Coober Pedy is better known as the Opal Capital of the world!
It lies 535 kilometres north of Port Augusta in South Australia and is the country’s best-known opal region. It has a rough population of 3000 and about 1500 of its people live up — or down!
Facts & Figures about Coober Pedy:
* Featured in the Australian movies Mad Max III (Beyond Thunderdome) and Priscilla Queen of the Desert, with its bleak out-of-this-world Outback landscape which is distinctively that of Coober Pedy.
* It’s a mining settlement; a rough town hewn out of the desert fringes of South Australia.
* It is hot and dusty in the daytime in summer (and I mean hot and dusty!) and freezing cold at night in winter (I haven’t ventured out there in winter).
* Many residents in Coober Pedy have chosen to live in underground dugouts, and as a visitor to this place you can, in fact, secure accommodation in an underground hotel or be toured through underground homes (we were toured and amazed at underground homes).
* It’s located on the Stuart Highway, somewhere between South Australia’s Port Augusta and the Northern Territory’s Alice Springs and is almost an obligatory stop for travellers on the highway in order to experience the unique Outback character of this fascinating Australian opal town.
One place that brought a smile to our face was the ‘golf course’ which due to the heat of the day is played at night with luminous golf balls. The sign ‘Keep Off Grass’ is a crack up as all there is, is dust!
Along our travels we came across the Sturt’s Desert Pea – botanical name: Swainsona formosa. One of Australia’s best known wildflowers, it is native to the arid regions of central and north-western Australia.
Take a tour and see how different Coober Pedy is and if you’re passing by, buying an Opal is a must! 🙂
View of the Golf Course
Golf Course – Keep Off Grass!
Typical Landscape
A dig
Sturt’s Desert Pea
Related articles
- The Underground Town of Coober Pedy (globetrottingsupernova.com)
- The Real City of Under Ground! Coober Pedy in Australia. (inspier1818.wordpress.com)
- Day 27: Coober Pedy (journeyingjeff.com)
- Coober Pedy (holmesontheroad.com)
