Day 3 on The Ghan took us to Coober Pedy. Having watched Opal Hunters on UK TV for some years it was quite exciting to see opal mining and maybe buy one too…
What we hadn’t bargained for was the distance that Coober Pedy was from The Ghan. Obviously, trains have to stick to the tracks so its the buses and people that have to move and move we did! Travelling on dirt roads for about an hour we filled out time bird, kangaroo and snake spotting. We saw several birds, 3 kangaroos hopping off into the distance and thankfully, no snakes.
Our first glimpse of anything to do with opals were the extensive mine fields. I think extensive doesn’t quite do it/them justice. We were told that there are somewhere around two million opal mines in this area.
As we travelled we saw mullock after mullock. Mullocks are piles of earth and rock that have been dug out of the earth in pursuit of opals. Unlike gold, opal cannot be identified from above ground so the only way to find it is to dig for it. Once a small experimental hole is dug and things might look favourable, they dig a larger hole and if that proves fruitful or “has potential” they dig an even bigger hole.
And on it goes. But the holes are never filled back in for reasons of safety. If the loose earth was put back down the hole, no one would know there had been a hole there so then another miner may drill right next to the first hole. The consequence being that the loose earth from the first hole now falls into and fills the second hole. (I am awaiting a pub quiz question about that fact!)
We were told by our guide miners will always claim they never find opal.
Apparently, they don’t want other miners to come and steal from their mines. Evidently, someone somewhere is finding opal as there was quite a lot for sale but no one confesses to finding it…
Our first tour off bus that morning was to The Breakaways. An extraordinary Conservation Park of some significance. To read more about it please click here
We were greeted by an excellent tour guide who asked us not to touch the plants and not pick up any memento’s from the Park. This is so that the Park is respected and preserved by those who use it for the future users. It is jointly managed by the local council, government and the original aboriginal owners of the land.
The tour guide has some examples of plants we were looking at to hand and he explained he had picked these from outside of the Park from within the township of Coober Pedy. He had bought along these plants as he wanted us to both taste and feel them so we could understand their significance.
The first plant was used as a form of salt and he urged us to pull a leave off and put it on our tongues. Since having covid, I have an odd relationship with salt so allowed the other half to try the leaf. As soon as he put it to his lips, he could taste the saltiness.
The 2nd plant was used by aboriginals and locals as a decongestant as it had a strong scent of eucalyptus; we folded the leaf in half and rubbed it between our fingers and sure enough a strong acroama was present!
We were told about the natural erosion of the hills we were looking at and where the water courses ran. It was a very interesting morning and the scenery of The Breakaways was magnificent.
We returned to the coach with glass of wine in hand and were driven off around The Breakaways so we could see some more sights.
Dingo’s as I mentioned yesterday, are ever present in Australia. They can be a nuisance to stock owners in parts so, there is now a Dingo Fence that stretches some 5,000 kilometres across Australia. It is the longest structure in the world. We were taken to see this fence and here you can see some more facts and figures about it. I think Cairns would be up, over, under and through it!
We then visited Coober Pedy and an opal museum. Coober Pedy is, shall we say, very industrial and obviously a mining town with conked out cars and machinery littering the road sides.
Due to the extreme temperatures, up to 60 degrees, everyone lives under ground! At the opal museum they have an underground house. We were taken on a tour to experience the constant temperature and total and utter darkness once the lights were turned off.
Lunch was also served underground within the opal mine! This was such a treat and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
After lunch we had the chance to go opal mining. Yes, real proper mining! The other half was off like a rocket up the tunnel, he had watched the opal miners on TV, he knew what to do. I quickly followed to wallow in his achievements if he found any opal. He did not but I did! Well, its sort of opal, its called potch! This is the white stuff that isn’t valued by miners. I valued it – I didn’t care that its virtually worthless, I mined it and it was mine!
With potch in pocket we were lead through to the shop, the opal shop. Those who know me, know that I do not like shopping. However Australia has changed me and with time to hand, shopping is my new hobby! The other half had said he would like to buy me an opal and I was not going to refuse. Before you get excited there will not be 25 Cairns following me down the isle, we didn’t get a ring, we got a pendant. A very beautiful pendant!
After shopping it was back on the bus to return via the 2 million mullocks to The Ghan. Upon arrival at The Ghan we were greeted by a fire pit, canapes and wine. We warmed our bottoms in the 22 degree heat of the outback (very strange to us to have a fire when it was so hot all around us but hey ho, warm our bums we did) then we returned to the train to change for dinner. This was our last night on The Ghan.
The trip on The Ghan was all inclusive which was ideal as we didn’t need to carry purses/money on the train but was not ideal for our consumption of Baileys…
Usually, we limit ourselves to December for Baileys consumption but we were on holiday and December came early!
The other half is much better at taking photos and video and these were his of the train as the sun set… stunning
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