Fixing Australia presented by Rapha - across the continent on a fixed gear bike » South Australia

Coober Pedy

Ross — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:08:28 +0000

Coober Pedy is a strange little place and hard to get a grasp on. It’s the Opal capital of the world, Australia produces some 90% of the worlds Opal and Coober Pedy is responsible for most of that. I personally don’t see the attraction with the gem but good quality natural opal doublets are worth more than diamonds carat for carat!!!

The name Coober Pedy comes from ‘kupa piti’ which means white man in a hole. The opal is mined from seams below the ground which are accessed through small holes. A hole about 1 metre in diameter is sunk into the ground and when the hole reaches opal dirt, the mine then branches out following the opal level. The aim is to locate a seam of a glassy gray potch which hopefully will take on quantities of gem opal. There is no sure way of finding opal, all you can do is sink a hole and hope for the best. And thats exactly what they do, in the mining area around the town there are thousands and thousands of unmarked holes everywhere so be very careful where you walk.

The mining in the town is exclusively small claims only – no big businesses. Anyone can stake a claim for a nominal fee and have a go. Sounds good but there is a large investment involved. Buying or renting equipment isn’t that cheap. Fuel is the huge cost now too, one miner told me that on his last forray he spent $40,000 in 6 months on diesel alone. Thats a large hole in the bank account for a small hole in the ground!!! He managed to extract about $100,000 of opal but you can see how it is a bit of a risk.

Hard Work

Ross — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:04:00 +0000

This evening I made it to Coober Pedy. I’m going to take a few days here to explore a little but I’m really looking forward to some rest. The wind has been making the ride north very hard. The last two days I’ve been averaging only 17km/h. According to the newspapers the wind is averaging over 30km/h with gusts of 60+.

This morning in particular was tough, it was very cold and raining when I got up. It wasn’t raining heavily but enough to get wet and really feel the cold. In the first two hours I only covered 29km with no stops but it eased a little after that thankfully. With about 30km to go to Coober Pedy and still raining, a guy in a pickup truck stopped and offered me a lift. I was sorely tempted, but 30km wasn’t too far left to go. I’m not sure what would have happened if I was 130km away .

North

Ross — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:29:55 +0000

From Port Augusta the Stuart Highway travels straight through the centre of the continent up to the coast in Darwin. As far as I’m aware there are no hills or ranges to cross on the way to Alice Springs, which is 1200km away and 500m above sea-level. So it’s not an exaggeration to say it’s going to be a pretty flat run. And for the first three days thats exactly what it’s been. There have been a few little lumps along the way, nothing worth taking about.

My second day north of Port Augusta I passed Woomera and stopped at Lake Hart. It was a pretty roadside stop, with loads of good quiet camping areas. Not long after I arrived, one guy stopped on his way to Darwin and he gave me some apples, oranges and a little chocolate. Some of the people I meet are brilliant.
Next morning there was barely a puff of wind and it felt wonderful. I got to the roadhouse at Glendambo in just about three hours, I was absolutely flying and after all the days struggling into head winds it felt good to be moving at such a nice clip. I was spinning at about 110 – 120 rpm. Honestly I haven’t felt this good on a bike in a quite some time, it seems that I may be getting some benefit from the windy conditions.