The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 10

The morning was spent looking around the town features of Coober Pedy. We used Trip Advisor reviews to short list attractions most worth seeing.

The Umoona Museum and opal shop contained some interesting exhibits, fossil opals and some higher quality opal jewellry.

Opalised belemnites (squid like animals) from the gut of an icthyosaur.

Opalised belemnites

Local black opal worth a year’s wages.

Coober Pedy can be a scary place…

…but you can find a date in town.

The opalised beetle

The Big Winch – I can tick this off my “bucket” list.

We then ventured into a mine that was established in 1916 that is a self guided underground walk through three levels of a mine, living quarters and museum.

Pink helmets are the current “must have” fashion accessory in Coober Pedy. The bloke on the left was a bit disgruntled when he missed out on getting one.

Opal fever had gripped the local residents of the mine – this one afflicted so badly he appeared paralysed.

This miner’s daughter successfully auditioned for a remake of “The Ring”.

It was amazing to what lengths miners would go to enter the mine.

Mining heaps just on the edge of town.

We visited three underground churches, Anglican, Catholic and this Serbian Orthodox church.

The underground Serbian Orthodox Church.

After our usual picnic lunch (quickly made sandwiches from the back of the car) we made our way east out of town on the Oodnadatta Road. It was graded earlier that day following the recent rains so was in good condition.

On the way we passed the Dingo fence east of town. It is the world’s longest artificial structure. The 2m high wire barrier stretches for over 5,300km across three States to protect the sheep country in the south. Despite going for long straight stretches, it also has a few doglegs in it. (Contributed by my better half)

At least 16 feature films have been filmed around Coober Pedy. Some of the more well known include Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Red Planet and Pitch Black. The Moon Plain located on the Oodnadatta road is a common filming location. The desert-like moonscape is near the Dingo Fence and contains polished gibbers, fossilised shells, grey, soft clay dirt with deep cracks and gypsum crystals.

The road followed the Dingo Fence for several kilometres before heading west to the Breakaways. This chain of mesas and low hills appears to have broken away from the escarpment. Every hill has diffferent character, shape and colour.