Wednesday, 17. December 2008 21:40
I just read a post by Lis Sowerbutts on this topic and it really took me back. Several years ago we had a funny empty space in our lives and decided to fill it and chase a dream – to visit Australia.
A funny space. I had just quit my job. Our renters in San Diego had just moved out. We had been unnerved by earthquakes in LA and wanted to move. So, we moved back into our house in San Diego.
We moved, left the boxes and such where they stood, and flew to Australia for a month. Crazy? Yes, but we never seemed to have the time to go until this funny empty space showed up. We acquired Visas, booked an airplane, and took off on an adventure. Loads of fun.
Everything in Australia was interesting to us. We just went from place to place drinking it in. We had purchased four or five in-country flights from Quantas, but nothing else. We didn’t want to do a tour. We wanted to know Australia a little by time we returned.
Coober Pedy had always intrigued me. We left time in our trip for it, but Quantas doesn’t fly there. We happened to be in Adelaide for Easter and when the holiday was over, we took a Pioneer bus straight north. We traveled overnight, waking now and then when the bus stopped at stations in the Outback. When the bus arrived, lights went on, people and goods appeared and were put on and taken off, then it was off again through the darkness heading for Coober Pedy.
What an introduction to the Outback! We arrived in Coober Pedy in the early morning. Our hosts at Best Western met the bus and drove us to their underground motel. We were tired and I had the beginnings of an upper respiratory infection. Our hosts had put breakfast in our rooms. They told us we wouldn’t have a problem sleeping, and they were right.
The rooms went into the ground like walking into the side of a hill. Our rooms were laid out like a railroad flat, with one room following another, each further into the ground. First came the bathroom, then the kitchen, through which we entered, then the living area, then a long hall that led to two bedrooms. Our hosts explained that most people enjoyed living underground here. The walls were striped in a creamy white to red sandstone. The opening had been made by the same machines that drill the mines – but this opening was huge – the drill being the width of the rooms. The rock was stabilized, but otherwise the walls were just rock.
The bath and kitchen were in the front for a very simple reason – it simplified the plumbing. It was April (Autumn) in Australia and still hot in Coober Pedy, but the rooms were cool. We ate breakfast, then went looking for the bedroom.
I thought I would be claustrophobic being that far underground, but the air was pleasant and not stagnant. In every room a vent pipe rose to the surface and so there was a steady air circulation. Pretty neat. Underground motel rooms are very quiet. No traffic noise. No noisy neighbors, nothing. Just peace for sleeping.
Later that day we walked around town. The heat was dry and manageable at that time of year. Most of the homes and many of the businesses were underground. You could see vent pipes everywhere. Not only did we do the usual tourist shopping, we saw many opals, some huge, some small. One chunk of opal was colored from dark burnt orange to dark gold, transparent, and just sitting on the counter so you could look at it and touch it. Why had it never been stolen? Well, Coober Pedy is a long way from anywhere. The police could catch you before you found civilization. There was another reason. You’d need a crane to pick it up. No one was going to stick it in their pocket and sneak away with it.
Being surrounded by opal, it isn’t surprising that we bought some. I bought 10 small polished opals for a small price, just to have. Then we bought two beautiful triplets which are slices of opal sandwiched between clear quartz and a hard black obsidian. This allows you to buy a gorgeous opal of many colors without the huge cost that goes with a stone that has so much color.
Since we had bought the stones only, we went to a grocery where we found a little shop that would set the opals any way we wished. We only had the two big opals set, but for the first time ever, I got to design the jewelry I wanted. Marvelously fun! Still not as expensive in total as opal would be in a jewelry store at home. Opals make a splendid souvenir.
In a leap of faith, we left before the jewelry was ready. We had it shipped home, avoiding having to carry it through customs. No, we didn’t skip customs, we filled out a customs declaration to be shipped with the opal. It took a long time to arrive, but everything had been inspected, by both Australian and US customs. It was so much fun to open this best souvenir at home.
So, sleeping underground in Coober Pedy is my preference. If you don’t think you can, there are more expensive hotels where you can sleep above ground. I didn’t think to ask what it cost to cool the above-ground hotel.
Marilynne
