Arrived in Coober Pedi on the 3rd. Luuk has been here before but it was my first time. I imagined it to be much larger than it is. I always judge the size of a town these days by whether there is a physiotherapist, but unfortunately too small for that. Those poor sore old opal miners! Luuk found a massage therapist attached to an underground hotel who also worked at the hotel for her family therefore she was kind enough to see Luuk.

Amazing little town, not as busy as it should be for peak season but fascinating and interesting all the same. We went inside one of the old time mines and underground hotels and loved seeing how they used to mine and the old tools and dangers attached. A little different today and a lot more OH&S involved. The underground hotel was amazing but I was glad we weren't staying in one of them. The dust and pressure plus the dimness did not make me feel at all comfortable even though it was called the comfort inn. Fantastic people that owned the business however and they explained simply how opal is formed and showed us how to noodle for opal. They gave the kids a big icecream container of rocks and the kids were allowed to take 5 pieces of opal each for free. The owner checked each piece to certify it and if not good enough sent the kids back. Sammy has got an extremely good eye and has found quite a few small bits in different noodling areas. Being my child, he already wants to start a small business selling a small bag of 5 opals. His price was a little steep however, and I managed to convince him $0.50 was more reasonable than $50 dollars but you can't blame a kid for trying.

We went to the breakaways to see the amazing sunset and it disappointed a little as there was too much cloud but we were sure we would see many more as we travel north. The scenary however was amazing. Looked similar to the painted rocks but from the ground. The castle rocks were also amazing symbolising 2 dogs and their master in dreamtime stories or a castle / salt and pepper shakers to non aboriginal people. The different colours of the rocks occur due to different rates of erosion, the lighter ones being eroded faster than the darker. We got some great photos despite the sunset not being it's best. We also gave the flies some welcome relief by bathing in the moisture of our nostrils and eyes. As soon as we got back to the caravan park we invested in some netting covers for under our hats to keep those guys out.

I was approached in the supermarket today by a lady who was making a Quantas commercial and she offered a few hundred dollars to borrow our roof racks for filming in Oodnodatta tomorrow. Luuk had left the key for the racks back in Melbourne so we had to decline. This lady however was involved in filming Australia here. Mad Max and Priscilla Queen of the Desert where also films made here over previous years. A very dry, dusty, and moonlike landscape. Driving on the road out of town Luuk couldn't believe how much of the surrounding landscape has now been mined compared to 10 years ago. There's definitely money to be made here, even noodling a girl found a nugget worth 4,500 last week. Although my grandfathers gene's are very strong in me, we must push on.

On to Uluru, Kings Canyon and Alice next.