After a weird, feverish and somewhat terrible sleep in our underground bunker, we headed to the main drag to grab some food and try and reorganise our life and trip.
View from opposite the motel. Scenic eh?We opt for a day of walking so as not to tour our gap-backed mobile around town. This was one of two spaceships we saw this day. This one wasn’t even mentioned on the tourist maps. Clearly a favourite for PAUL though. And PARTYs. Like a low-rent Star Wars set.
Coober Pedy comes from the Arabana words ‘Kupa-Piti’, which apparently translates to ‘uninitiated man’ and ‘cavity or rock hole’; basically, ‘whiteman’s holes or burrows’. Opals were discovered in 1915 and no doubt it’s been a strange, otherworldly outpost since then. It’s part rundown ghost town, part bustling tourism hub, part surreal Martian landscape of dugout mounds, lean-tos and junkyards. You do slightly get the sense humans weren’t supposed to live here. When the miners arrived they had to bring all their own hydration, the area is completely waterless, and Aboriginal groups tended only to pass through.
Sturt Desert Pea. The Umoona Museum. ‘Umoona’ means ‘long life’ and is the current local language name for Coober Pedy. This Museum had an Aboriginal lens on the town’s history. Including a mention of Tottie Bryant, an Aboriginal woman who in 1946 kicked over a stone while shepherding sheep with her dog – thus unearthing an opal seam and rejuvenating Coober Pedy’s flagging fortunes.Oli bought herself an opal necklace using birthday money from Nana. Thanks Nana!
Over breakfast we had game-planned a new itinerary which enables us to go to Alice Springs first (688km north) to get our windscreen repaired, then loop back down to Uluṟu and Macdonnell Ranges and Kings Canyon. It’s not ideal as it involves a fair bit more driving and is going north then south then north again. But also having a glad-wrapped and gaffer taped back window is not ideal, so.
Why, oh why, asks Mitch.Spaceship number two. From the movie Pitch Black, says the internet. In Coober Pedy fashion, plonked unceremoniously in a car park next to a toilet block.Lots of places had For Sale signs.We head to the Old Timers Museum next to our motel while Mitch has a lie down (we are taking it in turns to hit walls 😵💫). An original opal mine dating back to 1916. The shafts were filled in, only to be rediscovered in 1968 when an underground home extension broke into the mine (and unearthed some extra opal too).Lots of creepy, dusty mannequins dotted about. Another notable (and rare) woman on the opal fields. And another creepy mannequin.Oh hi, here’s a yesteryear scene I prepared earlier 🤠Actual home. To stay in keeping with the toilet series…1916 dugout replica. The girls finally got to do some noodling, which is like fossicking but for opals.Look how happy we are. View from The Big Winch Restaurant. Isn’t she divine.Our motel, under all those tyres!
Honestly we were all a bit wrecked for Coober Pedy. Stressed about car repairs and also struggling with the flu. But also I do think it’s a bit of an odd town. Onwards!
What a surreal place Coober Pedy! What’s a road trip without some repairing!?
Loving your blog effort La!
And that happy face Mitchy… Gold! Or is it opal?!? Get well!
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