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Coober Pedy

What a mess! They've completely trashed the desert. Everywhere you look there's cones of rubble from the mines. There are lots of danger signs everywhere warning you not too fall down the old mine shafts. I did have to ask why they didn't fill them in after they'd finished but couldn't get a decent answer. It's quite an interesting place as it goes, and you can see how hard people can make life for themselves if they really want to. The tour of the town was good and the underground houses are quite unique. All the trees in Coober Pedy have been brought in, there are no local ones, the first tree here was made by an artist from the burnt out remains of one of the first lorries to get here, this is a good reason not to park in the high street. The Breakaways are worth a visit if only to see what the landscape should look like without the miners. You can take a trip to see the dog fence while you're there.

Accommodation - We stayed in the Oasis Tourist Park. It's all a bit basic and you have to pay for the showers but then we are in the middle of the desert so waters a bit scarce. They do have a swimming pool in an old water storage tank, we didn't try it as we were too busy in the pub watching England loose.

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