Coober Pedy

We were all a bit keen to check out Coober Pedy. I was keen to acquire a sizable rock, i wasn't fussed as to the type of jewelry just that the opal be large!

Matthew was keen to see how the living underground bit worked!
He was rather impressed!

So after we checked into our hotel we went "noodling". Basically it entails sitting in a pile of sandstone crushing rocks together until you come up with one that doesn't crumble. We considered anything that didn't break to be opal! Who knows if it is or not! We couldn't tell!

We did a tour of a working opal mine.

We got the first of many, many geology lessons!

We all had a go at mine transportation.

Then mine cleaning...this is a vacuum. The first ever cyclone system. The guy who invented is a local (and they aren't real quick!) and he forgot to patent it and therefor lost himself millions of dollars. He apparently still lives in Coober Pedy trying to find his next million in opals!

Mummy told the boys she didn't need any more practise vacuuming than she already got at home but still had a go anyway!

They then had a go at hammer drilling out some opal!

This is the noodling truck. That big vacuum sucks all the dirt into the bucket on the top and then dumps it out. These trucks are what make all the ant hills (below) in Coober Pedy. And guess how many holes there are in the Coober Pedy area?????

Did you guess 2 million? No? Well that's how many open holes there are! Coober Pedy is a law unto it own. There are no Occupational health and safety measure that insist on filling holes. Their idea of safety is to put heaps of signs around saying "Maate, careful of the holes!"