Thursday, 5 May 2011

Day 26 - The Undergound Town

05/05/11

After sleeping in this morning went into town and picked up our mail (thanks Norm) after having it re-directed here.  Spent a couple of hours catching up on bills etc then get dressed ready for some exploring.



First up is Old Timers Mine - a great taste of the mining experience early last century.  The mine was deserted for 20 years until 2 guys decide to clean it out and open up for tourists.



Then off to a place caaled the Moon Rock Store - another eccentric place with an asian guy trying very hard to sell his wares - Sean ended up with a couple more rocks - he's decided he wants to be a geologist!



Next up visit a couple of the local churches which are all undergournd. First the Catacomb (Anglican) Church - shame we won't be here on Sunday - would have liked to have gone to a service here.  Nice church but the preacher looks dodgy.



Then the undergorund Catholic Church.



Next a tour underneath the Desert Cave Hotel where they have a great display of local history.  Some people actually walk down the stairs!




 Includes an underground bar and gaming area of course.



Part of the historical info includes this story of a man called Jim Shaw - this guy was a hard man - dragged his wheelbarrow for hundreds of kms around the outback and made money by challenging people to tests of strength including being able to pull against any 2 men at once - aparently he was never beaten.



After this went to visit a few of the opal shops around town - all very nice and Sean added to his rock collection.  Just outdie one of the shops is this thing straight out of starwars - no story attached to it - its just there - suspect its a prop from one of the movies made in the area.



Finally back to the van and off to happy hour with our fellow travellers - these guys are all heading in the same direction as us so very likely we'll be catching up again.  Once again all happening beneath a beautiful outback sunset.



The Campbells

1 comment:

Louise said...

Hi Campbells, Looks like you are having a great time. How is Rosie taking to it. We are having a cold spell here so you arn't missing much. Izzy has sent Sean an email. Take care and have fun.
Louise Peter and Izzy