Dear Fellow Travellers
Finally we’ve set off and our adventure is under way, first
stop Coober Pedy.
This tiny town oozes charm and personality and if I didn’t
know any better I would have thought it was a ghost town with the only visible
signs of life along the main street but that is why Coober Pedy is special.
Even though it is only a 9 hour drive up the highway being here feels like I’m
on a completely different planet (coincidently Coober Pedy has been used in a
couple of si-fi movies as another planet). Literally dirt, like no grass
anywhere and over 1 million opal mines/holes dug in the area, Coober Pedy is
definitely as unique as they come.
We spilt our only day between visiting dugouts, wandering
the main street and opal shopping.
Crocodile Harry’s vs.
Faye’s Underground Home
Sadly I can’t pick a clear winner when it comes to Coober
Pedy’s best dugout but both Crocodile Harry’s and Faye’s Underground Home are
well worth the visit. After a short
drive to literally a huge dirt hill we were at Crocodile Harry’s. Not really
knowing what to expect and the with mum’s description “It’s full of artwork and
weird collectables with drawing s all over the walls” I was surprised to see
mum was actually right.
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| Carving from Crocodile Harry's |
Harry’s huge dugout is covered with drawings, writing and
carvings all done by Harry himself.
Wandering around his home was really interesting and educational about
Harry’s life but also life out here. I presume he was somewhat of a ladies man
or that’s what the collection of female backpacker underwear (complete with
name and home country of said underwear owner) would suggest.
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| Faye's hand built pool |
Faye’s equally amazing home has a much more traditional
feel. Complete with 3 bedrooms, a wine cellar, lounge room, bar, pool and fire
place (which works but can’t be used as it turns the dugout into an oven),
Faye’s is literally a home underground. What makes Faye’s special is that Faye
and her two friends dug this home themselves. They didn’t use any fancy
machines or labourers, they used the traditional tools of a hammer, chizzle,
blood, sweat and tears.
Like I mentioned Coober Pedy is the opal capital of the
world so it would be wrong not to shop for opals, right? Not wanting to go
against the stereotypical tourist experience my mother and I had a lovely time
browsing at these lovely gems, so lovely in fact we both broke our budget on
day one to purchase one of these rare stones. I bought lovely opal ring, which
I have not been able to stop looking at!
Excluding the amazing opals and opal shopping the Breakaways
are probably the main tourist destination for the area. Unfortunately we were
unable to visit them due to recent rain and a bad road but from previous
experience and the photos displayed around town the stunning region is like no
other. Sadly our only way to see this amazing region was to buy the Red Planet
movie, one of the si-fi movies filmed in the area and hey the movie wasn’t all
bad.
Next stop Uluru. 
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