground homes are still being dug, but on the outskirts of the town.  About 60% of the residents live this way as the temperature underground is a  constant 20 - 25 degrees.  The outside temperature goes below freezing at night in the winter and up to 55 degrees in the day in summer.



Serbian Chuirch, Coober Pedy SA

Went into a lovely underground Serbian church which was built quite recently.  Sadly the congregation has reduced from 100 to about 10 so a full time priest is no longer viable.

Mines in Coober Pedy SA

Opals are being mined outside the town now by numerous small companies and individuals, but no large companies as they see it as too risky.  This is the biggest opal field in the world.  Anyone can apply for a license and stake a claim but has to prove they are actively working the land.  Opals are formed from silica crystals seeping into gaps in the sandstone that was once the floor of  the huge inland sea. 

Many fossils of long extinct reptiles that lived in this sea have been unearthed, some of them opalised.

Dog fence SA

Visited the dog fence, which stretches 5,300km west to east across Australia.  Designed to prevent the dingos from attacking sheep which are only kept south of the fence.