Fortunately, these are usually signed.  Though the Oodnadatta Track is famous for being isolated, we had seen many vehicles along it.  On this track, we did not see a single car for 166 kilometres.
About 50km out of Coober Pedy, the green landscape turned barren: an expansive plain of small rocks.  Approaching Coober Pedy from the east was like arriving at an alien outpost.  There were mounds everywhere, a pitted landscape with hundreds of shafts sunken into the ground, and houses carved into the hills.

We turned right on the Stuart Highway, and Coober Pedy started to look like a real town with streets and houses and shops.  We had been here more than twenty years earlier, and my, how it had changed.  It used to have this sort of frantic-pioneer atmosphere, now it was a slick little tourist town.  Every shop promised the visitor the “best opals in town for the best prices”.  I felt like a walking wallet as I went from one place to the other, checking out the opals.  Many of the opals were stunning, truly beautiful stones with little fires simmering in them.  There were also many didjeridoos for sale, why, I’m not sure.  Again, many of these were very nice.  Yet, I found the whole atmosphere of the place very depressing, which was unfortunate since I had had good memories of it.  We had camped in an underground dug-out here, and noddled for opals for several days, even finding an opalized shell.  All I wanted to do now was get out as fast as I could.  We found a caravan park and set up for the night.

We found a place to do some emailing, and after that, we had another walk around town.  In the Underground Art Gallery, we met an Australian man who reminded me of the Coober Pedy I remembered.  He had been living in the area for 28 years, and he mined and polished his own opals.  He lived in the side of a hill, and when he wanted to expand his square footage, he simply dynamited his way further into the rock.  He was very interesting, and I was glad to see that some of that spirit was still there.  He showed us some beautiful opals, and by the time we left, I felt much better about Coober Pedy.