I started hitching on monday morning (12/10/2009) in Port Augusta and didn't have to wait more than two hours to get a lift almost to Coober Pedy. It was very pleasant and fast ride (I saw quite a few salt lakes along the way - they are really beautiful) but I was dropped off about 90 km before my target, literally in the middle of the desert. It was really hot and stong wind was blowing dust into my eyes. There were no cars passing by. I became a bit nervous because I really didn't feel like spending night at such place.
Fortunately in not more than five minutes, a french couple in a van stopped and picked me up. Perhaps they were convinced by the surreal picture of a hitch-hiker standing with his thumb up at such an inhospitable place.
I made it to the information centre before they closed, got organized, walked around the town a bit and in the evening walked five kilometres out of the city to Riba's underground campsite. The walk was pretty long but the sunset over that truly surreal, Mars-like, desert landscape full of opal mines was worth it. And moreover the only campers in the campground were these two friendly french girls Lucie and Helene! Woo hoo! It was lovely evening - luxurious camping dinner together with Bundaberg rum.
Next day I hanged around the town all day long. I was really fascinated by the athmosphere there. It's right in the middle of desert with too much sun, wind and dust, so that most people live in dug-out (underground) houses. Hundreds of opal mines around make the landcape look like from another planet and dozens of opal shops on just a couple of square kilometres show the competition between miners. Very strong genius loci is full of all those miners' dreams about finding heaps of opal and becoming rich.
I was really interested in the whole mining process so I visited many interesting places from historic mine to opal shops.
I started with Desert Cave Hotel which offers an informative display explaining types of opal, their evaluation, mining, geology etc. It gives you a good picture about the whole thing. Definitely worth visiting.
Next I stopped by Umoona Opal Mine & Museum which doesn't offer much information about opals but lots of interesting information about aboriginal people. It was a bit unfriendly place though.
Old Timers Mine was my next stop. It's an old mine turned into a museum and it's really interesting. The exposition also includes an old and a modern dug-out flat, which gives you an idea of how people live there.
There are also a few underground churches in the city. First I visited a catholic one located right in the centre. I entered it and was a bit surprised it was all dark. Then I found a switch and turned on the lights. The whole interior suddenly blew up with light. It was really magic.
Then I walked all the way to Serbian Orthodox Church which is quite far from the centre and again, I didn't regret the energy at all. It was lovely! It's bigger, with nice carved ceiling and a few statues carved right into the walls. Again, don't forget to turn the lights on!
I was pretty hungry by the end of the day so I dropped by John's Pizza. I can definitely recommend it! Good portions, quite thin pizza pastry, nice variations...
I really didn't feel like walking to Riba's again so I spent the night at Radeka's Downunder Motel and Backpackers. The underground dorm is cool although I didn't sleep very well. I shared the place with two friendly Korean bikers. They were on their way from Adelaide to Darwin as well as the spanish couple I'd met in Port Augusta but these guys were a bit crazy. They looked really amaterous, without any proper equipment, just mountain bikes and boxes stuffed with their stuff and bound to carriers. Oh well, I wished them a good luck.
If you ever visit Coober Pedy, you absolutely have to drop by Black Opal opal shop. It's close to the roundabout in the centre and it's run by Yiannis, very interesting greek guy with handful of interesting stories. If you show you're interested, he will even take you to his workroom for cutting opals. He can also offer you very good prices if you want to buy some stones. He'll find something nice for you even if you don't want to spend too much money, so don't hesitate to ask. And if you feel like experimenting, buy some more expensive one and try to sell it back in USA or Europe for at least five times higher price. You don't have to worry about taxes - since Australia covers more than 95% of world opal production, you can take as many opals out of the country as you want and you don't have to pay any extra fee. You can also admire beautiful (and apparently world-famous) stone called Desert Flame. Yiannis has found it and cut it by himself. He told me he would never sell it - not even to Louvre which had apparently offered him very good price.
Oh and I shouldn't forget John & Yoka's Opal & Art - very friendly shop where you can learn a lot about opals too.
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