Coober Pedy and Surrounds

 It is Sunday in Coober Pedy, so there is not a lot going on. Carole takes the opportunity to get aload of washing done before we head South, as we are not sure where our next opportunity will be to do some laundry.

As we are leaving the outback tomorrow, the opportunity to have one last run on the dirt roads was too mush to resist, so this morning we drove North of Coober Pedy to a National Park called The Breakaways (plus a few other Aboriginal words). Total distance is about 30 kms, including aboout 10 km of dirt, each way.

Along the way, there are mullock heaps everywhere, on both sides of the road, indicating the amount of prospecting that has, and still is, going on here.


Credited as being the largest Opal mining area in the World, the mining activity extends well out of the town of Coober Pedy.


The breakaways sit in between the Stuart Highway, and Coober Pedy - Oodnadatta road, on the Coober Pedy side of the dog fence.

Once there, the views make the trip worthwhile.






Not a lot of visitors have come this way this morning whilst we were there, but on the way out there seemed to be a fair procession of new arrivals.


We waited for 3 cars to get around this very soft patch on the road before we had a go



Whilst we have been to an Opal mine in White Cliffs in the past, we feel obliged to visit one in Coober Pedy to see what differences there are. Tom's working opal mine is in the highway just North of Coober Pedy, has the best reviews, so we decided to stop there.



Mine Entrance


The reception area, shop, ticket sales area is large and modern. We sign up for a self guided tour (next guided tour is several hours away), are given a map, a safety helmet and a black light torch with instructions to shine the torch on the walls to find the opals.

Off we go into the depths of the mine.


A bit of opal glitter in the wall

It is a bit of an interactive tour, and along the way there are things to try. Carole tries her hand at divining, as there are divining rods located along the tunnels and you are invited to give them a go. We both turned out to be accomplished diviners.






Tunnels are normally square or round depending on which tunnelling machine they use


Or if they use both you get this "keyhole" effect

In no time we had caught up with the guided tour ahead of us and joined in to hear the commentary for a while.


One of the many uses for used tyres, which are plentiful


Guided tour group

Soon we were back at the entrance and heading back to the car. At this time we resisted the temptation to do a bit of free Noodling, especially after we had been told that it is best to do it at night with a UV light.


A cup of coffee is now well overdue, and as as we drive through the main street of town, it is clear that  all cafes are closed and we will need to look elsewhere. The Big Winch had a cafe/restaurant attached, so we headed there for our cuppa. 

Another attraction at the Big Winch is a 360 degree audio visual show that tells the story of the Explorers Way (much of which we have covered on this trip), and about the history and people of Coober Pedy. It is close to the starting time of the next presentation, and we are running out of things to do, so we buy a ticket and wait about 10 minutes for it to start.

We are the only 2 participants, so have a choice of seating. The presentation is in 3 parts. First, a welcome to country by a local elder (yawn).


We then moved to the 360 degree wrap around theatre and watched a very good presentation about the early exploration of the area and the towns that we have passed through.


It was then back to the original theatre (where we saw the welcome to country), to see another very good presentation about Coober Pedy and the prominent people in town.

Overall, it was very well done and worth putting in the 40 minutes to watch it.

Lunch is calling and virtually nothing in town is open, other than our favourite eating spot, The Outback Bar and Grill, so once again they get our custom. They have a very extensive menu and once again the food is good. We could well be back there for dinner tonight.

By now we are struggling to fill in the rest of the day. However, there is the Underground Catholic Church in the centre of town that we have yet to see, so it is our next destination.





Underground Catholic Church







Time to go back to our motel and get ready for a long drive tomorrow to Port Augusta. We have yet to find a carwash anywhere that works, but it is possible to try and clean up the interior of the car a bit, as the red dust gets in every time you open the door.

There being no other good option, and we have been so happy with their food so far, we go back to the Outback Bar and Grill for dinner. Once again the food is good and there are a number of other diners there.


Now that we are leaving the outback and didn't get to see many wildflowers as it is out of season,  we did like this billboard in Marree which gives some impression of what it may be like. We certainly saw plenty of emus.



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