Coober Pedy - Opal mining

They mine for opal at Coober Pedy. Opals are a kind jewel that can come in lots of different colours. The name of the town comes from the Aboriginal words kupa piti that mean white man in a hole. There are piles of dirt everywhere where it was dug up to look for opals. The machine on the back of this truck is a blower, it's used to get the rubble out of the mine. They use all kinds of machines to help break up the hard rock and they use explosives too. We went into a mine at our campground.