Andamooka

Andamooka is a very small opal mining town, east of Roxby Downs and not far from Woomera in central South Australia (head east from the Stuart highway). The population has reduced over the last few years and there are about 350 permanent residents.

You will see evidence of opal mining throughout the town with mounds of dirt that have been excavated from the mines during the search for the precious opals found in this area.

Attractions include

• a room built out of bottles that sits at the entrance to the PO, Opal store and souvenir shop. 
• Andamooka Opal - some pieces only found in this area  
• Tuckerbox Hotel made out of interesting stone work with lovely long timber bars. Nice hamburger for lunch - eat inside or on the covered verandah.
• Historic mining cottages in the main street - amazing how cool it was inside these small stone buildings.
• tour the opal fields
• noodle among the dumps - that is look for opals in the piles of excavated rock (check where you are able to look as you cannot go onto a mine site without permission)
• tour an underground house
• visit one of the many opal showrooms and buy directly from the miner or the cutter 

We found the locals to be very friendly. Lake Torrens is not far from Andamooka and this seem to be a popular destination as we saw a number of boats around the town.