Day 72 / 2014 - Coober Pedy and the Mail Run

 While in Coober Pedy we visted a number of the popular tourist sites. Most living and working in Coober Pedy is done underground but the shopping centre and service stations were all above ground. Opal selling is big with many a shop dedicated to this. A number of the shops also include museums and history tours of life working in a mine with some telling the storie of how opal was first discovered. There are a number of old mines in town setup for tourists to wander through such as Old Timers Mine and Umoona Opal Mine. There is even an underground bookshop and underground arts centre.

On the subject of food the Pizza resturaunt at Stuart Range Caravan park was great and the Bakery although didn't look like much made the best Vanilla slices we have eaten.

 Finally our Mail Run Tour was on. Unfortunately it was shortened a bit as the mailman was unable to get a permit to drive the William Creek road but the Oodnadatta road was open. The road was in fairly good condition with minimal muddy water crossings up to our first stop which was a cattle station about 100 km from Coober Pedy. We had a brief look at life on a cattle farm where they have to be self sufficent such as generating their own power and butchering the meat.

From here the road was a bit rougher all the way into Oodnadatta which took its toll on our bus breaking a fuel line. The driver had to make repairs while we had lunch at the pink roadhouse. We ordered an Oodnabuger with the lot which we only just managed to finish. Oodnadatta is a small town now

Repairs were finally made and we were underway again heading towards William Creek unfortunately half way down the track we had to turn around again as the line was still leaking. After another hour of repairs it was decided not to continue to William Creek as it would be well after Midnight before we would get back to Coober Pedy so we decided not go any further return direcly back to Coober Pedy. It was a bit of a shame we couldn't see all of the tour but it did give us an insite on life in the outback and we can now say we have been to Oodnadatta and see the Pink Roadhouse.