There’s a little town smack-dab in the middle of Australian Outback, that has taken the country’s nickname ‘Down Under’ quite literally. Welcome to Coober Pedy, an Australian mining town that lives underground!
© Thomas Schoch / Wikicommons
With just a couple of obscure hotels and buildings and a dry golf course, at first glance, Coober Pedy looks like an abandoned desert town. Surrounded by miles of craterous moonscape, on surface, the town looks like something straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie. It’s no surprise that a whole bunch of filmmakers descended here to shoot their films. Coober Pedy’s rugged otherworldly landscape made the perfect backdrop for Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert.
© Lodo27 / Wikicommons
Story goes that the accidental discovery of opal gemstones by a teenager over a 100 years ago, transformed this no man’s land into an opal mining hub. Even today, over seventy percent of the world’s opal production comes from Coober Pedy. Post-World War I, Europeans flocked here to make a fortune and eventually built a subterranean community.
© Dpulitzer / Wikicommons
What made the town’s 3,500 residents go ‘underground’? The heat! With temperatures soaring up to 45-degrees Celsius in summer, the townsfolk found a unique way to adapt to the hellish Outback weather by living in ‘dugouts’, underground caves. In fact, the town’s name is derived from the Aboriginal ‘kupa piti’, that translates to ‘white man in a hole’.
© Mark Kolbe / Getty Images
Just because the town is subterranean, don’t think the folks here have a cavemen lifestyle. Uh-Uh. Their dugouts are as modern as they can get, replete with electricity, water supply, and internet, but no windows, of course.
© Mark Kolbe / Getty Images
Far from rustic, some of these cave homes are rather palatial, with rooms spread out in a labyrinthine network. One such luxurious cave home belongs to Faye Naylor. Her house has a bar and even a swimming pool, drawing a bunch of curious and excited travelers.
© weekendnotes.com
And it’s not just houses that are underground, there’s a bookstore!
© Mark Kolbe / Getty Images
In Coober Pedy, even Jesus lives 55 feet below the ground.
© Mark Kolbe / Getty Images
With such soaring temperatures, you definitely need some beer to cool down. Where do you grab some beer? In an underground pub, obviously.
© saaccomodation.com
That’s not it. You’ll also find an underground casino here!
© Mark Kolbe / Getty Images
For the curious ones, there’s an underground museum, Umoona Opal Mine and Museum, showcasing the town’s history, the process of opal mining, and the quality of opals. While you are there, why not buy some opals from the museum store? It’s got the largest range of opals.
© Umoona Opal Mine & Museum
Travelers can get a taste of the town’s one-of-a-kind dwellings in the cozy Desert Cave Hotel or at the museum’s underground accommodation.
© desertcave.com.au
Besides its subterranean dwellings too, Coober Pedy is quite idiosyncratic. For here, you’ll find notice boards that warn people about unmarked mining holes and ditches.
© Mark Kolbe / Getty Images
This quirky town is also home to a dry golf course where players carry their own patches of grass carpets!
© cooberpedygolfcourse.com.au
A town full of miners, at Coober Pedy’s drive-in theater, you’ll find instructions to leave explosives at home!
© Crafty Dogma / Flickriver
Look below or above, you won’t find a town like Coober Pedy.
Now book flights on EMI with Mihuru Splitfare and visit of the best offbeat places in Australia.
