Coober Pedy - The underground gem capital

Coober Pedy is a small town in South Australia, 850 km from Adelaide, with a harsh desert climate. A barren plain, with a few houses scattered dozens of meters apart, the dry, scorching sun feels like it's burning people... At first glance, these desolate photos surely reveal a landscape so barren and deserted that it resembles images taken on the moon.

And if you ever get the chance to visit Coober Pedy, you'll see giant, deep, and dark "death pits" that no one dares to enter. Yet, these are the gateways to a world created by humans, a completely different underground world. Beneath that barren surface lies a bustling and vibrant town with nearly 3,500 inhabitants.

Opal, the gemstone capital.

This underground town is known as the opal capital of the world because 90% of the Earth's opal production is mined here. Opal is a type of quartz, often known as "cat's eye" due to its sparkling, translucent luminescence.

The town was originally named after the first explorer to set foot in the area in 1858 – John McDouall Stuart. Later, in 1920, it was renamed Coober Pedy, which in the local Aboriginal language means “white man’s underground cave”.

The town's origins date back to 1915, when a 14-year-old boy found a translucent, shimmering gemstone resembling a cat's eye in a remote area of ​​South Australia. Later, gold prospectors discovered large deposits of cat's eye gemstones, and the area became famous, thus giving birth to Coober Pedy. People from many places flocked here to mine, hoping to find cat's eye gemstones and strike it rich.

Later, scientists discovered that about 150 million years ago, Coober Pedy lay beneath the ocean. As the land gradually rose, the sea receded, causing silica minerals to flow into cracks in the rock. Over tens of millions of years, these minerals transformed into various colorful gemstones.

As a legacy of the opal mining industry, Coober Pedy is like an oasis in the Australian desert. To meet the demand for opal mining, miners were forced to dig large and small caves to rest in while excavating underground. This created countless hollows in the ground.

The gemstone industry flourished, reaching its heyday in the 1970s and 80s, when the town had over 1,000 miners. However, this was a desert region with extremely harsh weather conditions; summer temperatures often exceeded 50 degrees Celsius, but at night they could drop below 0 degrees Celsius. To cope with the scorching heat above, the miners came up with the idea of ​​building houses inside the mine shafts from the empty pits.

Over time, the search became increasingly large-scale. They continued to expand the search area, and more and larger underground homes were built. Eventually, they settled down, had children, and established a bustling underground community of thousands of people.

Optimal design and continuous innovation.

Currently, Coober Pedy has over 1,500 underground homes, making it one of the largest and most famous underground towns in the world. With over 3,500 inhabitants, the people of Coober Pedy are a diverse group of 50 different ethnicities from around the world, including Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Greece, Argentina, and the United Kingdom.

Living underground helped maintain a perfectly stable temperature of around 24°F in these houses.^oWith a humidity of 20%, these cave-like houses, viewed from the outside, have a mysterious entrance and no sunlight, but inside they are fully equipped with electric lights and modern amenities, just like a normal house on the surface.

More than just comfortable homes, Coober Pedy today has developed an ecosystem serving the lives of its residents with underground social facilities such as churches, restaurants, hotels, bars, and recreational areas. Notably, it even houses an underground art museum called the Old Time Mine, located in what was once an ancient cave. This museum has many preserved opal layers, reflecting the unique historical periods of Coober Pedy.

The primary material for these houses is sandstone because it is easy to quarry, stable, and provides a solid foundation. Furthermore, the stunning color of the sandstone not only adds elegance but also enhances the warm, friendly atmosphere, contrasting sharply with the harsh heat of the desert outside. Although located 10 meters underground, this doesn't limit the ingenious imagination of the people of Coober Pedy. They carve countless beautiful, bizarre, yet incredibly intricate images throughout the interiors of their cave dwellings.

Furthermore, despite being deep underground, the town is not cramped at all because it is surrounded by a system of hundreds of cylindrical structures that provide ventilation for the underground houses – known as "dugouts". Now, above ground, only the dugouts, fuel stations, or a few public shops are visible – these are the structures that remain above ground to serve passersby.

Unique and unparalleled tourism advantages.

In 1981, a resident named Umberto Coro discovered the potential of underground homes, so he began constructing the first hotel. Since then, the town's reputation has quickly spread, and people from all over Australia have flocked to visit.

Recognizing this advantage, the locals have joined forces and begun developing tourism by renting out hotel rooms, ranging from small to large-scale, to cater to tourists who want to experience life underground. The rooms are furnished with modern amenities, indistinguishable from those above ground, including clean beds, wardrobes, televisions, and kitchen facilities so guests can cook their own meals.

Some of the larger houses here even feature underground swimming pools – a unique experience that any traveler would want to try at least once in their lifetime. If you don't like sleeping in luxurious houses and want to explore, you can even camp in an abandoned old mine and enjoy a truly "wild" feeling.

In Coober Pedy, after experiencing life in the underground system, visitors can also capture stunning photos of nature's harshness by wandering to the surrounding areas such as the Painted Desert or the opal quarries.

Additionally, for those seeking entertainment, visitors can find bars or restaurants located underground, offering a romantic atmosphere with flickering candlelight.

It is precisely because of the barren, desolate landscape surrounding it that Coober Pedy has attracted Hollywood filmmakers. Many science fiction films about the apocalypse, featuring scenes filmed here, have contributed to Coober Pedy's increased popularity, and tourism has become a source of revenue comparable to opal mining.

What might seem like a disadvantage in terms of its scorching desert climate has actually inspired its inhabitants to create ingenious ways to live, and now attracts adventurous travelers. Today, Coober Pedy has become one of Australia's most unique tourist destinations.

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