Opals in our sights

We enjoyed our short night in Woomera, it was quiet and we enjoyed a super meal (home cooked!). I was content because I had given my Nikon a good workout through the day. Colin was not so happy – we seem to be having more and more things go awry with the vehicle and he seems unable to sort out the problems. The trailer brakes did not get fixed after all – he had forgotten to purchase two washers! And the fuel filter needed to be replaced and we did not have one – and today is Sunday. Before we left Woomera we did a tour of the town and enjoyed wandering around the collection of rockets and rocket junk that is a memorial to all the activity that was here in the 1980s – not only by the British, I found out, but USA too. Both Colin and I took many photos of the exhibits before we hopped into the vehicle to drive the 250+ km to Coober Pedy.

There were many reasons to stop the vehicle (No! Only one, really! Joan wanted to take photos!) and each time we stopped we seemed to be meeting with the same tour group. When we arrived at Coober Pedy and were shown to our underground accommodation we looked up to see this same little bus and trailer pull into the car park behind us!

I wonder if they stopped, as we did, to run down into the scraggy brush and take photos of a most colourful and pretty succulent. I was quite surprised at the appearance of the flowers – I expected to find “pig-face” you know, that purple mesembryanthemum that grows in the sand at the edge of the beach. To find such a perfect little flower with yellow and white in the centre was a real treat.

We had stopped for a lunch on the side of the road when the phone rang – it was our son ringing from Broken Hill to tell us that we HAD to call in to one of the places in Coober Pedy and we were given a name to ask for. Apparently he had called to tell this fellow that we were coming and he insisted on us staying with him. Well, we did as we were told and we are this evening sitting outside our underground hideaway having eaten our meal (cooked on our own gas stove) and done the washing up! I also managed to take a Coober Pedy sunset shot too! Not as spectacular as last night's Woomera sunset because there were very few clouds to catch the light. Aren't we lucky to have a son who seems to know all the right people? We have been told to join in with one of the tours that starts at ten in the morning. Bed and opal mine tour all for being Firie's mum and dad!

We actually arrived here at two so we were able to explore the town on foot a little – we had to go on foot, on the way in the indicators stopped working! Something else to cause Colin to panic! Our explorations took us to a service station where we were able to get another fuse and another useful thing – Colin talked to anyone who had a Nissan Patrol and found out where we would be able to get a fuel filter in the morning.

I couldn't resist taking this photo of a couple of aboriginal men sitting on the pavement with their collection of dogs lounging nearby. This is a fairly typical scene in outback towns.

You will be happy to know that the brakes on the trailer were fixed this afternoon. Two out of three problems sorted!

Steven arrives in Cobber Pedy tomorrow afternoon so we will be able to say hello to him in person instead of by phone!