Everything is Australia is on a grand scale. You see cattle farms, that as you drive by at 60 mph that go on for hours, hundreds of square miles in size. The only other thing you see are kangaroos. Very surprised by the size of some of the kangaroos, some 6-7-8 feet tall. Most vehicles in this area seem to be equipped with Kangaroo guards on the bumpers, and extra gas tanks as once you get in the Outback, there is no place to fill up.
Once we arrived at the mining site, you see the lifestyle. About 30 people who mine opal have formed a small community and they are completely independent from the world, cell phones don't work, only electric is if you have a generator, mail delivery twice a week, you have a water tank that collects water, and the homes I would describe as if a trailer and a tent had a child, this is what they would produce.
That first night the 30 something group held a BBQ in my honor. They set a BBQ fire going larger than any I had ever seen, it had to be 200 feet across, and got to meet everyone that first night. Being from New York, I was amazed by the sky. I'm so used to have the light pollution of a normal city hiding the stars, but here you don't find that. You can see every constellation in the sky in all their natural elegance.
Life here is hard, during the summer months temperatures can reach 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) with lows around 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius), they tell me during the summer months, you always want to wear gloves as you can burn your hands just touching a rock. Mining is generally halted in the summer as its too hot, and even during the winter many miners I met work 5 or 6 hours a day because of the extreme conditions.
More to come.....
No comments:
Post a Comment