Day 71: Cadney Park to Coober Pedy (11/08/12)

We had decided to spend the Sunday in Coober Pedy, not really knowing what we were going to find there. Cadney Park was 152 kms  from Coober Pedy, giving us a relatively easy ride for the day. We made a leisurely getaway in the morning and drove through an increasingly arid landscape. There would be areas with vegetation, and ten minutes later there would only be clumps of grey-green grass between the rocks.

As we got to within 40 kms of Coober Pedy we started seeing conical mounds on either side of the road, along with many signs about trespassing, keep off and don’t step backwards into a mine shaft. We had arrived in the opal fields which extend quite a distance beyond the town itself. The arid landscape had now become a moon landscape, except for the fact that all these mounds looked suspiciously man-made and as far as I know Armstrong and Aldrin and all the other selenauts had not taken their beach gear with them to create little mounds of yellow sand all over the moon.

What was I talking about? Oh yes, the drive into Coober Pedy! Coober Pedy itself looked like a set from a desert movie. In fact it has been the setting of quite a number of films, both the town and the surroundings. We settled down at the Oasis Caravan Park which featured not a single blade of grass and some trees which were the subject of serious notices: they were hand-reared and if you so much as spat on them you would be instantly evicted. 

Oasis Caravan Park in Coober Pedy. Due to the cost of water, caravan spots do not have a tap. But each of the precious trees behind us had their own water supply.

This caravan park was easily the shabbiest Big4 park we had been to, but we had to make allowances for the fact that the whole town was sort of shabby and unkempt. But, strangely enough, it would grow on us (the town, that is...)

We walked off up the main street into the town. Even though it was not very warm, the two supermarkets were seriously chilled – they must have been using industrial-strength air conditioning. Everything is geared to living with the summer heat and when you come there in winter you are constantly imagining what it would be like in the summer. Then the underground living and working don’t seem to be such a bad idea at all.

Another feature of the supermarkets was the enormous space given to "exotic" food items from other countries. East and West European, Sri Lankan, Indian, Lebanese, even Iranian packaged foods could be found. This reflects the enormous diversity of nationalities living in Coober Pedy.

A view of one of the "suburbs" with many underground houses, or "dugouts".

Each room has its own vent.

Random junk - a common feature in Coober Pedy. Someone told us that scrap merchants and old car enthusiasts have a great time picking up junk in CP.

There are many opal shops in Coober Pedy, and naturally the smartest of them are underground.

Coober Pedy and the area around it have featured in many films. This is some alien spacecraft which landed here and has never moved again after being used in the film Pitch Black.

The Umoona Museum - built inside one of the earliest mines in Coober Pedy.

A Sturt's Desert Pea growing by the roadside. That's pee-eee-ay. The other one evaporated immediately in the heat.

The Underground Bookshop had its own Underground Map Room. How cool is that??

The Roman Catholic Church in the main street.

Inside the Roman Catholic Church

After all that roaming about it was time for coffee. Naturally, we went to an underground restaurant. Joke is not wearing sunglasses because of my brilliance or anything. She just needed to read the menu...... :-)

We decided there and then that we would do a 3-hour tour on Monday before continuing our journey towards Adelaide. The tour was organised by the caravan park which meant that they were happy for us to leave our van there, and then hitch up and go after the tour. Bewdy!