Today we enjoyed a tour with Gunter the Hunter. He was a crusty old German who had been an opal miner all his life - a great character!! He liked cruising at 120KM's on the bitumen and 100 on the windy gravel roads. Boy did we need a drink at the end of the tour. We went into the diggings and saw a few of the 4 million holes that are drilled as test holes for the opals. It was amazing how these miners lived and today it is the same manner as yesteryear except for a few modern machines. There are no big industrial companies involved only private miners. The miners only select 5% of their Opals as being suitable for sale. Gunter would work from May to October and then go and live in Bali for the rest of the time. There must be some money to be made!!
We found Coober Pedy to be a very unique and quirky town. We really enjoyed our stay here.
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