Day 73: First a tour and then we leave Coober Pedy (13/08/12)

We had signed up for a bus tour which would explain to us everything about Coober Pedy. Normally we are not particularly good bus tour people, but there were so many questions on our minds about the place that a tour seemed the best way to have them answered.

And it worked out well, that way. The tour guide/bus driver was Rudi, an ex-opal miner who had lived in Coober Pedy for over 30 years, and had also done opal mining in Andamooka, another South Australian source of opal. Rudi had an engaging manner and a thick foreign accent that somehow sounded very familiar. He had a wealth of knowledge and a stock of well-used jokes. There was not much about the town and its workings that he did not know about. We toured around the town, visited the Serbian Orthodox Church, 

Facade of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Coober Pedy

The stained glass window from the inside. One man dug this whole church from scratch in 4 weeks.

Carvings over the altar (done in soft sandstone, one slip and you can't do it again!)

The sanctuary and pulpit

Detail of the carving in the foyer

drove through the dugout suburbs, 

Somebody's house!

went for a fossick, 

Rudi the guide explains the rules for fossicking, or "noodling" as it is called.

Joke tries her hand at fossicking. She hoped to find a shark's tooth or two as well!

went to the Coober Pedy Golf Club, which is unlike any other golf course in the world – with a total lack of any grass whatsoever – yet is affiliated with St Andrews in Scotland. 

The Coober Pedy Golf Course. The black patch upper centre is the green. The black is sump oil to keep the dust down.

Rudi explained the diggings to us, how there are no mining companies but just individuals who will partner up to dig a particular spot. Finally we went to the Umoona Museum, which we had visited on Saturday, had a video presentation, 

Joke in the underground auditorium

then took us down, first into the caretaker’s “cottage” underground, 

The library in the caretaker's cottage

The kitchen

The bedroom (all of these are actually being used!)

Miner's quarters until the 1960s. Someone actually walked out of here & it hasn't been touched since.

and then into the tunnels where you can still see the opal in the rock. 

Opal is found in a "line" visible here where the torch beam is shining. Incredibly easy to miss!

Then coffee and more stories and we were brought back to our caravan park. A morning well spent! Talking to Rudi over coffee, I found out that he was born in Austria, and instantly I realised why he sounded so familiar. Somehow, though he looked nothing like our Bernie Einoder, he was the spitting image, his jokes, his accent, his pratfalls, his very manner were exactly like the esteemed Prof. Mind you, his jokes were not scatological and his expertise was opal mining and not joints, but you could close your eyes and think you were listening to Bernie’s twin brother.

So it was about one o’clock or later before we got away in the direction of Adelaide. 

Underground suburb in Coober Pedy

Sign at the entrance to the town. I think there must have been a couple of hundred of these trucks in the town and on the diggings.

The funny danger sign. I like the "Don't step backward when you take a picture!" one on the right.

The road south took us through a country that was large, empty and flat

We drove as far as Glendambo, about 250 kms south and took up residence behind the roadhouse there. We were joined there late in the day by a group of Japanese backpackers who proceeded to make a big bonfire. Later in the evening, they brought out what must have been a second-hand generator – I suppose to charge their mobile phones. It was by far the loudest generator I have heard on the trip, and I thought of feeding it some sugar or urine or something, but was restrained by Joke, who is much more sensible about these things than me. As a general observation, I can’t say that I’m happy about the use of generators when travelling the way we do. They have something of the boganesque about them, you have to be prepared to say: “Stuff everybody else, but it’s absolutely crucial that I get to see “Days of Our Lives” on my satellite TV out here in the bush!” You wonder why they left home at all in the first place. Our Japanese in question probably spent $6 in petrol to save the $5 which would have got them a powered site.