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  • Home
  • About
    • All Star Profile
    • Current Outlets
  • Stories
    • Tahitian Dreaming Paul Gauguin Cruises
    • Cruise Ship's Historic Return to SA's Copper Coast
    • MSC Grandiosa
    • Ruby Princess
    • Return to Sri Lanka
    • Bryce Canyon
    • Hunter Gatherings
    • Visit Planet Batuu on your next holiday
    • The Falkland Islands
    • Zagreb has just about everything!
    • Historic Train Journeys in Yorkshire
    • The Sunshine State
    • To The Top of Europe
    • The Kimberley and Mitchell Falls
    • Forget Bali - Go Bush
    • Ireland.. It’s just like the movies
    • Tap and Go Sydney
    • Milwaukee: Easy does it
    • PNG with P&O
    • Port Douglas
    • India's Golden Triangle
    • Guns Gods and Gin
    • Return to Paradise
    • The Outback and fascinating Lava Tubes at Undara.
    • SAILING MEKONG’s PAST IN THE PRESENT
    • Italian Treat
    • Jasper
    • The Ghan
    • Grand Old Ladies
    • Brisbane to Townsville
    • MSC Seaside
    • First to the Frozen Continent Antarctica
    • Cuba's New Revolution
    • THE travel destinations for 2018
    • British Columbia and Grizzly Bears
    • Samoa
    • Mudgee
    • SeaDream A Seven-Day Dream
    • Winnipeg Canada
    • City and beach options in Thailand
    • The Canadian
    • Lonna Island
    • Ancient encounters along the Kimberley Coast
    • Silja Line
    • Play and Stay in Uber Cool Brisbane
    • The Vasa Museum
    • Travel to Noosa - For Cooking Classes
    • Spirit House hits new high
    • Mudgee's Blue Wren Winery
    • Helsinki: Europe’s new cool
    • Doing the Locomotion on Grandma's Express
    • SWEPT AWAY BY BROOME
    • Madrid – Tapas on Offer All Day
    • The Southern Highlands - Bowral
    • A Day Trip to China
    • The Never Never
    • Alaska 101
    • The Hydro Majestic Hotel
    • When is a Legend Born?
    • Sun Princess
    • An Amazing Journey
    • Mandurah and Blue Swimmer's
    • A MILLION DANCING SMILES IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA
    • See the historic wonders of Hội An, Vietnam
    • Holidays with Pets
    • YEPPOON – AN OASIS IN THE TROPICS
    • O'REILLY'S
    • Coober Pedy
    • Rum - Smuggler’s - Slavery
    • Sri Lanka
    • Secrets of the Great Ocean Road
    • Looking for Napoleon
    • Blue Lagoon
    • Where is Bowen?
    • The Central Coast of NSW
    • Lake Geneva
    • Mudgee NSW
    • Margaret River
    • Indian Pacific
    • Alsace
    • Cruising Asia
    • The Magnificent Murray
    • Lakes and Daffodils
    • Secret Places
    • Pencils
    • Pacific Jewel
    • Contact
    • Cruising with Holland America Line
    • Bewitching Mt Tamborine
    • Hill End NSW
    • The Heart of the Gold Coast
    • Outback Australia
    • Emerald Princess
    • Ottawow – Canada's exciting capital
    • Majorca
    • The Secret World of Pacific Palms
    • Escape the last of Winter
    • Sailing on Emerald Princess
    • Finding your own Oasis in Doha
    • Tokyo DisneySea
​       LOOKING FOR CHARACTERS IN COOBER PEDY
Words and images by Dallas Sherringham
Coober Pedy is one of those places that has a mystical attraction for many Australians.
Mention the very name and your mind drifts into a dream of a frontier “knock ‘em down and drag ‘em out” kind of place straight out of the Wild West.

I had visions of a rollicking saloon with desert beaten bearded faces bragging about their latest find of the legendary Black Opals.
Literature and web sites promised the real outback, with characters galore and a way of life far removed from city life. I soon found I was one of literally thousands of people wandering the streets looking for a genuine miner.
However it proved a big disappointment in this regard. People in Coober Pedy tend to keep very much to themselves. They live underground mostly and you rarely see anyone as you drive around the many kilometres of mullock heaps and abandoned mining junk.
No-one in Coober Pedy ever throws anything away; they just park it out the front. The desert air ensures that it stays in good shape.
I finally decided I’d meet some locals at the IGA supermarket. The girl stocking the aisles told me you could tell who was doing well chasing opals by the size of their shopping trolley haul.
Finally a genuine character appeared outside the supermarket pushing a trolley load of goodies. He had a Kenny Rodgers mountain man beard, a battered hat and a limited supply of teeth.
I pulled out my camera to get a shot, along with half a dozen fellow tourists. He smiled and said in a very British voice: “I’m terribly sorry, but I’m just a visitor.”
So my character quest failed. Even the local tourist office was a dismal failure, never responding with a phone call to my requests for assistance in my visit.
There may be much more to be discovered in Coober Pedy, but they have decided to keep it a secret from us all.
This is not unusual in South Australia or the Northern Territory where public relations managers and tourist offices have much more to do than worry about pesky media people.
Having said all that, Coober Pedy has a lot to offer and you certainly need at least two days there. The underground shopping centre, bar and opal mining display is superb.
The opals, which have lain dormant just underground for up to 70 million years, look amazing when you see them mounted in gold and presented as quality jewellery.
This tends to send lady visitors to Coober Pedy into a buying frenzy, while worried husbands and partners pace and down clutching their wallets.
I soon realised that you have to put your hand in your pocket for at least a small amount in order to escape unscathed for the remainder of your trip.
Along with most visitors, I stayed at the Opal Inn resort complex which has a hotel, a quality motel and a campground.
Ah, the Opal Inn bar! This is the place where I will finally track down a few characters.
I walked inside ready for a rowdy session with the locals and my shoulders slumped. The bar was as modern as any you would see in the city and the only people around were seniors dressed in baseball caps and those ridiculous “mock Akubra’s” and Crocodile Dundee hats made out of fake leather and plastic crocodile teeth.
The adjacent restaurant was offering a special on Indian satay chicken which was considered to be the best meal in Coober Pedy. And it was superb.
Coober Pedy is a photographer’s delight and the views of the more than 100 km of mullock heaps and orange red roads are unique anywhere in the world.
However may I suggest you go there to discover the exciting world of opals, not to find an Aussie version of the old Wild West. And make sure your credit card is well charged.
Feature supplied by: www.wtfmedia.com.au
Captions:
1. Unique Coober Pedy
2. A photographer's dream
3. Welcome to the Opal capital
4. Life is good underground
5. A miner's life is tough
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