If you are wondering why it has been a bit quiet on the blog lately, it is because I have been away in the Australian outback. Yes, there really is a lot more to Aussie than Surfers Paradise. Anyway, speaking of quiet - we stayed underground in Coober Pedy. This seems a bit odd, but in a mining town in the desert where temperatures can reach 45º C it makes perfect sense. Over half the townsfolk live underground. Here is a picture of the hallway to our bedroom. The bathroom is above ground, and at this depth (about 6m below) the place is not just unusual to look at, but also acoustically interesting. If anyone is down there making noise the sound reverberates (just like in a bathroom), but most of the time we were the only ones there and it is dead quiet - there is absolutely no background noise so it is exactly like being in an anechoic chamber...until someone speaks (then you notice how live the sound is). Quite different to anywhere else.
