Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy, 535km north of Port Augusta, is known as the Opal Capital of Australia, if not the World. Citizens of more than 40 countries have settled here since 1915, when the fourteen year old William Hutchinson found first Opals when he accompanied his father, working with the New Colorado Prospecting Syndicate searching for gold. By chance William found these gems when they were searching for water around their camp in the south of Coober Pedy.

8 days later the first Opal rush in South Australia lured lots of people into the Outback. Originally, Coober Pedy was known as the Stuart Range Opal Field named after the first European Explorer in the area, John McDouall Stuart. It was only in 1920 renamed, inspired by the aboriginal expression "kupa piti" meaning "white man in the hole". The end of WW I meant a huge boom for the opal mines. In 1917 the first railway line reached Coober Pedy and a lot of WW I veterans took their chances in the search of opals.

Life is still hard and arduous. Temperatures in summer rise above 50°C and even the promised cold in the houses - most of it built into the hills or even underground - is still very warm. Accomodation is often located in old, modified mines underground after the companies had quit mining.

Our way toward the Center is boring and still exhausting as you just have to drive in a stright line along the barren desert with little else than brushes and roadkill, which is sometimes hard to miss with the wheels of the car.

(To be continued)

When the unpaved road and sand along the road are hard to distinguish in the setting sun, you have to stop and take a few pictures!

Pedestrians and hikers live in danger in this area. Beware of holes and mining pits.

The two travellers on the bull bar of the car (it didn't like our climbing) in front of the majestic two dogs of the Breakaways.

Geology of the Breakaways: Mesas.

The Breakaways

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