All the crazy people seem to move to Coober Pedy, well at least it seems you need to be a little 'eccentric' to live there. The area produces 70% of the world's opals, and the mining is hot hard work, with no guarantee of finding opal. Many of the original shafts are hand dug, with the miner often having to descend over 30 feet before reaching the opal layer.
Days can get up to 45C, so the majority of the homes are underground. They are refreshingly cool and stay around the 22C mark throughout the year. Coober Pedy also has a number of underground churches, with the Serbian one being ornately carved and decorated.
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| Underground Opal mine |
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| Underground Church |
Leaving Cooper Pedy without an opal, we took the Stuart highway via Marla to Yulara. As an update to our geography knowledge, I now know that Uluru is the traditional name for Ayers rock and Kata Tjuta are the Olga's. We had the best of both world's at Uluru, we saw a brilliant sunrise, and the next day the rain came causing water to cascade down the usually dry rock. Quite a contrast.
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| Uluru Sunrise |
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| Kata Tjuta in the mist |
We walked the 10km around Uluru, which the traditional owners prefer you to do rather than climb. Sensibly we started very early one morning before the heat set in. By 11am it was already 30C+. By contrast our walk into Walpa Gorge at Kata Tjuta was done in a mist of rain, and there was a water course running. The weather can certainly change quickly out here.
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| Walpa Gorge |
The roads from Yulara onward are a mix of gravel and dirt, so we're hoping that the rain stays away to make our travelling possible. With the fine red dust out in the centre of Australia, only a few ml's of rainfall cause roads to be closed. We've had to arrange for two permits to travel through aboriginal lands for the next leg of our trip, so as soon as they arrive we'll be off!
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