Coober Pedy
The forecast rain fell last night and much of this morning, but it was never heavy. I saw a couple of lightning flashes last night but they were not close to us. We stayed in the Bushtracker till 11am. Blue had to go out and then have the mud and gravel wiped away. He and Tilly were very good playing quietly together on the bed. She grabs hold of him before starting her cleaning regime, and he puts her whole leg in his mouth.
Some of our Roadie friends have gone on local tours of the area, but we decided touring in the Toyota will be preferable. I bought an $8 permit to allow me to drive into the Kanku-Breakaways Conservation Park tomorrow. We didn't need to go on wet gravel roads today. Instead we meandered around town stopping at the Big Rig lookout and eating waffles for lunch.
In most parts of the country mining operations are required to rehabilitate the land by distributing the tailings and landscaping the areas disturbed by mining activity. Coober Pedy seems to pride itself on looking untidy, having dangerous holes and mineshafts that are not filled in when the mine is abandoned, and hundreds of piles of rock and soil all over the place.
I spent much of the afternoon repairing my punctured scooter tyre. It was a bugger of a job, much harder than repairing bike punctures. Fortunately the Miners Hardware Store carries puncture repair kits.
