The sky was overcast early in the morning but cleared to a clear day. Our day started with a delicious breakfast of sausage, bacon and eggs.
Today was a free day with only breakfast and an evening meal forming past of the safari itinerary. One of the safarities was able to organise a tour of the mining area with one of the miners and sixteen elected to go.
We started at the local cafe and were provided with a tour of an underground house. The “Dugout” was actually a five bedroom house with high ceilings. The temperature was 22 degrees and is constant all year round. We were told there was still room to increase the size of the house if required.
We were then taken into the opal fields by one of the local miners. White Cliffs bears little resemblance to either Coober Pedy or Lightning Ridge We were told that there have been 50,000 holes dug over the years with the majority now filled. More surprising was the fact that there have been no deaths from mining. We had the opportunity to noodle and most of the people on the tour found small pieces of opal. We were able to collect about a dozen pieces including a small piece with a deep blue colour. We saw a mine that was being drilled and had close encounters with several other mines.
During the tour we were surprised to hear that there is no law enforcement in the area as there is no crime. Actually, other than the opal mining, there is very little at White Cliffs. The name White Cliffs comes from some distant hills that appear to have white cliffs when seen from a distance.
After returning to the cafe from the tour, we enjoyed a late morning tea before returning to the motor home to watch the AFL Grand Final. We were able to borrow a television from one of our friends and a group of us sat outside and watched the game.,
After happy hour, we all descended on the local pub for our evening meal with a “Come in Bad Taste” theme. Some of the outfits caused considerable enjoyment and laughter and we will conclude with “what happens on safari, stays on safari”. We have pictures but they will not be published here. After we finished our meal we watch the NRL Final. The result was not to our liking.