Coober Pedy, or White Man Down Hole in the local aboriginal translation, is a beacon in the desert. They have nothing for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers either side apart from flat scrub and dessert. Then suddenly you see these piles. Then next thing you know, youre in this tiny place, full of opal miners..
It was also where Mad Max and some other space film was filmed, and you can still see the giant space craft sitting there in town! Also, because its the hottest place in australia, where temperatures in summer regularly exceed 53c, they all live in underground houses..they have an upstairs bit, and then dig into the rock underground to make mansions that they can live in at a comfortable 25c all year round.
Unfortunately we didnt have enough money spare at this point to stay in an underground hostel, but we went in a few underground houses and the underground church.
There is also a pile where you can fossick for opal, because the miners have taken out all the big bits, and dumped the rest of it. We were barking up the wrong tree first of all, just sieving through rock, when this twister sprang up, took our water bottle, took alex's hat, and nearly took mine! (it did break the crocodile band off it though. It still needs re-gluing!). So alex, who wasnt going to lose his hat for any bloody reason, chased after it, and it had landed on this big lump of quartz crystal. So he thinks 'hmmm', hits the thing with a hammer, and finds a bit of opal inside!
So we grab a few bits of opal, and made our millions, and now live on the moo..oh, alright, they were only tiny bits, but it was pretty awesome non-the-less! That was it really, we packed up after that, and headed down into South Australia..
Stopped off in Port Lincoln for a little bit, then drove all night through this thunderstorm (the lightning was hitting 15m each side of our van. Bit hair raising!), and went to my mate Reece and Alex's house...
It was also where Mad Max and some other space film was filmed, and you can still see the giant space craft sitting there in town! Also, because its the hottest place in australia, where temperatures in summer regularly exceed 53c, they all live in underground houses..they have an upstairs bit, and then dig into the rock underground to make mansions that they can live in at a comfortable 25c all year round.
Unfortunately we didnt have enough money spare at this point to stay in an underground hostel, but we went in a few underground houses and the underground church.
There is also a pile where you can fossick for opal, because the miners have taken out all the big bits, and dumped the rest of it. We were barking up the wrong tree first of all, just sieving through rock, when this twister sprang up, took our water bottle, took alex's hat, and nearly took mine! (it did break the crocodile band off it though. It still needs re-gluing!). So alex, who wasnt going to lose his hat for any bloody reason, chased after it, and it had landed on this big lump of quartz crystal. So he thinks 'hmmm', hits the thing with a hammer, and finds a bit of opal inside!
So we grab a few bits of opal, and made our millions, and now live on the moo..oh, alright, they were only tiny bits, but it was pretty awesome non-the-less! That was it really, we packed up after that, and headed down into South Australia..
Stopped off in Port Lincoln for a little bit, then drove all night through this thunderstorm (the lightning was hitting 15m each side of our van. Bit hair raising!), and went to my mate Reece and Alex's house...
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