Flinders Ranges to Coober Pedy, Thursday 26th July

6.00am the alarm went off, we wanted to start early and get going today as we were heading for a big drive to Coober Pedy. Skies were grey so it was ideal to get going quickly incase it started to rain. Dylan and I decided we would time ourselves to see how long it took us to pack up. Result 1 hour 45mins, not bad and that was the boys doing jobs too.  We might see if we can beat that at some stage. Lily is constantly hungry today in the car and keeps on wanting to eat, eat, and eat. We stop in Port Augusta and go to Coles supermarket for some supplies for the next couple of days. We have noticed, well actually the kids have, that there is starting to be more Aboriginals around the town. We have told them not to stare. As I write this, we have turned left at Port Augusta and are on a continuous straight stretch of road for about 50mins. Wait Mark, got excited, we veered left slightly and have had 2 kangaroos and an emu cross in front of us on the road. Long trip we arrived in Coober Pedy around 4,30pm and decided to stay at Ribas Underground Camping and Caravan Park. It was funny when we arrived because Coober Pedy looks so boring with just rock and the boys ask,” Is this where we are staying? And for how long?”, Its like being out in the desert. As we checked in they offer you a 50% discount if you then book an underground mine tour. So we did, it was at 7pm. We quickly put up the trailer and used the camp kitchen and cooked and ate there. There’s an underground T.V room and Internet, so we checked out that too, Lily wanting to play hide and seek in there. About 20 people joined the tour at 7pm and the guy who took it was very knowledgeable. We found out some great facts that 93% of the world’s opal is in Australia and 83% of that is in Coober Pedy. The boys took away a lot of information from doing the tour. So we are staying in the Opal Capital of the world. The following morning we will venture around the town and Dylan wants to buy an Opal. What are his chances of that? Some souvenirs maybe.