Monday 10th June After dinner Monday night Chris and I were finishing off our blogs and the boys were sitting by the fire chilling after dinner. From seeming nowhere the wind picked up suddenly and down came the rain. The boys scattered collected the chairs and putting them under cover. We settled in our van for the last instalment of Game of Thrones before bed. Tuesday morning we awoke to wet, soggy and windy conditions. Glenn anchored down the awning as we were going into town to do some shopping to stock up on supplies of mainly meat for dinners, before heading to Uluru on Wednesday. We also needed to drop our ablutions and top up with fuel. 113607, 166.9 $63.44 and 100.95L. Picked up some pies for a quick lunch. When Chris and Roger returned they told us they had called into the front reception to enquire whether the paid tour that we were to go on in the afternoon was to still going ahead, which was due to leave at 2pm for a 4 hour trip. They were told that there was a chance due to the rain that we might not be able to get to some of the places we were to see but to come back at 1.30pm and check with our driver. Gunter our German driver had come to Coober Pedy in 1969 for a visit, loved it and worked the fields for 30 years, living in his own dugout for the past 15years . He was pretty confident there would be no problems so off we went to our first spot, the Desert Hotel Opal Centre (famous last words!!). Gunter spent a lot of time here talking about the different Opals, he lost me after about 20 minutes, he did however delve into his own pocket and bought out his pride a joy worth about $15,000.It was a crystal opal in a teadrop shape, it was absolutely beautiful. We ended up spenting ¾ hour here and eventually moved on to a 2nd stop, Umoona Opal Mine. We had been here the day before to buy my opal but today it was to the tour of the mine. Gunter is a wealth of knowledge and made us all laugh when he was telling us what it was like when he first started out. The funniest story related to being down a hand picked shaft, sitting on a monkey (winched seat that gets lowered down the shaft) and setting chargers. The idea was to set the sticks of dynamite with long wicks, indicate to your offsider to start winching you up as the charge was lit allowing you plenty of time to get up and out. Occasionally the ride to the surface would stall and Gunter would here his offsider frantically trying to restart the generator. After a couple of goes without success there would follow a swift kick and then a lengthy barrage of expletives, this was Gunter's indication to grab the "life" rope and haul himself up with only seconds to spare. The force coming out of the shaft is like a camel kick!! This occurred a number of times. The mine tour wasn't as good as Old Timer Mine and not as user friendly for me with one crutch. Our third stop was a sunset view of The Breakaways. 150 million years ago this area was an inland sea and the sandstone outcrops are what's visible today. Still can't get my head around an inland sea and dinosaurs walking around out here, but there is plenty of evidence to prove this. The drive was to be about 30km out from Coober Pedy and we turned off at the 14 Mile Claim. We had only gone about 200m off the road and Gunter was busy chatting about how we couldn't stop here as there were too many prospect holes all over the place and it was his responsibility to keep us all safe. While looking over his left shoulder he missed a big puddle and soft shoulder. We lost traction almost immediately and sunk left sideways in the mud. Everyone was ordered out expect me, the men were asked to push to see if they could ease the bus out. No such luck! Gunter wasn't organised without CB radio, mobile phone or towing equipment. Glenn handed my mobile over so that we could get help. It was taking forever and those outside had started wondering off with free "Noodling" on everyone's minds, could they be so luck! As the sun was going down there was also a very cold breeze outside and after a while people started to hop back in the bus all sitting down the right hand side. I felt particularly sorry for a Victorian couple (Collingwood supports) who were both just in light weight ¾ pants (NOT!). As the sun set behind the opal fields the place looked like the landscape in Egypt, so this made for an opportune photo shot of Pyramids, tongue firmly in cheek. Help eventually came in the form of two young lads from the Desert Hotel, in a 4WD with a snatch strap. The bus was pulled free although the left hand side wheels looked a sight. As the sun was setting fast Gunter was determined to get us to the Breakaways. So off we went this time taking a different route, a CLOSED road! He had persuaded our rescuers to come along behind us just in case we got stuck again. He drove at break neck speed weaving across the gravel road to avoid big puddles and soft shoulders, it was a bit hairy! Two of the women were voicing their concern regarding the speed, they are not seasoned travellers for this type of terrain. Glenn was whispering to me that Gunter needed to keep the speed up so that he had better traction; I think he was just trying to get there as fast as he could before people started asking for their money back! We pulled up at the Breakaways just as the last light was fading, but with the light behind us it still gave us a great photo opportunity, including a group shot with the rescuers too. It was dark when we eventually left at a more sedate pace. Our final stop was the other side of town at the Serbian Church. This was completed in 1995 and was Cathedral like, far bigger and grander than the two others seen in earlier days. Inside there were the most beautiful sandstone sculptures. These were done by a local man who was diagnosed with cancer just before he started and completed all but one in eight months before he passed away at just 42 years of age. This was a remarkable achievement considering how difficult sandstone is to work with. We were dropped back at the caravan park tired, hunger but satisfied. Gunter was dogged in his endeavours to give us our money's worth. Sausages, jacket spuds and mixed vege was cooked in recorded time. The boys looked after everything while Chris and I were even able to have quick 20c showers and still managed to wash our hair in 4 minutes. Early to bed tonight with an early start tomorrow, wind still very strong outside. 9.20pm in to bed. I was conscience of the wind blowing all night and as we got up there was a light sprinkle of rain. We did our ritual pack up for hitting the road and I had my toast while Glenn went and had a shower. We decided not to top up our water tanks as we were still ¾ full plus had about 60lts in the bladder. As water is precious in Coober Pedy you have to pay 20c for every 30lts you need to fill your tanks. This is very reasonable but it is desalinated and after the trouble we had with our hot water system before we left we didn't want to take any chances. It cost us $995 to replace the system after the previous owners didn't flush the tank of desalinated water after use. Regards, Virginia and Glenn