Coober Pedy
South Australia, Australia
Coober Pedy is an opal mining town in outback South Australia. 90% of the world's opals form from here. The town has a healthy mix of nationalities, as many came here to find their fortune. The population is about 3500. The town is located 538 km from Port Douglas, 845 km north of Adelaide and 690 km south of Alice Springs. The Stuart Highway which leads to here, was not completely bituminised until 1987.
Because of the hig summer heat, the local of Coober edy developed their unique solution of digging their homes underground. Now you will find their churches, shops, galleries etc also underground.
Places to see and things to do
- visit a few examples of underground houses which are open for touring
- thre are quite a few churches that have been built underground that you can visit.
- try your hand a noodling
- underground art gallery
- buy some opals from the numerous shops throughout town.
- Umooma Opal Mine and Gallery
- have a beer at the underground bar at the Desert Cave Hotel
- Old Timers Mine, an original opal mine dating from 1916. You can take a well organised self-guided tour
- go out to the Big Winch, the lookout over town.
- have a round of golf at the Coober Pedy golf course, but don't expect to find any grass.
- out of town you can visit the Breakways (32 km north of town) and the Painted Desert.
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