Finally, I got to the photos of the city of Coober Pedy (Coober Pedy). We passed it earlier when we were still traveling through the state of South Australia.
To virtually walk around the city, click on the green "View Larger Map" in the lower left corner. When the map opens, drag the little yellow man to the streets of the city.
This is an amazing city. We have very fond memories of him.
Coober Pedy is called the "opal capital of the world", and in the language of the aborigines means "white man in the pit."
Up to 90% of the world's precious opal production comes from Australia, and about three quarters of this amount comes from the state of South Australia.
At first glance, Coober Pedy is not much different from other mining towns. Dirt roads cross the entire territory and waste rock dumps are visible. But there are no towers, no lifts over the mines, and no buildings.
Strange round mounds with a hole in the middle give the impression of a volcanic area dotted with small ash cones.
Each of these small mounds is connected by a shaft to the whole underground world.
The soft, sandstone rocks of the desert are not difficult to dig with a pick and shovel, although explosives are also used here. Most opals are found at depths of up to 24 m, but many workings are much shallower. Each prospector is allocated a small area on which he works. The technique is mostly traditional. A prospector is digging up his piece of land, hoping to find a large vein that will bring him a fortune.
In addition to this, the most beautiful mineral, the houses of local residents, dugouts - underground dwellings in which natural temperature control is carried out, are also very popular.
Even the first prospectors realized that it was possible to settle down relatively comfortably underground, in dwellings that cost almost nothing. As for their successors, they live as families in modern underground comfort. Many of their houses are very large and simply luxurious, and some even have underground pools.
These sites are underground dwellings. Such sites are located on the outskirts of the city. You can buy and dig your house or motel. During the season, here all the motels and hotels are busy. As elsewhere, you need to book a room in advance.
It should be noted that there is absolutely no water in Coober Pedy - no matter how much they drilled, they have not yet reached the water. If we take into account that this is one of the least rainy regions of Australia, it becomes clear that initially water was very expensive, since it was delivered for many kilometers by pack animals, mainly camels. Currently, there is running water, but water is still relatively expensive ($5 per 1000 liters).
Coober Pedy is one of the hottest places on the planet. And in the underground house, the temperature stays at the level of 22-26 degrees all year round. We were invited to visit one of these houses. 60% of the city's population live underground.
The owner of the house is George Russell (George). He is the owner of the Oasis tourist park.
Good person, very sociable. Gave a decent discount when we stayed at his motel the first night.
The next morning, George showed his house.
This is the living room.
Indeed, a very pleasant coolness after the scorching sun.
This is a guest house. To the right along the stairs, there is a kitchen and 2 rooms of the owner of the house.
To the left of the stairs are 3 guest bedrooms, a toilet and a bathroom.
All underground rooms are spacious, with high ceilings and well ventilated.
Very cozy and comfortable.
I would like to have a house like this. Sometimes come to live in absolute silence, without the radio and electromagnetic waves that surround us everywhere.
The town has not only underground houses, but also numerous underground hotels, restaurants, shops and even churches.
In 1988, the world's first underground hotel was inaugurated. This hotel became so popular that many locals began to open large and small motels throughout the city, as well as guest houses with 3 and 4 bedrooms.
One of the first underground motels we saw was Radeka down under motel, located on the main street of the city.
This is a middle class motel.
At 11 am, and already +36.
We were met by the owner of the motel Martin (Martin).
Very colorful uncle.
There are rooms that are in the rock, and rooms that are underground at 6.5 meters.
We chose a room, of course, underground. It is much more interesting to sleep there.
It was an active opal mine until the 1960s.
And in the mid-80s, the mine was transformed into an underground complex - a motel.
The cost of living in a motel is from $32.
This is our number. They rented it for $70 (we got a discount for $10).
Everything is very simple. Everything you need is here. The fact that you're sleeping underground already sounds unusual. And most importantly, it's cooler here than upstairs. And that was one of the reasons why we went underground.
Overall, we slept well in this room. The only inconvenience is a strong audibility. You can hear all the neighbors. Therefore, here you need to settle for those who have iron nerves and good sleep. Gabriel, for example, slept well. And I, for half the night, listened to the snoring of a neighbor and the crying of a small child. So, if anyone needs to sleep, settle up in the rock.
In these rooms, students who do not have money for a room, or lonely tired travelers who quickly fall asleep and do not hear anything, stop.
And in this room, you can move in with a large company, and remember the pioneer camp. It would be fun. 
To be continued…
To view the photos in a larger size, click on them 1-2 times.
They live underground, grow cacti in their gardens, and play golf at night - this is how life is like for the inhabitants of a small town in the Australian desert. We are talking about the world capital of opals - the mining town of Coober Pedy (Coober Pedy). Residents of a town in the southern Australian desert that sometimes sees temperatures in the shade in the summer reach 40°C have found an easy way to beat the heat. In their houses, even in the worst heat, it is always cool, but not at all because they use air conditioners, moreover, they do not need to wash windows or hang blinds on them to avoid the prying eyes of their neighbors, but all because the inhabitants of Kuber- The peds build their houses... underground.
Let's take a look at the opal underground city of Coober Pedy.
Most likely, the name of the city is associated with its unusual underground houses. Koopa Piti, from which the name Coober Pedy is derived, means "white man's hole" in the Aboriginal language. About 1,700 people live in the city, who are mainly engaged in the extraction of opals, and their houses are nothing more than underground “holes” made in sandstone at a depth of 2.5 to 6 meters. (Photo: Les Pullen/South Cape Photography).
It is located in South Australia, on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert, in one of the most deserted and sparsely populated places on the continent. At the beginning of the 20th century, the extraction of noble opals began here, 30% of the world's reserves of which are concentrated on the territory of Coober Pedy. Due to the constant heat, drought and frequent sandstorms, miners and their families initially began to settle in dwellings cut into the mountainside - often one could get into the mine directly from the house. The temperature in such an “apartment” did not exceed 22 ° C all year round, and the level of comfort was not much inferior to traditional “ground” houses - there were bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms. But they made no more than two windows - otherwise it became too hot in the summer.
Due to the lack of underground sewerage, the toilet and kitchen in the houses are located immediately at the entrance, i.e. at ground level. Bedrooms, other rooms and corridors are usually dug deeper. The ceilings in the large rooms support columns up to 1 meter in diameter. (Photo: Les Pullen/South Cape Photography).
Building a house in Coober Pedy can even make the owner rich, as the largest deposit of precious opals is located there. Deposits in Australia, mainly in Coober Pedy, account for 97 percent of the world's production of this mineral. Several years ago, during the drilling of an underground hotel, stones worth about 360 thousand dollars were found. (Photo: Les Pullen/South Cape Photography).
Roofs of Coober Pedy. A familiar sight and distinctive feature of the underground city are the ventilation holes sticking out of the ground. (Photo: Robyn Brody/flickr.com).
The opal deposit at Coober Pedy was discovered in 1915. A year later, the first miners began to arrive there. It is believed that about 60 percent of Coober Pedy residents were from southern and eastern Europe who came there after World War II to work in the mines. For almost a hundred years this city has been the world's largest producer of high quality opals. (Photo: Les Pullen/South Cape Photography).
Since the 80s, when an underground hotel was built in Coober Pedy, it has been visited by thousands of tourists every year. One of the most visited places in the city of opals was the house of its recently deceased famous resident nicknamed Crocodile Harry - an eccentric, alcohol lover and adventurer who became famous for his many love affairs.In the photo: underground church in Coober Pedy. (Photo: Jacqui Barker/flickr.com).
Both the city and its suburbs, for various reasons, are very photogenic, which is why filmmakers are attracted there. Coober Pedy became the filming location for the 2006 Australian drama Opal Dream. Also in the underground houses of the city, scenes for the film “Mad Max. Under the dome of thunder. (Photo: donmcl/flickr.com).
The average annual rainfall in Coober Pedy is only 175 mm (in the middle lane in Europe, for example, about 600 mm). This is one of the driest areas in Australia. There is almost no rain here, and therefore the vegetation is very sparse. There are no tall trees in the city, only rare shrubs and cacti grow. (Photo: Rich2012)
Residents, however, do not complain about the lack of outdoor entertainment. They spend their free time playing golf, although due to the heat they have to play at night. (Photo: Les Pullen/South Cape Photography).
Coober Pedy also has two underground churches, souvenir shops, a jewelry shop, a museum, and a bar. (Photo: Nicholas Jones/Flickr.com).
Coober Pedy is located 846 kilometers north of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. (Photo: George Sharp/Flickr.com).
Coober Pedy has a desert climate. In summer, from December to February, the average temperature is 30°C, and sometimes reaches up to 40°C. At night, the temperature drops sharply, to about 20°C. Sandstorms are also possible here. (Photo: doctor_k_karen/Flickr.com).
Underground gift shop in Coober Pedy. (Photo: Lodo27/wikimedia).
Citizens save themselves from the heat by digging their houses underground. (Photo: Lodo27/wikimedia).
Underground bar in Coober Pedy. (Photo: Les Pullen/South Cape Photography).
Such beautiful precious minerals are mined in Coober Pedy, a city that is called the "opal capital of the world." (Photo: James St. John/Flickr.com).
Some descendants of miners prefer to decorate their underground houses "a la naturel" - they cover the walls and ceiling with a PVA solution to get rid of dust, while maintaining the natural color and texture of natural stone. Supporters of modern solutions in the interior cover the walls and ceiling with plaster, after which the underground dwelling becomes almost indistinguishable from the usual one. Both those and others do not refuse such a pleasant trifle as an underground pool - in one of the hottest places on the planet, this is a particularly pleasant “luxury”.
In addition to dwellings, Coober Pedy has underground shops and museums, galleries and workshops, restaurants and a hotel, a cemetery and churches (including an Orthodox one!). But there are few trees and flowers here - only cacti and other succulents can endure the hot arid climate of these places. Despite this. the city has golf courses with mobile grass.
Coober Pedy is a constant point of many tourist routes in Australia. Interest in the underground city is fueled by the fact that films such as Mad Max 3: Under Thunderdome, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Black Hole were filmed in Coober Pedy. And on the edge of the Opal Capital of the World is the world's largest livestock farm and the well-known Dingo Fence, 8,500 kilometers long.
The city is famous for its opals, it is the capital of the opal-stone, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. The mining of opals is a little less than 100 years old, their deposits were accidentally discovered while searching for water in 1915. Noble opal is distinguished by its iridescent play of colors, which is caused by the diffraction of light on a spatial lattice and its value is determined not by its size, but by its unique play of color. The more rays, the more expensive the opal. One of the legends of the natives says that “a long time ago, the spirits stole all the colors from the rainbow and put them in a stone - opal”, according to another, that the Creator descended from heaven to earth and where his foot stepped, stones appeared that shimmered with all colors rainbows. Only private entrepreneurs are engaged in the extraction of opals. Nevertheless, this industry brings the Australian economy about 30 million dollars annually.
The Coober Pedy region is one of the driest, desolate and sparsely populated in Australia. On average, only about 150 mm falls per year. rainfall, and very large differences in day and night temperatures.
If you happen to fly over Coober Pedy, then you will not see the buildings familiar to our eyes, but only rock heaps with a thousand holes and mounds against the background of a rocky red desert, which creates an unearthly landscape that staggers the imagination. Each mound-cone with a hole in the middle, visible on the surface, is connected by a shaft to the underworld.
Even the first settlers realized that due to adverse weather conditions, when the earth heats up in the sun during the day and the heat reaches 40 degrees Celsius on the surface, and at night the temperature drops sharply to 20 degrees (and sand storms are also possible) - you can live underground in mine shafts after opal mining. The constant temperature of underground houses is around +22-24 degrees at any time of the year. Today, more than 45 nationalities live in the city, but the majority are Greeks. The population of the city is 1,695 people.
The water comes from a drilled 25 km. away from the city artesian well and relatively expensive. There is no common power grid in Coober Pedy. Electricity is generated by diesel generators and heating is provided by solar water heaters. At night, when the heat subsides, residents play golf with balls glowing in the dark.
Previously, the development of opals was carried out manually - with picks, shovels, and the rock was pulled out with buckets until an opal vein was found, along which they then crawled in a plastunsky way. Almost all mines are shallow and the main passages in them are laid by drilling machines that break through horizontal tunnels as high as a man and from him - branches in different directions. These are practically self-made devices - the engine and gearbox from a small truck. Then the so-called “blower” is used - a machine with a powerful compressor installed on it, which, like a vacuum cleaner, sucks the rock and boulders to the surface through a pipe lowered into the mine, and when the compressor is turned off, the barrel opens: a new mini-mound is obtained - a heap heap.
At the entrance to the city there is a huge sign with a blower car.
In one of the driest parts of Australia, where instead of rain there are sandstorms, and there is no water even underground, the Australians have equipped an underground city with all the attributes of social life.
In the state of South Australia, on the eastern border of the Great Victoria Desert is the city of Coober Pedy. It got its name from the aborigines, who called the settlement of new Australians in their ancestral lands "the white man's hole". And the city itself arose as a settlement of miners. In 1915, noble opal was discovered in the Stewart Range, and later it turned out that layers of precious stone lie here, amounting to 30% of the world's reserves.
From the heat underground
Climatic conditions of Coober Pedi are very severe. Exhausting heat during the day gives way to a sharp drop in temperature at night. The temperature difference reaches 20 degrees. Clouds of flies stick to the surface of a person. In addition, sandstorms often occur. To hide from the heat and all-penetrating sand, the first settlers of the mining village began to equip their homes in the worked-out mines. Features of the development of the opal deposit required laying shallow horizontal mines in the form of tunnels with branches. Miners with their families began to settle in such sleeves.
Under the ground, real apartments of several rooms were equipped. To keep cool, one or two windows were usually cut through near the front door, thus the air temperature was naturally maintained at about 22-24 degrees.
Churches, shops, workshops, a cemetery were built underground.
Today, a few residents of the city live both in underground dwellings and in above-ground ones, with air conditioners installed to create a comfortable atmosphere. The dug houses are fully equipped with modern means of comfort - sewerage, electricity, water supply. There is even a choice in interior decoration - natural, when the walls of rooms cut in stone are simply covered with a special compound for cleanliness, and modern - stone walls are sheathed with plasterboard, and such a house is indistinguishable from other houses in Australia.
main treasure
As already mentioned, the city arose on a deposit of opals. There is a museum, shops, hotels, a small local airport. Feature films are often shot in fantastic surrounding landscapes. In the city and its environs, the surviving remains of scenery, various mechanisms and aircraft remind of this.
But the main treasure in these desert lands is water. The nearest artesian well was dug 25 km from Coober Pedy. No matter how much they searched, there was no water. In the old days, water was brought here by pack caravans and it was worth its weight in gold. Modern residents of the city receive water from a laid water pipe, but its price is much higher than in other regions of the country.
- Iron trees grow in the city - decoration with familiar forms
- The most common form of vegetation is cacti.
- Dug out underground houses are called Dugout
- Churches are open for free visits, the main thing when leaving is not to forget to turn off the lights, which is what the signs at the entrance ask for
- The small population of the city consists of 45 nationalities.
- Blower - a machine-vacuum cleaner for sucking rock from the mine to the surface
How to get there
Coober Pedy is located off the Stewart Highway between Adelaide and Alice Springs. The nearest city, Port Augusta, is 500 kilometers away.
Coober Pedy is a convenient place to take a tour on the way to the Red Center from Adelaide. If desired, in the underground city, you can stay overnight in a local underground hotel. If you are traveling in Australia, you will certainly use the Stewart Highway, which crosses the mainland from south to north, passing through the states of South Australia and the Northern Territories, it is simply impossible to drive past Coober Pedy.
We invite you to look underground and visit the extraordinary underground city of Coober Pedy, where about 2 thousand people currently live.
At first, when you find yourself on these sun-hot red plains of Australia and you see a not very rich in buildings, an absolutely “clean” landscape, it seems that the place is completely lifeless. But in fact, there is a stunning mysterious town called Coober Pedy.
And what makes it special is the fact that this city is underground.
There are no trees here, and the sun bakes with merciless force, but many kilometers of tunnels are laid underground and furnished, as if in ordinary residential buildings, rooms.
However, there is also accommodation for tourists coming here. From this corridor, the doors just lead to the guest rooms.
The locals settled here quite comfortably. Some houses are only half underground, which only adds to their uniqueness. It is worth noting that in terms of comfort they are in no way inferior to ordinary modern houses.
The history of the origin of the original city began in 1915, when a father and son ended up here, traveling in search of gold.
They did not find gold here, but they found beautiful opals, which quickly gained no less popularity.
The miners who came here could not withstand the high temperatures of the local climate and therefore built their houses not above the ground, but right between the mines.
They began to dig long tunnels, so that over time, about 1,500 dugout houses appeared in Coober Pedy.
In the modern world, Coober Pedy has long been the main supplier of opals. However, people come here no longer to look at precious stones, but to see strange dugouts, the dwellings of people living here.
The name of the city means "white man's hole", this expression appeared here in the 1920s.
In addition to mines, hotels and houses, there is also a beautiful church underground in Coober Pedy.
As well as an underground bookstore.
And an underground jewelry store offering a charming opal from the mines next door.
Undoubtedly, you should also visit the underground bar to have a drink with friends.
And then go upstairs and play golf on a specially equipped site.
In the central part of Australia, there is a small mining town of Coober Pedy, one of the main attractions of which are its underground houses. The city is known as the opal capital of the world, because it is here that about 30% of the world's reserves of these stones are concentrated, more than anywhere else on the planet. I suggest you take a short photo walk around the world capital of opals.
Most likely, the name of the city of Coober Pedy is associated with its unusual houses underground. Koopa Piti, from which the name Coober Pedy is derived, means "white man's hole" in the Aboriginal language. About 1,700 people live in the city, who are mainly engaged in the extraction of opals, and their houses are nothing more than underground "holes" made in sandstone at a depth of 2.5 to 6 meters.
It is located in South Australia, on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert, in one of the most deserted and sparsely populated places on the continent. At the beginning of the 20th century, the extraction of noble opals began here, 30% of the world's reserves of which are concentrated on the territory of Coober Pedy. Due to the constant heat, drought and frequent sandstorms, prospectors and their families initially began to settle in dwellings carved into the mountainside - often one could get into the mine directly from the house. The temperature in such an “apartment” did not exceed 22 ° C all year round, and the level of comfort was not much inferior to traditional “ground” houses - there were bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms. But they made no more than two windows - otherwise it became too hot in the summer.
Due to the lack of underground sewerage in Coober Pedy, the toilet and kitchen in the houses are located immediately at the entrance, i.e. at ground level. Bedrooms, other rooms and corridors are usually dug deeper. The ceilings in the large rooms support columns up to 1 meter in diameter.
Building a house in Coober Pedy can even make the owner rich, as the largest deposit of precious opals is located there. Deposits in Australia, mainly in Coober Pedy, account for 97 percent of the world's production of this mineral. Several years ago, during the drilling of an underground hotel, stones worth about 360 thousand dollars were found.
Roofs of Coober Pedy. A familiar sight and distinctive feature of the underground city are the ventilation holes sticking out of the ground.
The opal deposit at Coober Pedy was discovered in 1915. A year later, the first miners began to arrive there. It is believed that about 60 percent of Coober Pedy residents were from southern and eastern Europe who came there after World War II to work in the mines. For almost a hundred years this city has been the world's largest producer of high quality opals.
Since the 80s, when an underground hotel was built in Coober Pedy, it has been visited by thousands of tourists every year. One of the most visited places in the city of opals was the house of its recently deceased famous resident nicknamed Crocodile Harry - an eccentric, alcohol lover and adventurer who became famous for his many love affairs.
In the photo: underground church in Coober Pedy.
Both the city and its suburbs, for various reasons, are very photogenic, which is why filmmakers are attracted there. Coober Pedy became the filming location for the 2006 Australian drama Opal Dream. Also in the underground houses of the city, scenes for the film “Mad Max. Under the dome of thunder.
The average annual rainfall in Coober Pedy is only 175 mm (in the middle lane in Europe, for example, about 600 mm). This is one of the driest areas in Australia. There is almost no rain here, and therefore the vegetation is very sparse. There are no tall trees in the city, only rare shrubs and cacti grow.
Residents, however, do not complain about the lack of outdoor entertainment. They spend their free time playing golf, although due to the heat they have to play at night.
Coober Pedy also has two underground churches, souvenir shops, a jewelry shop, a museum, and a bar.
Coober Pedy is located 846 kilometers north of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.
Coober Pedy has a desert climate. In summer, from December to February, the average temperature is 30°C, and sometimes reaches up to 40°C. At night, the temperature drops sharply, to about 20°C. Sandstorms are also possible here.
Underground gift shop in Coober Pedy.
Citizens save themselves from the heat by digging their houses underground.
Underground bar in Coober Pedy.
Such beautiful precious minerals are mined in Coober Pedy, a city that is called the "opal capital of the world."
Some descendants of miners prefer to decorate their underground houses "a la naturel" - they cover the walls and ceiling with a PVA solution to get rid of dust, while maintaining the natural color and texture of natural stone. Supporters of modern solutions in the interior cover the walls and ceiling with plaster, after which the underground dwelling becomes almost indistinguishable from the usual one. Both those and others do not refuse such a pleasant trifle as an underground pool - in one of the hottest places on the planet this is a particularly pleasant "luxury".
In addition to dwellings, Coober Pedy has underground shops and museums, galleries and workshops, restaurants and a hotel, a cemetery and churches (including an Orthodox one!). But there are few trees and flowers here - only cacti and other succulents can endure the hot arid climate of these places. Despite this. the city has golf courses with mobile grass.
Coober Pedy is a constant point of many tourist routes in Australia. Interest in the underground city is fueled by the fact that films such as Mad Max 3: Under Thunderdome, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Black Hole were filmed in Coober Pedy. And on the edge of the Opal Capital of the World is the world's largest livestock farm and the well-known Dingo Fence, 8,500 kilometers long.
The city is famous for its opals, it is the capital of the opal-stone, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. The mining of opals is a little less than 100 years old, their deposits were accidentally discovered while searching for water in 1915. Noble opal is distinguished by its iridescent play of colors, which is caused by the diffraction of light on a spatial lattice and its value is determined not by its size, but by its unique play of color. The more rays, the more expensive the opal. One of the legends of the natives says that “a long time ago, the spirits stole all the colors from the rainbow and put them in a stone - opal”, according to another, that the Creator descended from heaven to earth and where his foot stepped, stones appeared that shimmered with all colors rainbows. Only private entrepreneurs are engaged in the extraction of opals. Nevertheless, this industry brings the Australian economy about 30 million dollars annually.
The Coober Pedy area is the most one of the most arid, deserted and sparsely populated in Australia. On average, only about 150 mm falls per year. rainfall, and very large differences in day and night temperatures.
If you happen to fly over Coober Pedy, then you will not see the buildings familiar to our eyes, but only rock heaps with a thousand holes and mounds against the background of a rocky red desert, which creates an unearthly landscape that staggers the imagination. Each mound-cone with a hole in the middle, visible on the surface, is connected by a shaft to the underworld.
Even the first settlers realized that due to adverse weather conditions, when the earth heats up in the sun during the day and the heat reaches 40 degrees Celsius on the surface, and at night the temperature drops sharply to 20 degrees (and sand storms are also possible) - you can live underground in mine shafts after opal mining. The constant temperature of underground houses is around +22-24 degrees at any time of the year. Today, more than 45 nationalities live in the city, but the majority are Greeks. The population of the city is 1,695 people.
The water comes from a drilled 25 km. away from the city artesian well and relatively expensive. There is no common power grid in Coober Pedy. Electricity is generated by diesel generators and heating is provided by solar water heaters. At night, when the heat subsides, residents play golf with balls glowing in the dark.
Previously, the development of opals was carried out manually - with picks, shovels, and the rock was pulled out with buckets until an opal vein was found, along which they then crawled in a plastunsky manner. Almost all mines are shallow and the main passages in them are laid by boring machines that break through horizontal tunnels as high as a man and from him - branches in different directions. These are practically self-made devices - the engine and gearbox from a small truck. Then the so-called “blower” is used - a machine with a powerful compressor installed on it, which, like a vacuum cleaner, sucks rock and boulders to the surface through a pipe lowered into the mine, and when the compressor is turned off, the barrel opens - a new mini-mound is obtained - a heap heap.
At the entrance to the city there is a huge sign with a blower car.
