Coober Pedy: Amazing Underground City in South Australia

Opals Produced at Cober Pedy Mines

Coober Pedy is one of the most unique city which was built in under ground. This town is situated in northern South Australia which is 846 kilometers north of Adelaide. This city is called Opal City. Opals were first extracted in the year 1916. There are around 250,000 mine shaft entrances located here.It's not the only opal mining town in Australia, but it is by far the biggest and produces more opal than any other place in the world. But you wouldn't guess it when you first look at the place, because most of the people in Coober Pedy live underground.

Underground Homes -1 

Underground Homes - 2

The Australian Outback has some brutal living conditions, and much of the country is uninhabitable by humans. In Coober Pedy, the scorching heat would scare off almost any settler - except for the presence of a huge lode of opal in the area. The summer is very hot since it lies in the desert region over-100F temperatures but it can get quite cool in the winter. Many residents to live in caves bored into the hillsides which they are called as dugouts. A standard three-bedroom dugout home with lounge, kitchen, and bathroom can be similar price to building a house on the surface. However, dugouts still remain at a constant temperature, while surface buildings need air-conditioning, especially during the summer months, when temperatures often exceed 40 degrees Celsius. These homes with their rose coloured sandstone walls are gorgeous.

A painted Home in Coober Pedy

Here is the location of these dugouts.

Mining started in 1916. The original miners had filled the shafts and hidden it, so that they come back later and get the rest of Opal. There is still plenty of Opal left in it. Unfortunately, the original minors never returned back. These hidden shafts were accidentally discovered during the excavations for a home extension. You're not allowed to do any opal mining in the town itself any more, but you can always extend your home. The owners decided not to recover and sell the opal some of the pieces visible are easily worth tens of thousands of dollars. You can even find out what is required to stake a claim and to start opal mining yourself.

Underground Hotel in Coober Pedy

In 1922 an attempt was made to solve the scarcity of water by building a two million liter water tank. Unfortunately there was not enough rain until 1925 to enable the tank to be filled. Living conditions improved rapidly and by the mid 1920s the field had two stores, a post office, firewood was available for $2 per dray load, and a Miner's Right could be obtained for fifty cent per year giving the right to peg out an area of fifty meters by fifty meters. Poor results on the opal field during the depression of the 1930s and drought conditions in general resulted in the area once again being almost deserted until 1946 when a large find was made by an Aboriginal woman.

Underground Jewelry Shop in Coober Pedy

ENTHUSIASTS are suggesting that shale oil reserves thought to lie beneath the South Australian opal town of Coober Pedy. The possible existence of an estimated 233 billion barrels of shale oil. Some are suggesting that this discovery could make Australia self-sufficient in energy once again. Some are pointing to the ‘‘shale oil renaissance’’ in the US and suggesting that similar benefits from cheap domestic energy could rejuvenate Australian industry and help win jobs back from Third World sweatshops.

Derweze, A Door to Hell in Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is seventy percent desert – the Karakum Desert, to be exact. The nation is divided into five administrative divisions, the second largest being the Ahal Welayat which is located to the south-central portion of the country. Ahal is almost entirely desert and contains just fourteen percent of the country’s population, but it is also rich in natural resource deposits. Within this region, you will find an interesting place called Derweze or Darvaza (A Door).

The Derweze area is rich in natural gas. When Soviet scientists discovered a cache of oil reserves near the town of Derweze in the Karakum Desert, drilling quickly commenced.  While drilling in 1971, they selected this location to drill a hole which is filled with natural gas. The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of 70 metres which is approximately 230 feet. The camp is filled into a poisonous sinkhole. Amazingly no lives were lost in the disaster, but large quantities of methane gases were released into the atmosphere. This created a significant environmental concern while frightening the health of the Derweze villagers. When methane (a dangerous greenhouse gas) is burned, it is a greater contributor to global warming than carbon dioxide. To avoid poisonous gas discharge, the geologists determined the best course of action was to set the crater on fire. Burning off the excess methane over several days would be far cheaper and safer than using expensive equipment for extraction.  But the gas is still burning today. Unfortunately, initial estimations of the site’s reserves were extremely low; when the scientists lit the gas, it erupted and didn’t stop burning. Locals quickly dubbed the site the “Door to Hell” and the Gas Crater of Darvaza.

The unpleasant smell of burning sulphur permeates the area for hundreds of yards in every direction while its recesses spit boiling mud with orange flames thrashing high from the molten rock. Over forty years later, the fire still burns. The President of Turkmenistan ordered the village of Derweze to separate in 2004. Leader Saparmurat Niyazov appealed the village was an unpleasant sight for tourists to the crater. In April of 2010 Turkmenistan leader Berdimuhamedow visited the Door to Hell and ordered it to be closed. The exposed burning crater hinders additional drilling in the area rich in natural resources. With the crater closed, Turkmenistan could resume drilling and provide more revenue. But by July of 2013 no action has been taken and the Darvaza gas crater fire still burns.

Since the disaster in 1971 there has been little exploration in the Karakum Desert. Turkmenistan has concentrated its effort in the Caspian Sea at Dauletabad-Donmez by the Iranian border and along the Amu-Darya Basin bordering Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan has the fourth-largest reserve of natural gas in the world, and currently produces 75 billion cubic meters each year

The rulers of that country has announced to clean up the site for further exploration of natural gases.. But until the country is given financial assistance or pressured politically, it appears unlikely the Door will be closed any time soon.

Trans Global Highway - Connecting more than 100 countries

Linking Five Continents and More Than 100 Nations, The Trans Global Highway would physically link by highways and by rail transport, all continents and major population centres, with the present exception of Australia, which, in the future, may be linked via very long suspended, pre-formed, suspended underwater tunnels from extending from the Philippine island chain.

Trans Global Highway Connecting more than 100 nations

The advantages of the Trans World Highway are huge. Firstly, allowing rapid transport of raw materials and finished goods from near and far. In addition to this it will pave a way for establishing electric power cables as well as communication cables. It is also helpful for laying gas, oil and water pipelines. Let’s say if the Arab countries have full scarcity of water we can pump the fresh water from Europe. The Trans Global Highway with water pipelines from areas of abundance to dry areas, could benefit people.

The Trans Global Highway would definitely increase global security through mutually dependent trade and commerce between the connected countries. As with almost all major public works projects, such as the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, the Chunnel, the Alaska Pipeline and others, many people will argue that the tunnels, bridges and roads are not necessary. Some may present counter arguments stating that existing air and sea transport is just fine. Further, the cost may at first, may seem astronomical, but in retrospect, every one of these visionary projects has greatly helped mankind in commerce and progress. Ultimately, the Trans Global Highway will be constructed at least the ground work of planning, today. The primary obstacles are in political terms. Many bordering countries are presently at rivalry situation with one another, and may not allow free moving highway to run through their territories, even though there are vast economic benefits.

Bridge Constructed across Bering Straight

Imagine driving your car from Scandinavia down to Europe, across Germany, France and Spain, then through the Gibraltar tunnel to Africa. After surrounding the continent, you dispense from the Eastern Mediterranean and drive across much of India and China before moving up the Pacific Rim to the Arctic. Proceeding via the Bering tunnel, you join the Pan-American Highway across Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central America. Driving over the elevated highway which spans the Darien Gap, you arrive in Colombia. Then you visit nations of South America before reaching the southern tip of the continent. Most important, such a global highway will bring the people of the world together as never before, promoting peace and prosperity and enhancing quality of life for billions. Though there is a problem within the countries whether to choose left hand side driving or right hand side driving.

Proposed tunnels on Trans Global Highway

It should be noted that presently, there are many tunnels around the world that are as long as the longest tunnel needed to complete the Trans-Global Highway. The "Chunnel" linking England with Europe is approximately 31.34 miles (50.45km) long, the ocean tunnel Seikan linking Hokkaido with Honshu in Japan is 33.46 miles (55.86km) long, while the new Swiss Gotthard tunnel through the Alps, currently under construction, will be 35.7 miles (59.60km) long. There are in fact, 5 tunnels over 30 miles in length, in existence today.

Unprotected sex - Prime reason for population explosion of India.

When we ask anyone what could be the reason for population growth in India? And the most popular answers you will get are uncontrolled birth rate, decrease in death rate and child marriages etc. Perhaps, these are the possible reasons. But the prime reason is because of the consequence of having sex without any protection. Some people believe that child marriage is the major one. But I totally deny it because it doesn’t matter at what age you marry. Let’s look at this issue in to very deeper perspective. We will go to the conclusion step by step.  As we see the graph below, the population has increased tremendously between 1970 and 1990.

India Population Growth - 2011 Census

Sex without Protection

Firstly, there are no entertainment sources during those days not even tourism as it used to be more expensive. The only entertainment source is Sex. Men used to marry or attracted towards marriage only because of the fact that they can participate in sex regularly. As men used to marry between 18 and 21 and they don’t know whether they can without condoms. Even, if they know about it they don’t follow it because of their religious beliefs. So every time they participate in Sex they used to give birth to a baby. And the women folk who bear the brunt whether they enjoy wholesome sex or not, they has to participate and they think that babies are gifts from god and it is their duty to obey their husbands.

Religious Beliefs

Furthermore, the rural population in those days is more when compared to that of urban. As India’s culture, runs very deep and far back in history, most people still used to follow ancient beliefs. So they believe “God said ‘Go forth and produce’ and we just went ahead and did exactly that.” As a result, a lot of families have more children than they actually want or can afford, resulting in increased poverty, lack of resources, and most importantly, an increased population. If don’t believe this fact look at the families during 1970 and 1980. They used to have 6 children, 8 children and so on. I have heard about a family who has 12 children.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned trend was happened from Kashmir to Kanyakumari knowingly or unknowingly. As a result the population was exploded exponentially. Government started measures by distributing free condoms, family planning and more. But the people don’t utilize them because of their superstitiousness. And the result is huge population.

World's longest and heaviest train - Guinness record

The world’s longest and heaviest train ran on Jun 21^st 2001 between Newman and Port Hedland which holds the Guinness record with train length 7.353 Kms and 99,732.1 Tonnes.

World's Longest Train with length 7.353 Kms

Newman a small isolated town, located about 1186 km north of Perth and 9 km north of the Tropic of Capricorn, is a town in the Pilbara region. it is a modern mining town with suburban-style homes providing a stark contrast to the surrounding reddish arid desert area.

Newman to Port Hedland Map

A privately-owned railway, the Mount Newman railway, was constructed linking it to Port Hedland which itself was upgraded to handle shipment of the ore to the world market. The ore trains are typically over 2 km long. The train consists of following configuration

Train Configuration

The train design was obtained by using the computer generated train simulator to estimate the optimum train configuration based on the load. The journey initially started 4.40 mins late due to defective couple in the track. Later on two additional locomotives used for an about 1 km to top of the uphill. This entire train journey was operated by BHP. Usually BHP operates 9 loaded trains per day. Particularly for this train LOCO Trail 3 technologies were used which can control the remote power distribution in other locomotive which are connected in between the cars. It transmits the electronics signals from the front and top 

locomotive.

Total Length of the train:	7.353 Kms
Total Wagons	682
Gross mass:	99,732.1 Tonnes
Total mass excluding locomotives:	98164.5 Tonnes
Total Distance travelled:	276 Kms
Total running time:	10 Hours 4 minutes
Locomotive Model:	General Electric Ac6000 CW
Locomotive Engine Power:	4474Kw
Fuel Capacity:	20820 litres

What is the Best age to get married and give birth

If you want to marry, then marry by the age of 25 years. A recent study by doctors suggests that it is also equally required to think about the age of couple for giving birth to kids. Now a day’s most of the people who are unmarried are sticking to computers in the office and when they get leisure they are just hanging around.

Current Trend

Most of the youth are thinking not to marry during their 20’s because they want to earn as much of reputation in their organization and also create a secured life before having kids. Everyone feels that marriage is a big burden and it disturbs their career goals. As a result its general tendency of the youth to get marries after 30 years.

What doctors suggests?

But doctors are suggesting that this attitude is not good one. Earlier there has been a lot of research done on the women but not on men that which is the best age to give birth to a child. But there is no much evidence on men which is the best time to marry and which is the best time to give birth to a child.

What research tells?

After having a lot of research on 10,000 people by California University, that all the conditions that a women will applies to men as well. According to their research, a man who has an age within 25 years of age has good quality of hormones, DNA when compared that of men who has 30 years of age. They are suggesting men to become as father during their 25 or 26 years. During this age the sexual hormones and sexual organs are very good in terms of count.

What happens for a late marriage?

After the age of 35 the production of number of hormones and DNA will gradually decreases. As a result there are more chances of miss carry by pregnant women and delayed pregnancy. Consequently the children who give birth during that age are very weak and not healthy. This is more evident that children will face much health problems like child behaviour problem neuroscience and brain related problems. It is also possible to dwarfish.

How about the children?

Researchers of University of California tell about the behaviour in children, from the approximately 50 million people on issues related to the investigations on the infant. They easily become sick of if the man who gives birth with age 40 years which accounts 59 percent of children. Women over 30 years of age, the children of men over 40 years old and suffers from many illnesses. The Genetic disorders that may spread to children from their parents are the result of late marriages.  The fact that why the some girls are not healthy because of late marriage by men.

In conclusion it’s good to marry during age of 25 Years. If men delays then there are more chances that he can lose a lot. Youth should always think about the marriage age and they should think about the right time to give a birth. If you want your child to be handsome or beautiful with good healthy values then it’s better to give birth during mid-twenties.

5 Healthy benefits of Drinking Beer

If you are beer drinker then you should rejoice yourself by looking at this post. Yes the proven medical research shows that beer is good for health. It is very good for your Heart, Kidneys, and Brain and for your bones. Research from Tufts University proved so many benefits from beer. However Over drinking of beers results in Beer belly. Let’s look at the benefits of beer.

The main sources of ingredients of beer are water, malted Barley and Hops. Starch along with Maize can also be used.

Low Heart Risk

A research in the year 2011 which involves over 200,000 people at Italy proved that 31% reduced risk of heart disease who consumes a pint of beer daily. There are so many studies proved that moderate drinking of beer reduces the risk of heart attacks by 25 to 40 percent. A beer a day can help raise levels of HDL, the “good” cholesterol that helps keep arteries from getting clogged.

Stronger Bones

Beer contains high levels of silicon which is co-related to bone. If you have a beer or two then your bones will become stronger. If you consume more Beer then there are more chances of fracturing of your bones. Basically the strong beers contain high content of silicon.

Clean Kidneys

If you drink a bottle of beer then there is reduced risk of developing stones in out kidneys. As beer contains high content of water, which helps to keep kidneys working. This is possible that the hops contained in beer help check leeching of calcium from bones.

Boosting your brain

A research study on 12000 individuals who are older proved that their brain responded quickly than before by 40%. If the amount of drinking increases by three fold then the reply from brain is reduced by 60%. This research also proved that by taking a pint of beer will relax your sensitive brain nerves.

Additional Benefits

There are other additional benefits associated with beer as mentioned below.

1.          Reduced Cancer Risk
2.          Improving Vitamin Levels
3.          Reduced risk of Diabetics
4.          Lower blood pressure

In conclusion, beer good for your health only if you consume moderate amount of alcohol. It is suggestible to choose a beer which has a flavour and always feels good for you. So drink a tasty beer and don’t eat the junk food in the bar which will result in beer belly.

Why Yoga has more benefits than Aerobics?

Most of the western countries are switching to Yoga from Aerobics or Gym. Recent studies prove that Yoga can make your body more comfortable than your regular Aerobics and heavy stressful Gymnasium.  Since yoga not only shapes your body but more importantly on your mind. Recent study from University of Berkeley tells that doing yoga for 20 minutes is more than enough than doing Aerobics for one hour.

A set of 12 powerful yoga Asanas that provide a good cardiovascular workout in the form of Surya Namaskar

How effective it is?

Aerobics is to work on each part of the body unconnected where all this parts are connected to a single dot called your mind. Instead of lifting weights, try to lift your own body alone with the help of mind and breathing. While you are doing yoga your posture will move from one to other along with your breathing. The harmonizing of your body the help of your limbs will make your muscles stronger.

How much I need to struggle?

There will be no struggle in doing yoga. In aerobics everyone looks at how much time did you spent a day rather than how much your body and mind relaxed. Aerobics people use to be in aggressive mode in doing the exercises fast and usually they compete with others. But whereas in yoga most of the asana are more relaxed and make your mind and body very peaceful. It’s very easy to learn Yoga as there are number of videos and book available on internet for free of cost.

Mayurasan - A Peacock like posture

Any injuries?

There more chances of injury in Aerobics than in Yoga. In aerobics you are trying to stress your body muscles as much as you can but in case of Yoga you are doing exercise along with your mind. You will pay attention to your mind all the time and if you will make sure that your body is comfortable in doing any Asana. If you feel pain you can get rid of it. As a result you will not have any injury. This is how why Yoga is so special and every one of all ages can do it comfortably.

Yoga saves your time and Money

As I told you earlier, 20 minutes of is good enough to make your body keep fit. As you save your time as well as money, you can do some other daily activities. If we really talk about money, you are saving a lot. There is no need to purchase treadmills, stair steppers or at least a jump rose for doing Yoga. Your body is your equipment. In addition to that for doing Exercises you need certain costumes to start with. But yoga it doesn’t have any special requirements of what type of clothing you should wear. It doesn’t require a mat also; you can simply do it on a grass or carpet.

Shavasan - intended to rejuvenate body, mind, and spirit.

Your weight Loss tool

Yoga is the best tool for losing your weight. Its waste to put hefty of money on weight loss programmes. By regularly practicing Yoga and meditation, you’re eating habits will change; your approach towards life will change and you will try to avoid alcohol and junk food which are the major sources of weight gain. You will appreciate your body and you can notice those changes.

Want to do differently

Yoga can be different in every single day whereas in aerobics you are doing the same exercise repeatedly but with increasing the number of times. It is so different that you can throw a challenge on your body to balance everything on your hands (Mayur Asan). Want to relax your body and mind more? Do Shavasan and meditation. Do you want to clean your stomach and intestine? Do Shankha Prakshalana. Do you want to clean your Nose and air passage ways in your head? Do Net (Hatha Yoga) There are variety of Asana (Postures) in order to do something different.

You think this post is completely biased towards Yoga. But I tried to say the differences between Yoga and Aerobics and in every aspect Yoga is more fruitful than Aerobics.

Australia, Best Country to Immigrate?

         People immigrate to various countries in order to search for good life style and better work opportunities. If their liveable conditions are not suitable in their home country or if there aren’t enough opportunities in their country for their skills, people tend to move from one country to another. Since travelling is very in these days, it’s not hard for them to immigrate. Usually any person travel on work not more than 3 countries and he tries to settle in one among the best country. India and China are the top two countries for the sources of immigrants.

             According to IMMIGroup it has listed the top 10 friendly countries to immigrate which are Canada, Australia, New Zealand, USA, UAE, Norway and Germany. As per the HDI Value  Australia is the better country to immigrate. Let’s look at the things what makes Australia different from America and why it is the best place to immigrate.

Immigration Rules

Australian immigration is very transparent; it’s not like lottery system as in USA. If there are slots available you will get the visa to work for sure. You can get Permanent Residency (Green Card) from Offshore that means from your home country itself. But for USA it will take 6-8 years after being there in USA. It is easy to get Australian Citizenship once you got PR, you will get in 4 years. Nowadays students are gaining citizenship. Once you attain citizenship, you can visit 167 countries without visa or with visa on arrival.

Security

Australia is the most secured country in terms of terrorism or invading by other countries. For any terrorist it will take long time for him to travel from other world to Australia. If he plans such activities the consequence of disaster will be very low and it is foolishness to throw a bomb where people density is very low. There are very stringent policies in Border Security Force of Australia like as it is in USA. However, USA is very prone to various terrorist attacks. Not only Terrorist attacks but also shootings and firings. Since, USA is a weapons manufacturing country and it’s legal to acquire a licence for pistol, so there will be more incidents on a daily basis which lead to deaths of innocent people usually immigrants. Usually the people scared of themselves to go outside during night. But in Australia you can go anywhere at any time without any problem. The chances are only 0.05% if you get hurt by someone.

Climate

Australia is famous for Beaches and Beers. Yes, you can swim deep into the Pacific Ocean on east Australia and Indian Ocean on west Australia. Usually the water here is very warm when compared to the sea water around USA. It will be really cold to play in USA beach. Since Australia is a small continent separated from polar regions by the Southern Ocean, Australia does not get the harsh snaps of polar air. The continents in the Northern Hemisphere have a considerable temperature contrast between summer and winter, whereas in Australia the temperature contrast is small. Usually the winters are not less than 8 degrees and the maximum temperatures will be 30-40 degrees. You can go outside without any jumpers or sweaters. It’s a very friendly climate.

Healthcare

The US spends more on healthcare than Australia. But many citizens still suffer under exorbitant costs. Healthcare is free for Australian citizens through government scheme Medicare. In USA it is very costly for any medical treatment. The Australia lifestyle is good for you and which will make their life expectancy to 80 Years. Usually you will not find Hybrid vegetables in Australia where as in USA everything is hybrid which is not good for health.

Public Transport

There are many forms of transport in Australia. Australia is fully equipped with public transport with its enormous rail network. This rail network for passengers connects many rural areas to major metropolitan centres. Every major city has its own railway network. For long distances people prefer airport which is less than your fuel cost. The mining sector is reliant on rail to transport. There are more than 300 airports all over Australia. But in USA, everyone needs to have a car in order go around somewhere. The public transport system in USA is very poor.

In conclusion I can say USA is also very good country. But if drill down all aspects Australia is a better country to live in and lead a happy life.