Day 5 - Coober Pedy / Woomera

Mud Hut Hotel - This morning we had additional people join us on the bus, filling up every spare seat.

First destination was a landform known as two dogs to the Aboriginal people, or salt and pepper to non-aboriginals. There is an aboriginal story about the formation but the story is Top Secret, and outsiders do not have clearance to be told this Classified story.

Stopped at a cafe for refreshment. There was an opal seller there, Mum bought some trinkets.

We then visited the Umoona Opal Mine and Museum, an underground museum set in the old mines, with some new areas having been carved out. The ventilation down there is not actively controlled, instead the air moves naturally up and down the shafts without fans. There are also no supports needed, the surrounding rock is apparently strong enough. The walls are coated to contain dust. It was interesting to learn that opal mining is still done today with both modern and old technology (literally single operators out there just using a pick and shovel).

Next was the Serbian Church. Like the museum it was dug out of the rock, however for the most part it appears to have been done with more modern technology. There were also hand-carved statues that had been crafted in the walls.

The church had many security cameras outside and we observed more indicators of high levels of crime as we departed Coober Pedy, same as you see in Alice Springs.

Our next stop was the airport to drop off all the additional people we collected that morning, as well as 2 of the people who had been with us since the start. Many flies at the airport. Glad I brought my head net.

Our next stop, after a fair bit of driving, was a fuel station at Glendambo. It is the only station for a long time and do not advertise their prices. There was a long line of vehicles waiting to fill up. A lot of the delay was that the pumps required prepayment but this was not made clear, so each person put the nozzle in and waited for the clerk to start the pump, followed by a long investigation as to why this wasn’t working - then the next person would drive up the pump and repeat the process.

Prices at the servo were astronomical. $20 for a packet of jelly snakes, an urn advertised $3.50 to take hot water from it, etc. The urinal was not working - and the solution they had come up with was to stick a wet floor sign in it to discourage people from using it.

We then proceeded to the salt pans at Lake Hart. There is a rest area near them but the lake itself is on restricted military land. For the most part people just ignored the sign and walked out to the lake. As you approach the waters edge the salt on the ground gets increasingly concentrated, licking it reveals that it tastes just like salt. The salt water seems resistant to ripples forming, making the water extremely still and mirror-like. Very beautiful.

Along the road to Woomera they played audio on the bus, a speech from Len Beadall. Very funny guy who had lived a storied life, and referred to as the last of the Australian explorers. He was a surveyor and was responsible for constructing over 6000 kms of road in the 1940s to 1960s, often just him in isolated desert areas. The surveying work he did was done without satellites, he took astral measurements instead.

Arrived at the military base at Woomera Rocket Range, Eldo Hotel. The base has ebbs and flows of staff, depending on what testing is being done, so the rooms are rented out to the public during the slow periods. The rooms are very clean and modern hotel rooms and the building has very heavy fire doors (explosive resistant?). The rooms were also non-standard - I got a small room mostly taken up by the bed, whereas Mum got a whole additional room complete with a kitchen sink and counter top.

Ribs for dinner. In polite company so I had to eat them up using just a knife and fork, the only time I can recall having done this.Read more