Coober Pedy

My mom has been here for the past 3 weeks for a very nice visit. We have had tons of fun together and went on several trips. Towards the end of her trip we decided to visit Coober Pedy, Opal Capital of the World. We decided t0 take an overnight bus trip there. I would not recommend it. Anywho. Coober Pedy was basically a small town in the middle of the outback. The only shops were about a dozen jewelry stores selling opal jewelry. We ended up getting some real pretty mosaic pendants. We got into town at 5:40 am. Yep, that was due to the fun bus ride. Of course nothing was open, But we were lucky to find a bakery that opened up for us and we had a nice morning and had some very good apple cake. Then of course we explored the shops to find the best jewelry. Then we took a tour that took us all over town and in to the outback and the opal fields. It was really good. Our tour guy was an opal miner and he had lived in the town for over 40 years, so he had tons of good stories. His real name was some unusual Greek name, but everyone in town called him Jimmy the Runner. (He runs marathons). Anywho, enough talk, here are some pics of Coober Pedy and the Outback.

Me and Mom in the Outback. This area all used to be an inland sea.

This is a mining field. All those hills are from the shafts they dig to find opals.

Did I forget to mention they live UNDER GROUND here?????

Look closely at this graveyard.... Do you see the keg as a tomb stone???? The stone says something like Stay and have a drink on me.

Not a very big town, huh?