As per almost every day now, I was an early bird waking up around 6am; a quick shower in a very disgusting communal bathroom and we all gathered for breakfast. The food during the entire six days has been great. Our tour leader managed to always provide good, healthy food which combined with lots of physical movement made the entire journey very pleasant and ‘light’. We went visiting the museum of the town, obviously underground, which explains the origin of the town, the story of the first pioneers, the tools used, some model of underground houses, the way the opal is search and found, and ultimately the way it is used for jewellery with a very interesting display in the adjacent shop of some earrings, bracelets, rings etc.
What have I understood after this interesting 3 hours-tour? That I will definitely never be a miner!
After the museum, we all went to visit a sort of hospital for injured kangaroos. Despite the fact that it might look like something specifically built to bring tourists in (and that the population of kangaroos in Australia is not in danger), the goal of this little organization is really respectful: injured kangaroos (mostly by cars) and/or small orphans who lost their mother, are here looked after and left free again in the outback once (and If) they are ready to look after themselves.
After lunch we left the city with a brief stop at the house of ’Crocodile Henry’. This guy, who died a couple of years ago on his eightyish, was a real character. Originally coming from a noble family in East Europe, he moved to Australia where he started hunting crocodiles and eventually moved not too far out of Coober Pedy. His ‘house’ is inside a massive rock, and it was considered a kind of ‘Mecca’ for all the tourists and backpackers who travelled that way. They all managed to stay there overnight for free as long as they were willing to leave behind one of their item. Anything... (however women were kindly asked to leave either panties or underwear with their signature on it!). The place looked like a post-atomic environment with all these curious objects all over and recycled materials used for many different purposes. This guy apparently has inspired the director of the famous movie ‘Mr Crocodile Dundee’. It was really an incredible place worthy the little de-tour from the beaten track!
We left the place and we continued driving north. Around 6.30pm we pulled over and we drove approx. 100 meters off road. We practically were in the middle of nowhere. No houses, no buildings and only one car every hour or so that could be heard very far away. We camped there. We lighted a fire and we cooked some delicious gnocchi. Eating gnocchi in front of a fire in the Australian desert is exactly what I call: RANDOM!
The night was amazing and the bright full moon in the sky was illuminating the surroundings with its cold grey rays. It was terribly cold, compared to the rest of the day where the temperature hit 35 degrees. We all stayed close to the fire, singing some songs, telling some funny stories until we gradually embraced the night. I didn’t sleep very much. I was so overwhelmed by the silence and the atmosphere that my sleep was often interrupted by my own thoughts. It was a night where there were no toilets, no TV, no artificial light, no showers or other kind of usual stuff. It was just sleeping in the desert with a sleeping bag in front of a fire. F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C!!!
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