9th May - Woomera to Coober Pedy

It rained over night and the morning was grey with heavy cloud.  The packing race was won by me mainly because Alan had to put on his external wet weather gear as his Beemer suit leaked like a sieve.  We rode about 115 kms to Glendambo for breakfast as it was the only place between Woomera and Coober Pedy.  There was a fresh breeze and whenever a truck passed us coming the other way my helmet was nearly blown off!  We had a few short showers and the rain drops stung my face bringing back memories of riding in Northern Ireland.  The Indian Pacific railway followed the road and at one point the road rose to cross the track and I took this shot to show how straight it was and the general nature of the land.  It was much greener than normal due to recent rains.

We had a very nice fried breakfast and Alan topped up his tank in Glendambo but I thought I had enough to reach Coober Pedy 250 kms away.  Then followed a hard slog into a head wind for the next 3 hours.  My shoulders were sore by the time we arrived because of the wind.  There was literally nothing  along the road just scrub.  It was another Nullarbor Plain.

Coober Pedy surprised me when we arrived.  I had expected a place like Kalgoorlie in WA but it was more like the wild west.  There are still a lot of small prospectors digging for Opals so it hasn't the big mining company to invest in civic amenities I suppose.  We were staying at the Opal Inn in the budget section which had very small rooms.  There were many other Ulyssians staying here as well.

Coober Pedy the wild west comes to Australia

We had time to see a few of the sights so we set off for an underground mine that explained how the town had developed since Opals were first discovered in 1914.  We tagged onto a tour that showed us a typical underground house (to escape the heat and the cold) and then into an old hand dug mine.  Our tour guide was from Sligo!

The final exhibit was an actual piece of Opal in the wall of the mine.

Two of Alan's colleagues from the Northern Beaches branch were in town (John and Rob) so we had a Chinese meal with them as they told us about the dire financial straights the Ulysses Club was in.  They are losing money on everything they do and it needs to change according to John. (shades of Joe Hockey)