Coober Pedy

Thursday 23 June - Day 5

Cruised around Coober Pedy today-fun day withabout 10km under out belt for the day -different to our previous days so far. We started off at Umoona Opal Museum & Jewllers. Fabulous tour with a really informative doco easy for all ages to understand and grasp how opal is formed and some of the founding fathers of the Australian Opal fields

Eva sitting outside Umoona Opal Museum...fabulous place to learn lots..kids were fascinated with the underground duggouts and given the 12 deg outside - we all enjoyed the geothermic 24 deg inside !

Quintessential Coober Pedy - mulloch heaps everywhere with lots of warning to not walk backwards in the open fields, run without looking etc. Virtually zero trees and lots of little scrubby vegetation about. I can't imagine the heat and what it would be like in summer - would make going from home to opal mine easy - at least you're guaranteed temp regulation underground.

Possibly the largest tree in Coober Pedy - Sash & Eves thought this was an amazing sculpture....breezy chilly and grateful the sun was shining.

Checking out the Old Timers Mine  - ever the poser on the right...kids loving up the hard hat experience. This mine was originally built in 1915 and was lived in for quite a period of time by the Gough family in Coober Pedy. Read an interesting ditty in here on the vote for how Coober Pedy got it's name their were 4 suggestions voted on, another was Hutchison. 34 people voted at the meeting and Coober Pedy became Coober Pedy on 16 votes ! With the next getting 12 I think. The Aboriginal meaning for Coober Pedy is 'White mans dugout' This was a super museum and the kids loved the unguided tour stooped over and walking through the old mine.

Modern living at Coober Pedy ! Rudi gave us a tour of this area of Umoona - 81 in the shade I think he said...a miner for many years and such a sharing soul with his knowledge and love of Opals & Coober Pedy.