Day 147 – 151 – Coober Pedy

ust before reaching Coober Pedy we drove through the endless Moon Plain. We had thought the outback (with almost no bush) along the Oodnadatta track was neverending and flat, but the Moon Plain looked just as its name – like the surface on the moon. Nothing but dry sand and not even the tiniest bush as far as the eye could see. Pretty awesome in its muchness.

At first glimpse, Coober Pedy doesn’t look like much but look below and thee shall find. 70% of the population live below ground, in dugouts. So how does one spend 4 days including Christmas smack in the middle of the stinking hot desert? One does one or more of the numerous opal mine tours, check out Crocodile Harry’s nest (one of the highlights!), try ones luck noodling (digging for opals, no we didn’t find any...), see the Breakaways at sunset and watch the stars appear, feeding a joye at the Kangaroo Orphanage, celebreate Christmas Eve with plenty of nice food (which one hopefully have time to eat between the many visits to the indoor pool), and last but not least join the Italian Club for a Christmas Day feast.

Most of the above, we found out about thanks to the superb Duncan at the Visitor Centre.