Cooper Pedy and day 1 in Adelaide
Sunday, January 11th, 2009On the ride from Alice Springs to Coober Pedy was where I saw the outback I thought I would. It is said that the landscape of the area around Coober Pedy is very similar to that of Mars. I find this interesting because hundreds of thousands of years ago the middle of Australia was under water…
Coober Pedy produces 70-95% of the opals in the world. I use that range because I read both those statistics in two different places. The original settlers were looking for gold not far south from Coober Pedy and when none showed up, they started digging for water. And opal was what they found.
The hostel I stayed in used to be an opal mine-yes I slept about 20 feet underground! It was nice not having to worry about the aircon working (which is a concern when one is living in hostels in the middle of summer). It was obvious where and how the miners dug the rock out as they patters were still in the walls and ceilings. Too cool.
There wasn’t much to see in Coober Pedy except for some old mines and crazy art left over from some crazy space movies that were filmed there and of couse, opal shops. I did a bit of shopping then went back to the hostel to read until my bus came to take me to Adelaide.
After a sleepless night on the Greyhound I arrived in Adelaide around 730. I didn’t realize how much of a city girl I am until I found myself so happy to be around the hustle and bustle of people heading to work on a Monday morning. I booked myself a train ticket to Perth for Sunday, so I’ll be here until then. I’m going to take this city easy, since I’ve been told that a person only needs 2 or 3 days for Adelaide. There are beaches nearby, so I’m sure I won’t have a hard time finding something to do, not to mention that the area is known for its wine…