Andamooka Opal Fields

Rick, Eric, Helen and "Doc"

 Saturday saw a  "Doc" a local Andamooka miner come to the campground and get us to follow him out to his Opal Mine.  He has mined here for a very long time with some success. It was amazing to see how he had established his mine and the work it took to extract the opal.  The mine was huge, full of caves of varying length.It was a good introduction to the history of the opal.  We then jumped into our 4wds and followed him out to vast opal fields.  Many years ago big companies have turned over all these mounds of dirt with excavators and now its left to locals/tourists to have a go.  We all got down and dirty with our little hammers, chipping away at the ground, naturally we all had big expectations, but luck wasnt on our side.  There had been on previous days, good finds here.  We then followed Doc around the town and then had a meal with him and pumped him for info on the population etc.  This town is dying, very little tourist stuff here at all.  Even the local caravan owners walked away from their business.  Doc likes to take out the campers that come in, so that word of mouth will spread, and more people will make the effort to see Andamooka.   The homes here look like dilapadated dumps, people here live quite simply, amongst the dirt and dust, and its hard to understand why they can live the way they do.   The town is also full of wrecked cars, sadly for Rick, no vintage/hot rod/GTs were discovered on our drive around.We enjoyed our time in Andamooka, staying an extra day.   Had a couple of other motorhomes here and also a couple of Caravanners. On Sunday it was Ricks birthday and we decided to go for a "little" drive.  I wanted to see Lake Eyre South and Coward Springs so the two of us set off, it took 3 hrs of rough dirt/gravel road to get to see the Lake.  That was fantastic.  Just the tip of Lake Eyre as such, but it was good to see such a mass of water in such an arid place.   Then we drove further onto The Springs.  The site of a big railway landing once upon time, now just a couple of restored buildings amidst a camping area.  Their is a natural bore here which they have turnd into a"spa" pool and the water is lovely and warm.  Naturally we jumped in and enjoyed the warmth.  It was hugely relaxing.  Rick was the first to get out and I shouted out to him to pass me the camera.  I wanted a pic of him in his BIRTHDAY SUIT, after all it was his birthday but he wouldnt comply.  Hence I have posted a pic of him submerged.   Then it was time to have a quick picnic and a long drive back to Andamooka.  7hrs all up, on gravel and dirt, wondered sometimes if it would be worth it but we had fun, so thats what its all about.   We are packed up now and are heading off to the Pimba Roadhouse to camp up for the night and will then make our way to Coober Pedy.

Rick laying down on the job looking for opalsAdd caption

Camping with Andamooka in the background.

The house made of beer bottles

The birthday boy

We love it and want to bring it home!