FEVER.........the boys have got opal fever....they are obsessed with finding opal. Every morning at the crack of dawn we hear the cry of....come on Dad lets get out there and get mining or noodling as it is termed. So off we head to the public noodling area. The boys have their pick and spade and away they go. Digging into the piles of discarded rock hoping to find their fortune. We found plenty of potch but nothing of any value however I think they just enjoyed the process.

What can I say about Coober Pedy...There are piles of dirt everywhere you look (evidence of what is going on below), rusted out trucks and cars, the odd person passed out on the side of the road, flies galore and more hard luck stories than you would care to hear..."If we had only dug 3 more feet down we would of found $600,000 worth of opal" (This one was from the cleaner in the caravan park). It is definitely a unique place and definitely has its appeal.

When we arrived the owner of the Park...George (who happens to be a pretty good guy) was drunk when he greeted Jo...She came out with a puzzled look on her face however it just seemed to be appropiate for the town.

We visited an underground catholic church where the boys peppered Jo with questions about Jesus hanging from the cross for the whole time we were there. It is always fun listening to Jo explain to a 4 and 6 year old why peole would want to hang someone up on a cross to die and then how he miraculously came back to life again a few days later (can't wait for the discussion regarding the immaculate conception).

Late one afternoon we drove out of town to the "dog fence"...it is 5300 km long and runs from Qld to the South Australian coast. It was erected to keep the dingoes on one side and the sheep on the other. We drove on to look out over the "moon plain" where numerous movies were filmed because of its desolate moon like environment....welll not at the moment, it is lush green for as far as you can see. I am not sure whether I should feel privileged to see the desrt like this or a little ripped off that it is not its usual brown and dusty self. We drove on to the "Breakaways" which are a series of low coloured hills that look quite good in the late afternoon light. Driving back to Coober Pedy you drive through km after km of piles of dirt where mining is taking place, it is quite unbelievable the amount of area that has been dug up in the search of opal......alot of people seem to get the fever and stay.

We also visited an underground house and went to the Old Timers mine which was really good as we were able to walk down through the tunnels of the old mine. They also had an old miner do a mining machine presentation and gave some insight into how the mining was done in the past and in the present.....looks like hard work at any time however things have improved. Given that this guy has been in Coober Pedy for 30 years mining and is still giving presentations to tourists for a few bucks would suggest that he is one of the hard luck stories that are common in town. He still has a sparkle in his eye though when he starts talking about the search for the precious stuff.

They have a golf course here in town which is all dirt and no grass......very interesting... no one seems to play on it but they do have this nice looking clubhouse that looks quite out of character compared to the course itself.

We have enjoyed our time here however we have had to extend our stay a little longer than we would have as we have been waiting for Max's school work to arrive which keeps getting delayed....If it was up to Max we would just leave without it.

Hopefully off to William Creek tommorrow after the mail arrives and along the Ooodnadatta Track.