Beat the heat/Coober Pedy

 

Behold!  A government advisement regarding the extreme heat we're experiencing this week.  Today was predicted to be 41, but actually went up to 45.  Strange things are happening now, with strong winds and gloomy skies.  I am hiding out in the air conditioned living room, having spent my day either in my car (luckily a/c is working), at the hospital, or at an aged care home.  I can't really complain, although any time spent outside or when first entering the car felt like stepping into a sauna!  I don't think there could be any more variation between Ontario and SA!  PS - just spotted a typo on the bulletin: "Never leave children of pets unattended in a car"  Teehee.

Now that the obligatory discussing weather is out of the way, I'm going to enlighten you with tales of Lisa and my trip to Coober Pedy.  Jeremy and I were there for one night in June, but I didn't feel like I had seen all that Coober Pedy had to offer.  After spending 2 fulls days and 3 nights in Coober Pedy with Lisa, I now feel like an expert in the town and region and I think she feels the same.  To begin with, we had the 9 hour drive there through desert.  We managed to keep entertained, even though the audio books I had weren't working.  As we drove through the desert, the temperature indicator on my little car climbed - from 19.5 degrees when we left Adelaide in the morning, to 43.5 degrees in Coober Pedy.  No wonder people live in dugout houses!  We arrived at our underground hotel and had a quiet night before beginning our COOBER PEDY ADVENTURE.

 We saw the DOG FENCE not once, but TWICE, on two different tours.  Wikipedia says: The Dingo Fence or Dog Fence is a pest-exclusion fence that was built in Australia during the 1880s and finished in 1885, to keep dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent (where they had largely been exterminated) and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland. It is one of the longest structures in the world and is the world's longest fence. It stretches 5,614 kilometres (3,488 mi)^[1] from Jimbour on the Darling Downs near Dalby through thousands of kilometres of arid land ending west of Eyre peninsula on cliffs of the Nullarbor Plain^[2] above the Great Australian Bight^[3] near Nundroo.^[4] It has been partly successful, though dingoes can still be found in parts of the southern states. Although the fence has helped reduce losses of sheep to predators, this has been countered by holes in fences found in the 1990s through which dingo offspring have passed^[2] and by increased pasture competition from rabbits and kangaroos.

 We went for a drive to find the desert golf course.  Whoever posted this sign has a sense of humour!  Here's another wiki[edia snippet: The local golf course – mostly played at night with glowing balls, to avoid daytime temperatures – is completely free of grass, and golfers take a small piece of "turf" around to use for teeing off. As a result of correspondence between the two clubs, the Coober Pedy golf club is the only club in the world to enjoy reciprocal rights at The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.^[5]

 You aren't allowed to wander around the mining areas, but our tour guide (an opal miner from Greece) knows the grounds and took his van carefully through the opal fields.  I've just found a news article on Jimmy (quite the character).  Follow this link if interested: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/travel/jimmy-among-gems-in-mining-folklore/story-e6freexc-1111113217847

 Peering out the van window at one of the mine shafts that goes down...down...down.  We weren't allowed to get out of the van and Jimmy informed us that he would not be opening the door at all while driving through the opal fields.  You'd be in trouble if you fell into one of these holes, which dotted the landscape.

 "Noodling" for opal.  "Noodling: The practice of sifting through rejected mullock heaps for small pieces of precious opal inadvertently discarded by the miners. A number of people on the opal fields rely entirely on noodling for a living. They either sift through the waste material by hand ... or use a noodling machine. These people are 'professional' noodlers. Tourists and others casually searching the dumps for pieces of opal are also noodling."  There is a public noodling area in Coober Pedy which we stopped in at, but it was the middle of the day and much too hot and sunny.  So we tried our hand in the little noodling pit in front of one of the shops, where there was a bit more shade.

Underground Serbian church.  This picture is taken from the second floor.  During services, parishioners stand in the empty area, although there are a few chairs in the back for people unable to stand.  There is some beautiful art work in here.

Lisa agreed that it was a worthwhile trip, although after two fulls days we had pretty much exhausted Coober Pedy's range of activities.  Sadly, both underground restaurants were again closed (same as when I was there with Jeremy).  It's a fascinating place and apparently Lisa's parents want to check it out on one of their next trips, she she might just be lucky enough to go again!