If you’re not in Coober Pedy looking for opal, then you’re probably here to buy some. And there’s lots of it. Coober Pedy is the largest opal mining town in the world.
No matter how you get there it always feels as if you are in the middle of nowhere – and you pretty much are – 846 km north of Adelaide and 662 km south of Alice Springs. Hours on rough dirt tracks to anywhere else in any other direction Oodnadatta is 195 km away or William Creek (population 12) is 166 km.
Most people here live underground. The intense summer heat, and because the inhabitants are pretty handy when it comes to digging out underground passages, has created a subterranean town – the biggest in Australia. In summer, when outside temperatures can reach a sizzling 50˚C, underground homes (dugouts) remain a constant 22 - 26˚C. Renovations are simple, just dig yourself a new cupboard, bookshelf or room – and who knows, you may even find some opal in the process!
As a visitor, you can stay in an underground room at the four-star Desert Cave Hotel. Rooms lead off tunnels and while each room is well ventilated and airy there are no windows or natural light. You can also visit one of the five underground churches in town, as well as dugout cafés, bookshops, galleries and plenty of underground opal showrooms. Most are located along the main street or you can find details at the Visitors’ Information Centre.
But to really get a feel for what Coober Pedy is all about you need to get out to, or down, an opal mine. Yani’s Umoona Opal Mine and Museum is one of a couple of opal mines-cum-museums in town. Tours begin with a good 20-minute documentary on the story of the opal and how it was found in Coober Pedy in 1915 by 14-year-old William Hutchison, while searching for water. Inside the museum is also an Aboriginal Interpretive Centre, gallery, an old opal mine and of course the ubiquitous opal showroom and shop. Entry to the museum is free – unless you succumb to opal fever and are unable to resist temptation in the showroom.
If you do find yourself with the opal itch you can go noodling on some of the mullock heaps around town. Noodling, or fossicking for opal amongst the discarded rock heaps, is free and occasionally visitors do find good-sized opals. There is a public noodling reserve in the centre of town.
Although Coober Pedy is in the middle of nowhere, there’s a lot to do outside the town limits. 32 km north along the sealed Stuart Highway are the Breakaways, a series of flat-topped hills or ‘jump ups’ that seemed to have broken away from the Stuart Range. At sunset the sandstone pillars, pinnacles and gully edges glow pink, red, brown, purple, yellow and white – it’s a great place to set yourself up with a picnic table, some nibblies and a nice bottle of wine to watch the sundown show.
A 70 km round trip from Coober Pedy will take you through the Breakaways, to the famous dog fence and the Moon Plains – the local nickname for the moon-like desert landscape along the fence. The two-metre high dog fence stretches across three states for more than 5,300 km in an effort to keep northern dingoes away from southern sheep and is the longest fence in the world.
If you would like to taste more of the outback, but don’t fancy doing the driving yourself, there are quite a few local tours that will take you out to the back of beyond. Desert Diversity Tours will take you to The Painted Desert, an area of spectacularly coloured hills that was once an inland sea. They also have tours to Lake Eyre and William Creek.
Alternatively, you can hitch a ride with the mailman on Mondays or Thursdays. It’s a very long day – 12 hours and you’ll travel more than 600 km, but you’ll visit Lake Cadibarrawirracanna (which must have the longest name in Australia), William Creek, Anna Creek station and other isolated stations as well as Oodnadatta. You can also take an optional scenic flight over Lake Eyre. The outback mail run is a great way to meet some of the locals and find out first hand what its like to live on these isolated stations. The arrival of the mail is usually met with quite some excitement – especially if there are kids around – and often involves a stop for a cuppa and some gossip.
Coober Pedy is 846 km north of Adelaide and 662 km south of Alice Springs.
Umoona Opal Mine & Museum
Underground museum with Aboriginal InterpretiveCentre, an underground home and an on-site mine and opal showroom.
Lot 14, Hutchison
Street, Coober Pedy
Open daily with tours at 10am, 12noon,2pm & 4pm
Underground Potteries
Underground workshop and display area.
Opposite golf course off Seventeen Mile Rd, Coober Pedy
Daily 8.30am – 6pm
The Dog Fence
Longest continual construction in the world. Stretching some 5,300 km, it begins east of Surfer’s Paradise in Queensland and ends up north of Ceduna in The Great Australian Bight. Originally built to protect the sheep country in the south from the dingo in the north.
Approximately 15 km north-east of Coober Pedy
All year
The Catacomb Church
Originally built in 1977 this unique church is cut out of the sandstone in the shape of a cross with furniturefashioned from local mulga wood and an old miner’s winch.
Catacomb Rd, Coober Pedy
All year
Serbian Orthodox Church
Underground church featuring rock carvings in the walls, high roof “ballroom” style design and stained glass windows.
Flinders Street, Coober Pedy
All year
The Big Winch
A lookout gives a “bird’s eye” view of the town. Opal shop next door contains fully fossilised shells of opal still embedded in the wall.
Off Umoona Road, Coober Pedy
Monday – Saturday
Old Timers Mine & Museum
Original opal mine dating back to 1916.
Crowders Gully Rd. Coober Pedy
Open daily
The Underground Art Gallery
Arts, crafts, opals and jewellery.
Hutchison Street, Coober Pedy
Open daily
Moon Plain
Vast expanse of rocky plains with lunar-like landscape.
Approximately 15 km north-east of Coober Pedy
All year
Breakaways
Striking and unique example of arid scenery with flat–topped mesas and stony gibber desert plains.
Approximately 33 km north of Coober Pedy
All year – best colours at sunset
Coober Pedy Opal Fields Golf Club
18-hole course has ‘mod grass’ (green plastic woven ‘grass’), crushed rock fairways and no water hazards – although the dry creek beds make great sand traps. A special club rule is ‘rock relief’ - if your ball lands on a rock. In summer night golf is the way to go – using luminous balls and flag sticks.
3.5 km north of town centre
All year
Outback mail run
Full day 4WD tour delivering mail to Oodnadatta and William Creek as well as 5 remote cattle stations. Tours departs from Underground Bookshop in Coober Pedy at 9.00am on Mondays and Thursdays. Bookings essential
Ph: (08) 8672 5558
January: 20-36C
July: 6-18C
Coober Pedy is surrounded by desert – so expect warm days and cold nights in winter, which is the best time to visit. Summer is extremely hot. It is dry most of the year.
Desert Cave Hotel
Phone: (08) 8672 5688
Desert Diversity Tours
Phone: (08) 8672 5226
Outback Mail Run
Phone: 1800 069 911
Visitors’ Information Centre
Phone: 1800 637 076
4WD
