Coober Pedy, South Australia, Australia
Coober Pedy was named after an Aboriginal phrase meaning "white fella in a hole". There are many holes all over town and the surrounding land from the thousands who have come and dug in Coober Pedy on a mission to find an opal. After all, Coober Pedy is the opal capital of the world!
As you enter town you are greeted with the following warnings:
DANGER, UNMARKED HOLES:
1. Don't run
2. Beware! Deep shafts
3. Don't walk backwards
Everything you read and see about Coober Pedy is consistent: it is a unique town full of unique characters, on a mission to find opal, or just to enjoy residing in this unique location. Today, Coober Pedy has a population around 2000.
Opal was first discovered here in 1915 after an unsuccessful quest for gold. The number of miners has always fluctuated due to the geographical distance and especially in the early years, due to the lack of consistent water supplies.
Winter days can be cool and cold overnight. We had a light morning wind with a high of 20'C. Summers are sweltering, so year round, it is generally dry and with clear and sunny skies.
Many homes, shops and even churches are built underground or into the hills. We had booked into an underground hotel, well, an apartment (as this was the best value abode Mum could find to experience life underground).
Our apartment was huge, the size of a house really. Underground, the inside temperature remained constant. No heating was required despite the overnight temperatures dropping to 5'C.
When the lights were out, it was pitch black and it was hard to tell when it was morning.
On our bicycles again, we couldn't wait to explore this unique town. We quickly met a friendly local; she told us she didn't live underground as she liked natural light and fresh air. She didn't mention that she also liked the extremes in temperatures here. She and every other local we met were friendly and welcoming.
There weren't many other people cycling around town; however, it was the perfect way to experience everything Coober Pedy had to offer.
We started with an opal mine, museum and underground house tour. As with all mining, it was hard yakka in the early days, before machines were used. After visiting a town lookout and a couple of churches, it was time for lunch.
Now for all of our Australian followers, we had recently watched the Coober Pedy episode of Backroads on the ABC. (For those non-Australian readers, Backroads is a series where a presenter visits different small Australian towns and provides an insight into the characters and local community.)
A Filipino bakery was featured in the Coober Pedy episode and looked good, so we cycled over. Almost every other tourist in town must have also watched this episode as it was a popular lunch spot. The menu was extensive and we had trouble deciding between the all day breakfast, traditional freshly baked meat pies and sausage rolls and the many Asian dishes, with Filipino specialities. Not to mention the desserts....
Each and every meal that was ordered was delicious. It was a shame we weren't staying longer just so we could sample other menu items!
After visiting a playground and an opal store or two, it was time for some noodling! Noodling (also known as fossicking) is the sifting for small pieces of precious opal in the miners' discards.
Us kids loved digging around in the dirt and could have easily spent the day or days doing this. We found some shiny pieces of rock that are precious to us!
We decided to cook at home and stopped off at the local IGA. If you wanted a roast chicken, however, you were out of luck. We discovered you have to shop early for a roast chicken. We feasted on some local porterhouse steak as we figured it might be a while between steaks with our simple self catering meals for the next week!
We enjoyed another deep sleep in pitch black darkness.
HS
2021-07-01
That is a cool reasoning to have for telling the kids not to run. Looks amazing. Have fun. x
Mike B
2021-07-02
Thanks for the tour of Coober Pedy. I've been fascinated with this town ever since I first heard about it. Living underground sounds fascinating. I've never been, but it is on my bucket list. Cheers Mike