Off to See the Wizard - Coober Pedy Day 2

Our second day at Coober Pedy was a nice lazy day.

Our first port of call was the Serbian Church.

You walk down a ramp.

Which leads you to the main part of the church.  Look at the ceiling, with the curves crafted by the digging machines.  

The church is rather new, being consecrated in 1995.

There are beautiful carvings in the stone walls.

Behind you is a beautiful window, which is actually at ground level outside.

There is another ramp, which leads you up to a balcony, which contains the full immersion baptismal font.

The whole place is beautiful.  There is quiet background music, which also adds to the atmosphere.

Our next place to visit was “Underground Books”.  It is only open two mornings a week, so we were happy to have timed it well.

Sadly, we were rather underwhelmed.  There were next to no books on the shelves.  There was some stationery and souvenirs, but everything was covered in a thick layer of dust and some of the postcards had been there so long that they were very faded.  Such a pity, as it could be a nice quirky business, especially if it was a second hand book store.

There is a coffee shop next door with a rather quirky planter.

After our visit the previous day, we wanted to have a better look a the Umoona museum.  It was interesting to see the way a boomerang is made.

As the area had in prehistoric times been under the sea, there have been fossils found in the area.  This is a photo of Eric, a Plesiosaur that was discovered in the area in 1987.  The South Australian Museum couldn’t afford to buy him at the time, so he was bought by a Sydney Developer for $200,000.  The developer went bankrupt and then Eric, after a nationwide appeal for donations, was bought by the Australian Museum, which he is now on permanent display.

This is what he would have looked like.

Some fossils have become opalised.

It was interesting reading all the information boards about the early history of the region.

Following the tourist trail, we then headed up to a hill to see The Big Winch.  This was built in the 1970s by Claus Wirres to attract tourists.  He was an opal miner, turned opal cutter and buyer and seller.

There is also an old “Blower” on display.  These were invented at Coober Pedy and are used by the miners to extract the soil from the mine to then see if there is any opal present.  In effect, they are a big vacuum cleaner.  They suck up the rock and dirt filling the big bucket at the back of the truck, fine dusty soil is them blown down a chute away from the machine.  As the bucket fills, it is emptied onto the ground, creating all those little mounds of dirt you see everywhere around Coober Pedy.

The other structure on the hill is a steel tree.  Apparently, a fellow ordered a load of steel to be delivered from Adelaide in 1970. Unfortunately, the truck caught fire and burned with such ferocity, due to full LPG cylinders, that the steel was warped and unable to be used for building material.  He subsequently built a steel tree for his three kids to climb.  

We then wandered down the Main Street, where there is a beetle on display.

While travelling, you always have to pop into the supermarket.  We were surprised at how good the IGA was.  There was lovely fresh veg and the meat section won the award for the best meat section of an IGA supermarket in South Australia in 2021.  Not bad.

This is for Lou.  You could even buy chestnuts.  Not what I expected.

Our afternoon was rather lazy, back at the van.  Me catching up on my blog and Mick trying to work our why our fridge had suddenly stopped working on the 12v. It is working fine on gas or 240V, just not 12v.  He has tried everything that he could, and he is rather handy in that sort of thing, but no luck.  We will have to find an auto electrician when we get to Alice Springs.

In the late afternoon, we returned to the Big Winch hill for the sunset.  There were quite a few of us up there.

The view to the east looked lovely in the golden light.

As the light faded, it took on a totally different appearance.  So much softer.

While we waited for the sun to set, it was fun to see a little kid climbing the steel tree, the purpose for which it was originally intended.

I had fun taking photos as the sun set.  Humour me.

In the evening, we listened to some more of  “The Ruin” and I completed the stitchery on a further six blocks for the Blue Quilt, so my One Monthly Goal has been achieved. Phew. No photos as yet.  I may still get some more completed.

The Highlight of the Day for Mick was the Serbian Church, and in particular the music playing softly.  For me it was the silhouette photo I took of Mick at sunset.

There was also a lowlight to the day.  We had a phone call to tell us that Mum has had a fall.  Fortunately, after a brief visit to hospital to check her out, there doesn’t appear to be any injuries, which is a relief for us all.