South Australia

Blog readers with EXTREMELY good memories (and perhaps geographical OCD) may remember that SR and I cruised across South Australia very quickly (too quickly, actually; we got an e-mail from the campervan company that we were picked up by a speed camera and are curious to see if a ticket will have found one of us at our U.S. addresses by the time we get home) a couple of months ago on our way to Western Australia.

We didn't stop to do anything here at that point because we knew we'd be back at the end of our overland trip through the center of the country. And now here we are--our two weeks in the Northern Territory (which I've just now learned is not technically an Australian state, though it is largely self-governed) finished--crossing the border into South Australia for a few days.

We stayed for a night in one of the weirdest places I've ever been--which of course makes it one of my favorite places: Coober Pedy.

The vast majority of the world's opals come from Coober Pedy, and the opal mining business is really the only reason that any of the town's 1,500 residents, hailing from 47 different countries (making it the most international, per capita, town in Oz) find themselves there. What appears above to be a big pile of gravel, pink in the light of sunset, is the gypsum rock excavated to create the underground lodgings we stayed in for our night in Coober Pedy.

Outside, the temperature can be obscenely, blisteringly hot in the summer and painfully cold in the winter. But underground, it is always a comfy 20-24 degrees celcius, which is why 60% of the town's residents (the other 40% being Aboriginals who do not like to live underground because underground is where you go when you die) live underground in homes like this:

I learned so much about opal and opal mining during our mine and town tour that it is taking a great deal of will power not to bore you with a long blog of written details. To me, this kind of stuff is incredibly fascinating. I mean, this is a place where people might see something shiny in the wall while eating breakfast and throw some dynamite (sold at the corner store next to the weekly paper) to see if they can get any opal of value from their house. And often they do!

I could go on and on, so if this interests you, ask me the next time you see me and I'll talk your ear off. Or maybe you'll have to come visit me when I move to Coober Pedy to try opal mining myself, as it's a shockingly affordable thing to get a permit and lease some land from the town council.

As you might expect, the town is dripping in stores selling opal jewelry.

We also got to try playing a didgeridoo for the first time at one shop...

...which also had some of the best Aboriginal art I've seen so far...

...and owners who run, on the side, a kangaroo orphanage and do daily feedings for visiting groups.

On our way further south, we also stopped in the Clare Valley, world-famous for its Rieslings, for a wine-tasting.

Reaching Adelaide after so much time in the outback was a little overwhelming. But another free night in another Hilton, with a very hot shower and a very comfy, fluffy white bed after so many nights sleeping outside, plus this view, was definitely not unwelcome!

Adelaide apparently has a rep for being a bit of a boring city, and we didn't see anything in the guidebook when planning this trip that prompted us to schedule much time here. So our visit was brief, but I actually liked it a lot and wouldn't have minded more time here. The Adelaide food market is FANTASTIC. And it is a very pretty town, and a great place to regroup, wash up from our outback adventure, and launch ourselves (via plane) into our final Australian state and the final three weeks of our adventure Down Under. Anyone keeping track who can tell through powers of deduction where we're now headed?....