Wednesday 16th July 2014

We had the earliest wake up call yet on our trip round the world, 3 am! The only reason why is because if we left later we wouldn't arrive in enough time to see Coober Pedy! Good job Derek was here to drive! We packed up our bags and got onto the bus, and promptly fell asleep! It was very uncomfortable and long though.

We stopped at around 8 am for breakfast at a road house, Derek cooked us some bacon! It was so good and hit the spot! We packed up and was on the road again. The scenery is exactly what I expected. Dusty and red, with a few gum trees and shrubs around! This is what I expected from Australian countryside!

We still had a long 2 - 3 hour drive till we reached Coober Pedy, it's a long bloody way! We finally reached the outskirts of Coober Pedy where we were greeted with a giant sign with the oldest opal truck on top! The opal trucks are basically a normal truck with a barrel that holds all the rock being dug out in the mine and being 'vacuumed up' to the surfaces to be dumped, called mullock.

People can also go noodling, which is where people search though the mullock in the hopes of finding some opal the miners have missed. Some diggers dump their mullock at the local noodling centre so locals and tourist can go noodling. It is very unsafe to go walking in the opal fields as there are many unmarked mine shafts which you could fall down!

We went out and learnt about Coober Pedy and its history, in January 1915, the New Colorado Prospecting Syndicate, consisting of Jim Hutchison and his 14 year old son William, PJ Winch and M McKenzie had unsuccessfully been searching for gold south of Coober Pedy. The men had set up camp and were searching for water when young Willie found pieces of opal on the surface of the ground. This was on the 1st February 1915 and 8 days later the first opal claim was pegged.

Coober Pedy was originally known as the Stuart Range Opal Field, named after John McDouall Stuart, who in 1858 was the first European explorer in the area. In 1920 it was re-named Coober Pedy, an anglicised version of Aboriginal words "kupa piti", commonly assumed to mean "white man in a hole".

Coober Pedy today relies as much on tourism as the opal mining industry to provide the community with employment and sustainability. Coober Pedy has over 70 opal fields and is the largest opal mining area in the world. Opal is the national gemstone of Australia, and South Australia accounts for about 80% of the world's supply.

We went to a mine and a home under the ground, it was really interesting. They didn't need any building permission seeing as it is underground, all they had to do was hire out a stone digger which they brought in to carve out the stone into the shape of the room they want. If they find some opal in the process it's an added bonus!

The house had all the standard amenities as a normal house, expect Windows! I think I could live under ground for a little but I would miss the natural night! Most people in Coober Pedy live underground, but they are running out of 'hills' to dig into. So there is plenty of house built above the ground. The reason they live underground is because it is cooler as the temperatures stay the constant year round as it can get swelting hot in the summer, and pretty chilly in the winter! The Aboriginals think the white Australians are crazy as they don't believe you should go underground until your have died!

We learnt how opal is made, opal is a form of silica, chemically similar to quartz, but containing water within the mineral structure. Precious opal generally contains 6-10% water and consists of small silica spheres arranged in a regular pattern. Opal occurs in many varieties, two of which are precious opal and potch.

Colour in precious opal is caused by the regular array of silica spheres and voids diffracting white light, and breaking it up into the colours of the spectrum. The diameter and spacing of the spheres controls the colour range of an opal.

The main factors influencing the price paid for opal are:

• Background colour - black opal (a gem with a dark background) is more valuable than clear opal (crystal opal) which in turn is generally more valuable than white or milky opal.

• Dominant fire colour - red-fire opal is generally more valuable than a predominantly green opal, which in turn is more valuable than a stone showing only blue colour.

• Colour pattern - harlequin opal, where the colour occurs in patches, is generally more valuable than pinfire opal where the colour is in small specks.

We headed back to our hostel which is next to the mine, and we are staying under ground! It was a giant room with separate section carved out with four beds in each section. There must of been at least 30 beds in total!! I hope no one snores!

We headed to a local art seller and saw some kangaroos that have been rescued and nursed back to health. Even a little Joey that lived in a bag to imitate a mother's pouch! I was tempted to buy some art work, but it was extremely expensive and I don't think Stu would be too impressed with having to carry home another piece of art!

We headed off to get some pizza, before heading back to the hostel to go to bed for another early start!