Coober Pedy | Travels with my camera in Oz

We had a night in the desert at a rest area on our way up the boring Stuart Highway before reaching Coober Pedy which is a very outback town surrounded by hills of dirt that have been dug up in the never ending search for opal. All those who can live underground to escape the summer heat and even the churches are too. We took a tour down on old mine at our caravan park and have a bit more of an understanding of what goes on. To find out where to dig their holes they use divining rods which pick up the slopes where the silica that becomes opal might gather. The little pyramids of dirt everywhere are amazing and stretch for miles. We were told it is not safe to just fill them in again.

Night sky at Bon Bon

Coober Pedy

Underground church

Divining for slips where opal can gather

We headed out to the Breakaways in the afternoon to catch the golden light on the hills that have eroded in colourful ways.

We hadn’t had enough of colourful hills so headed to The Painted Desert on a reasonable dirt road and camped on a patch of dirt at the nearby homestead.

It always amazes me how many birds of prey you see in the desert country. I don’t know if there are more of them or they’re just more visible here but I try and photograph them when I can.