Day 75: Tourist Day Coober Pedy.

Friday 07/09/2012 Day 75: Tourist Day Coober Pedy.

The wind picked up overnight and it was very cool when we woke up. We ate a leisurely breakfast and caught up on laundry. We headed off on foot to the Old Timers Mine on Crowders Gully Rd. We went on the self-guided tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. The opals for sale were enticing. The kids got to noodle out the front and picked up some nice small pieces of opal. Amy & Les packed up the dry washing and Amanda & Ryan got supplies from the local IGA. We had lunch and off to view some more shops. We looked at the Star Opal, Opal Cave and then onto the Umoona Guided Tour. This started with a Opal documentary in a home theatre underground. The documentary was very factual and explained the history of opal mining in Australia. We then got a tour of the underground house and old & new mine shafts. The guide showed us the technique for blowing holes in the rock and showed us existing Opal seams in the walls. We then looked at the Opals for sale these were just as impressive as all the others. The Homes family now knows what a solid, doublet & triplet opal looks like. The Pierre Cardin opal watches are well above our pay grade. We filled the car and topped up 1 of the Jerry cans we had used previously. We paid $0.20 for 10ltrs of drinking water in readiness for the next couple of days.

Daily Stats: Distance: 8km, Duration: 0hrs30min, Weather: Sunny, Pretty Windy & Cool.

Coober Pedy Aussie Rules Oval

 Old Timers Mine

 Safety Equipment

 Shafts

 Following a seam

 Boom

 Seam of Opal

 Too Tall

 First Miners Wife

 Pitch Black Spaceship - Outside the Opal Cave

 Umoona Museum

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 View from the Big Winch

 Drive In