COOBER PEDY or 'Whitefeller in a hole'!

What an amazing place! I love Coober Pedy. I could live here ... well, perhaps not now, but 40 years ago it would have been just different enough to appeal to my unconventional side. 

The people are friendly, it’s not too big, and there’s an amazing array of services. Yet it still retains a quirky, off-beat sense of humour; where else does a boot adorn a street sign indicating the cemetery is up the hill? It doesn't take itself TOO seriously. Is that because of the mix of nationalities? Or the poor today: rich tomorrow attitude? Or the mesmerizing addictive nature of noodling for opal? Or because living underground sends you zany?

It was 1962 when I first traveled, by train, to Alice Springs in the centre of Australia. At that time the railway, and the Stuart Highway took different routes to those they take today. Towns like Woomera and Coober Pedy were way off the line to the west. Although I always wanted to return to Alice, it didn’t work out and I eventually found myself in Perth, then Fitzroy Crossing in 1969 – when IT still had its frontier trappings.

It’s no wonder lots of mad-cap films have been made in Coober Pedy. The scenery is like no other – flat with no trees, just heaps of dry, multi-coloured pyramid-shaped mullock heaps everywhere ... along with the strangely beautiful Breakaways scenery not far out of town. Props and sets from some of those films adorn the town – rockets and spaceships and other unidentifiable objects. There must be a famous coach parked somewhere!

Next year is Coober Pedy’s 100^th birthday ... it’s very tempting to return for it.