Two (old) coots in Coober

To say Coober Pedy is unique, does not do it justice at all. You may or may not know that the Stuart Highway’s (A87) southernmost point starts in Port Augusta where Garry and I overnighted, having travelled from Mildura. Our trip quota was 542 kms for the day according to Julie-Anne and Ms Google. This total was made up of 171 kms to Pimba, 113 kms to Glendambo, and then a 252 km stretch to Coober, respectively.

The road surface was generally pretty good, with a shoulder on each side of the 2-lane highway – sometimes there were fences, and sometimes not. Where not, we were on the lookout for kangaroos and meandering cattle. We often saw the train track as we motored on through ever-changing landscapes, but only saw a long train on it once. A stunning surprise was Lake Hart, a massive salt lake visible from the road, about 56 kms past Pimba. Pimba itself is a tiny settlement with 35 souls only.

Then on to Glendambo (population 30!), and finally the looong stretch to the 'Opal Capital of the World' was upon us. This road appeared to run straight most of the time, as it disappeared into the horizon in front of us. Fortunately it did not shimmer much, as it was cloudy and below 30 degrees C on the day. The only thing of note was the Bon Bon reserve (a former sheep station), which is a 2000+ square km protected area of bush. Now and then we saw real Nullarbor-looking plains, with arid surfaces and the odd single tree/shrub! Other than that – nada!

From memory we started seeing mine hills/dumps in the very stark landscape about 10 km from Coober. I think everyone will agree that the mining truck stuck in the ground welcoming one to the city of Coober Pedy is a great intro to what was originally known as the Stuart Range Opal field. It was visited by the first European explorer John D Stuart (yes, the 'highway man') in 1858. In 1920 though, a new name was needed so that a post office could be established. The opal miners chose the name Coober Pedy, an Aboriginal term meaning white man in a hole. The actual first opal was discovered by a teenager in 1915, and today apparently half the population of about 2500 souls (apparently made up of 45+ nationalities!) live underground in dugouts. One assumes they mine a hole, and then live in it to escape the heat.

Coober is actually the warmest city/town down under, with a daytime annual average temperature of 36 degrees C! The nighttime average is 20 degrees, however, and when we visited the underground museum and bar, they were beautifully cool with no need for air conditioning. By the way, which city/town is the driest town? You guessed it, it's Coober, with an average rainfall of just over 159 mm per year. As a result, even grass is a commodity there!

Check out the mine dumps, the town and the Giant Winch, the cool underground spots, the 5 stage Aboriginal boomerang development process, and the photo of the aerial view of the treeless place.

PS The very cheeky title of this post was Julie-Anne's idea.