Any South Australians here?

I don't live there, but I've been there. That probably doesn't help though.

Did you know the spaceship from the film Pitch Black is still sitting on the outskirts of town?

As far as I know, SA is currently safe from bushfires. They've just had some bloody hot days, recently.

I've never been there, so can't help you much. All I know is that the town's name in the local Aboriginal dialect roughly translates to "Man underground" or something similar.

"White man's hole-in-the-ground"

At least, that's what they told us.

If you do need to mention fires in your novel, remember that they're generally referred to as bushfires in Australia, rather than wildfires.

My only claim to fame is I am from SA

I am South Australian and just reading the post about the fellow who has published a book. I wonder if it was called Digger by Max Anderson. It deals pretty much with gold mining. If Max spoke with you, you would be very lucky indeed. I bought his book based solely on how entertaining he was at a writer's festival. When I went up to pedi it was very hot as you would expect. There are always people at the pub (I think they would have more than there fair share of alcoholics) willing to tell you stories about the finds (Max has some sections on gold miners who do just that in his book) and my impression was that one or two families owned a lot of the businesses in town. It did not look like a good place to raise a family to me. But on the otherhand many of the blokes were very industrious. Probably a little too casual throwing dynamite around but you didn't hear it from me. I always liked the opalized pleziasaurs we have out or museum. Apparently the area around Cooperpedy was a nursery for little pleziasaurs so we have lots of little dudes, with some having been opalized.

Cathy C said:

Thanks, guys! I think I found my best source off-forum. I have a writer friend that I toured with who now lives in Ireland but was raised in South Australia. She has a travel writer friend who lives in Adelaide. He published a memoir a few years back about digging for gold and gems in the outback and he agreed to chat with me. He says he know the region pretty well, and I'll bet he does.

But feel free to add anything you can think of. All comments and ideas welcome!

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Is she cute? Reasonably single? I'm doing some research myself y'see....