Hello Coober Pedy !

This must be the most photographed piece of old mining equipment in the known and unknown universe !!!

I wish I could remember the Aboriginal name for this area. In any event, a rough translation of the original Aboriginal words gives us "Coober Pedy" meaning "white man in a hole."

There's one thing I've often wondered about this area and that is why is it so untidy? I understand that it is something of a hot , dry frontier town built by tough people who live underground etc. etc. blah blah blah but do they have to leave all their old mining equipment and other rusty junk just lying around? And another thing - is it really necessary for each shaft to have piles of earth, rocks etc around it? I'm sure that mining companies are required to rehabilitate their areas once mining has been completed - why is Coober Pedy any different?

Anzac day in Coober Pedy was an interesting, yet very solemn affair. For me, used to the 04.30 Sydney or the later Canberra dawn services, it was a real eye-opener. Starting at 05.30 with a gunfire breakfast (I love the smell of Bundy in the morning !) the service started at 06.30, still before dawn in that part of the world.
While the service had an audience of only a hundred or so (including many grey nomads and other blow-ins like myself) it lacked nothing in solemnity or meaning. Well done to the members of the Coober Pedy RSL.

Another excuse for me to stand nonchalantly in front of my latest Nissan Patrol (this one is number six).
I have fitted this one out especially for this trip: colour coded ARB bullbar, ARB foglights, IPF spotlights Warn winch, dual batteries, GME CB, snorkel, Yokohama Geolander tyres, Waeco fridge / freezer on a slide, Rock Tamer mudflaps (they don't by the way, but more of that later) aluminium roofrack with an additional spare tyre, an extra 20 litres of diesel and 20 litres of water.

Behind the Patrol is part of the dingo fence, this section is some 2,500 km long and it remains in pretty good shape- it is my understanding that it is still maintained. The dingo fence is one of the boundaries of an extraordinary area just outside Coober Pedy known as The Breakaways. It is spectacular country as you can see.

Part of The Breakaways, just outside Coober Pedy

Hope you enjoy the blogs, more soon.

Regards

TJ