[ree]

Coober Pedy is a small opal mining town in the outback, about a 12 hr. bus ride north of Adelaide, Australia. There's no commercial air service to Coober Pedy. The train doesn't stop there on the way to Alice Springs, and we didn't want to drive there ourselves, so a bus it was for us. It is a lonnng way into the middle of nowhere, with our Greyhound bus driver picking up the mail on our way. Every few hours, we might come to a service station, but not much was out there, except flat desert. Pretty much all the trucks, buses, and even SUVs had front grills that looked like battering rams to keep your vehicle from being pummeled by kangaroo road-kill. Lots of cars have snorkels too, not so much for river crossings, but to avoid dust in the engine. Drivers dozing off and killing themselves are a huge problem. Distances are incredible, it is so vast. To save us from the monotony, we traveled at night. Every now and then we'd pick up a few folks at a gas station. At one point an aboriginal woman got on and slid into a seat at the front. The bus driver came back on after loading luggage and chased the woman into the back of the bus, where other aboriginal passengers were. I was pretty shocked by that. I was getting a taste of some problems with racial integration with aboriginals, reminding me a little of our country's problems with our native people. We got off the bus at 5:00 am in Coober Pedy - which was as trippy and funky as I'd dreamed it'd be, and more! I loved it. A desert mining town full of eccentric, fun, and creative people. Since it is so hot and dusty there, people build their houses into hillsides, underground. The first thing we did was check into our cool, funky underground motel room, and have a rest.

view from our "window".

our room

Welcome To Coober Pedy

They put some lizard statues in the fake plants Ken was our host. He is an opal miner who opened an underground B & B, and we paid him to be our tour guide for the day. We pretty much went around all day, starting mid morning at his opal mine. Opal mining starts by drilling a hole into the soil to test it. Then if they feel it's worth it, lease a claim from the government, then start open pit mining. They don't have to dig too far deep to reach a deposit of opal-bearing rock - maybe 15- 30'. Ken shared some of his colorless opal rocks with us.

colorless opals

opal mining

driller

test hole

He took us all around town, the local park, swimming pool, not so interesting IMO, but as the day wore on, he showed us freakier and stranger stuff. Like the golf course with no grass, the cemetery, and churches built underground; a kangaroo orphanage...

feeding Skippy

Skippy, the bush kangaroo

joey

Opal miners

Opal Bug

c'mon in!

golf course tee

putting "green"

Underground Motel

The Comfort Inn - made of used tires

Coober Pedy

it landed in Coober Pedy

Crocodile Harry lived a long life.

cemetery

Karl Brate's grave - a keg

Have a drink on me.

The underground churches were particularly interesting, the way they carved in reliefs on the walls in places, and created interesting alcoves. It was pretty hot outside, and going into these underground buildings were nicely, naturally cooled. It also got us away from the many black flies that plagued us outside. Ken also took us by a hillside that was in the process of being gutted for a house, but construction had stopped due to financing problems, so some kangaroos moved in. They ran out as we approached, then stopped to stare at us go into the unfinished cave.

roos stared at us

underground Serbian Church

Altar detail, underground church

Serbian Church

Serbian church

Catholic Church

Mary in the Underground Catholic Church

By far the most interesting example of a desert rat's palace was Crocodile Harry's. His place was used as a location in Mad Max. In fact, they shot much of the movie in Coober Pedy. Apparently Crocodile Harry was quite the lady's man, and carved and painted all sorts of nudes in his place. He had business card collections, baseball hat collections, women's underwear collections - all coated with desert dust. There was a ton of junk everywhere, and he had all the space in the world put stuff. Despite it being filthy and crowded with stuff, the place seemed very well organized. Crocodile Harry died 8 years ago as a bachelor, with no known heirs. Some caretaker hangs out there, but when we arrived no one was there except an old dog. We threw a few bucks into the donation box and had a look around. Every where you looked there was something odd to look at. I thought it was great.

water tank

sculpture

witch and datsun

life-sized wine decanter

Harry's bedroom... note the auto class window

don't you guys wish you had Harry's collection?

more boobies, but what's with the dog in the tummy?

organized chaos

hats

more nudes

business cards

snake hole

opal mine and remains of saloon in bg

After overwhelming us with that place, Ken took us past more opal mines, and drove us a few miles away, to a place called "The Breakaways" - a place where the flat desert landscape was eroded into hills and buttes. The soil out that ways is light pink/orange to dark reds. It was beautiful, quiet, and a great place to get an expansive view of the outback. The sunset was starting to set, lighting the place up golden.

opal mine and remains of saloon in bg

The Breakaways

The Breakaways

Foxes in the outback

The Breakaways - note the dive bombing fly

The Breakaways

dingo fence runs hundreds of miles

snorkel and flat desert

Ken was a nice, chatty fellow with whom it was pleasant to spend the afternoon. Him and his wife plied us with wine after dinner, and lo, opened their own opal shop for us to have a look around, wink, wink! The next morning at 5:30, he dropped us at the bus station, and we continued our bus ride for another 8 hours to Alice Springs. If you ever find yourself in Coober Pedy, a tour with Ken is highly recommended. It made it really memorable and fun.

[Ski]

fabulous. thank you. so.... what's up with the little tube of Vegemite near the sink? is it used as a condiment?

[RichP]

You guys sure get around.

[BarbE]

What a fabulous adventure! Thanks for showing us a place few of us will ever see.

[Jim Dockery]

Looks like my kinda place! Not sure my wife would agree, but we may have to stop there when we visit Down Under (our big trip goal in the next few years). Thanks for the TR.

[ree]

I had to talk my husband into it a little too, but ultimately he enjoyed it very much. It is just a loonnng way out there. Ken and his wife totally made the trip worth it. Here's a linky to their place. Trip Advisor gives them 5 dots, and they've won awards too. His tour was worth every dime. Ski - thanks. Vegemite is a spread the Aussies like to put on their morning toast. Yeah, BarbE, you have to go far to find freakland sometimes.

[marta]

Thanks for the trip report. I've wondered about the town. Have you gotten a chance to do any hiking while in Oz?

[bobbi]

whoa! looks like your adventure will only get better~ i hope Ken will continue guiding should i ever decide to add the outback on my list to visit. you are lucky to be able to travel during the shoulder months…cheaper, right? looking forward to more!