11th September 2023

Distance: 61 Km

Fuel: 48 Litres

Opal City

We had booked 2 nights in Coober Pedy so today was the first “rest” day of the trip. The boys had booked us a 10 am tour of Tom’s Opal Mine just outside town so that was our first event.

It was quite a different mine to the one we experienced in White Cliffs last year. The Coober Pedy mines are in sandstone so the tunnels can be larger with less danger of collapse. The guide had 40 years of opal mining experience to draw on and told the tale in a very entertaining way.

Afterwards we visited the Big Winch on a hill in the middle of town followed by a trip to the Catacomb Church.

This was followed by a quick visit to the IGA store in the middle of town to replenish the food supplies before visiting some opal stores.

A drive to visit the Dog Fence (also called the Dingo Fence) was next – this is part of the 5600 km fence that stretches from eastern Queensland to the Nullarbor plain in an attempt to keep pests out of the fertile south eastern Australia.

I first tried to visit the fence some years ago but was forced to abandon it due to a very boggy road. Now most the of the road to the fence is bitumen, so for me the trip was a bit of an anti climax.

That evening we all visited the “Outback Burger and Grill” for a meal before returning to our respective accommodations.

Tomorrow we should be in the Northern Territory.