The train noises lulled me to sleep as the movement of the carriage gently rocked the bed. Unfortunately, the motion had the opposite effect on my Princess. Despite ear plugs and a glass of port, she barely got a wink. It would have suited both of us if the train did not move at night. Although I find sleeping on a moving train fun, I would have preferred to have seen the country that we were travelling through. For me, one of the joys of train travel is that it joins places up in my mind. An aircraft trip is completely dislocating. A jolt. Travelling overland you can see the gradual changes in vegetation, the terrain, even the weather. You can experience how far it is from one place to another. You feel the journey and you comprehend how distant locations relate to each other. I mentioned this to Diane but I suspect there was a royal hating for my cheerfulness after a good night’s sleep.
Breakfast was particularly good. A Moroccan dish involving eggs baked in a rich and spicy tomato sauce served with toasted flatbread. Diane opted for a poached egg and was rather disgruntled with the soggy thing on white toast that arrived. Princess is very particular about her eggs. She likes them extraordinarily well done. Cooked to death, would be a fair description. Any part of the egg that has not solidified she refers to as slime. Between the slimy egg and the lack of sleep it seemed best for me to not talk at all. I watched the scrubby bushes go past outside while Diane concentrated on her cup of tea. Fortunately, the long silence was terminated by our arrival at the wonderfully named Coober Pedy. This is an opal mining town in the middle of nowhere and definitely an interesting place. For a start, its primary inhabitants are troglodytes.
Before getting into town, we were coached out to an area called “The Breakaways”. The first thing that struck me about this rather desolate area was, Wow, this looks like the Badlands from Mad Max. Turns out these genuinely are the Badlands. Mad Max was filmed here and the locals are very proud of the fact. One of the proud local guides took us on a short walk around. He showed us some of the flora and the explained the desert scenery with its mesas and buttes. An hour or so later we got back to the coaches where cold champagne was being served. This improved the mood of my Princess no end.
On the way into Coober Pedy we spotted a black snake crossing the road. Not sure what type it was but I liked to think it was deadly. Google thinks it may be a red-bellied black snake. Not very deadly but could still spoil your day. We also passed many, many areas of dirt mounds a few metres high. These were mine shafts. Narrow and not very deep. Drilled to test for opals. Most of them were abandoned. There were hundreds of these. Possibly thousands. Almost no cultivation, no fields, no vegetation. But, in every direction, as far as you could see, mine shafts.
We arrived in town and the coach turned off the road and into a trench. A big, deep trench. Three times the height of the coach. We disembarked at the bottom and stepped through a metal doorway into a mine. A long slope brought us down into the belly of the beast where we found tables laid for lunch. We were in a deep old mine that had been taken over by the Ghan company. Here they had built, in the complex of tunnels, a large restaurant and a sort of demonstration mine.
First came lunch. Diane and I got salad and falafel. We always get salad and falafel. It is quite tasty, don’t complain. There was plenty of wine. Everyone else got served slabs of black, strangely smelling meat. I imagined that this was some weird alien creature that had been hunted down in the Badlands by bald headed warriors wielding streel spears and riding customised dune buggies. It was served with potatoes and carrots.
After lunch, we went mining. Not real mining, obviously, although we were in a genuine mine so there was a level of authenticity. We looked at some tunnels, hammered lumps of dirt from the wall and checked for opals using a UV light. I found a display of explosives but was not allowed to use them. Eventually, having mined long enough to be quite sure that it was not the life for us, we went off to look at some houses. The first miners discovered that, deep in the mines, the temperature remained blissfully cool. Outside it can hit 40°C on a regular basis. Underground, a nice 20°C or so. No air-conditioning required. So, they dug a mine and lived in it and carried on mining. Eventually, they would have a spacious, comfortable house insulated from the climate above. Perfectly dark for sleeping at night and no chance of being disturbed by noise from your neighbours (unless they were letting off explosives). In the morning, after breakfast, you would go to work by simply walking down the stairs from your living room.
This troglodytic existence continues to this day. Most people live underground. Coober Pedy, on the surface, looks a little like a deserted quarry. If it were not for what appears to be a deserted spaceship, there would no evidence of people at all.
Back at the Ghan, we were greeted with snacks and more drinks. This made for a very pleasant interlude before finally boarding the train for the last leg. Tomorrow morning we would arrive in Adelaide after travelling through the night again.
The Ghan, 28 carriages long.