Underground - Coober Pedy - July 19th to 20th

Onward again to our next stop - Coober Pedy.  We left Woomera at about 830, stopped again at Spuds for some drinks and then was off.  Second stop was Glendambo, for fuel, about 100 k into the journey.

Lunch today was on the side of the road before Coober.  I had created a bit of a lunch box filled with cold meat, cheese, dip and crackers, so I just grabbed that out and we were having a wee little picnic.

Another 100 kms and the scenery definitely changed.  All we could see were hundreds of piles of dirt and rubble, as far as you could see.  It sure is dry here, no grass and only the odd tree to see.  

We turned into the main street of Coober Pedy and it was just as we had imagined.  It almost had the feel of the wild west of old.  Our stop for the next couple of nights was the Oacis Caravan park which is at the far end of town - opposite the drive in.  The drive in still runs by the way - only on a saturday night though.

We paid the extra $7 so we could have water connection, well worth it I think.  Everything inside the van is already quite dusty so I made use of the opportunity to wash - both a load of undies and also the floor rugs.  After setting up we ventured back in to town to shop at the local IGA.  Were also having trouble with internet - Vodafone is rubbish and I was keen to try optus as I had heard they are quite good in the outback.  So I went to the post office and purchased an unlocked phone to use as a hot spot.  Fantastic choice!!

We decided to have our first meal out tonight - so ventured up to the Outback Cafe.  This is essentially a roadhouse restaurant but a separate entity still.  Lots of menu options but we all felt like chicken parmy.  The serves were huge so we were able to take back a fair portion back with us for lunch tomorrow!

Monday morning rolled around and we took the Town and Mine tour which was run out of the caravan park.  We three and another family of 4 from Beachport were collected at 830 by George and his van.  It was a great way to see the town - there is actually quite a lot to see here.  We went to see two very different underground churches, the local golf course (affiliated with St Andrews in Scotland!!!), the local cemetery, the mining fields, mine shafts, the various local clubs and finally a working opal mine.  It was great to get a feel for the history of this town - very multicultural and the people who established this township were some tough buggers. 

Just as we were about to leave we saw a patch of Sturts Desert Pea - I can not express how much I love that flower!!

For dinner tonight I tried out the new little slow cooker and made apricot chicken.  Not my best ever meal sadly - I think I used the wrong cut of chicken.  I think this may be its only trip out! The evenings entertainment was watching the crows get hammered yet again, oh and we watched the end of masterchef - just enough to learn that Emilia won!