Wednesday September 4, 2019

Road video and map – Port Augusta to Coober Pedy, SA

In the outback the distances between places are huge and much of the time over the next week will be spent driving. Today;s journey was the 540 km (336 mile) southern section of the Stuart Highway from Port Augusta to Coober Pedy. Although there is not a lot to see the driving was easy and the five hour journey seemed to pass quite quickly.

Coober Pedy claims to produce 60% of the world’s precious opal and, although recent data suggests that is no longer true, there is still plenty of commercial mining around town. Opal was discovered here in 1916 and, in the early days, individuals and families simply filed mining claims and then dug mines using hand tools and some explosive. After WWI the number of mines in the area dramatically increased and the town was born. Apart from its isolation the main problem for the area was its climate. Although it was only 32 C/90 F when I arrived today the temperature often rises to 42 C/108 F in summer. Since the area has many rocky outcrops the locals began to build their homes “underground” by digging into the sandstone. Many miners simply dug out their home as the top layer of the mine.

I visited the Old Timers Mine and Museum which offers a self guided tour of such a mine with excellent exhibits that describe and explain the methods of mining and way of life in the town from the 1920s to the 1970s, when this mine closed.  I also had to go to the visitor centre to get a permit for tomorrow’s drive and stopped at the Big Miner for a photo before heading to my motel which is, of course, underground and pleasantly cool.

The Big Miner – fun, but just a promotion for the opal store.

Mining was tough and dangerous in the early days. No lifts to get up and down shafts.
A miner’s dugout bedroom as it might have appeared in the 1920s.
and the mine family’s living room as it actually was in the 1970s.
The entrance to my dugout motel room. It’s pleasantly cool today but the presence of the air conditioner suggests tourists are more fussy about comfort than miners.
My bedroom for tonight looks a little spartanbut the kitchen has a kettle, tea, coffee, cereal, bread and a toaster so all is good.