Coober Pedy — a unique underground city in the heart of the Australian desert! This mysterious oasis, lost among the sands of South Australia, amazes with its unusual history and way of life. Here people live in caves, play night golf and mine precious opals. Coober Pedy — This is a place where reality intertwines with fantasy, and the harsh desert conditions have given rise to amazing engineering solutions. It's time to understand the underground labyrinths, eccentric inhabitants and reveal the secrets of the city's prosperity in the middle of a lifeless desert. If you want to be surprised by something, then Coober Pedy is something that is unlike anything else and therefore will be very interesting.
An underground city could be like that. Image: Zen
Contents
- 1 Underground city of Australia
- 2 How to live in the underground city of Kuber- Pedy
- 3 Where was Mad Max filmed
- 4 How many people live in Coober Pedy
- 5 Inground swimming pool and golf course
Underground City of Australia
Coober Pedy — this is truly a unique town, lost in the outback of South Australia. Its name, derived from the Aboriginal words “kupa-piti”, which means “white man's hole”, perfectly reflects the essence of this unusual place. The city is literally dotted with pits and mines dug by visiting treasure hunters, who for decades have flocked here in the hope of finding precious opals.
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p>The story of Coober Pedy began with an amazing discovery made by a teenager. Back in 1914,800 kilometers north of Adelaide, 14-year-old Willie Hutchison was left behind at the camp while his father and other men went prospecting for gold. Bored, the boy decided to take a walk around the area and, without expecting it, made a discovery that would change the fate of the place forever. When the adults returned to the camp and found it empty, they were seriously worried. However, in the evening, Willie triumphantly emerged with a sack of opals over his shoulder. This discovery started the opal rush, and since then, Coober Pedy has become the source of 70% of the world's opal production.
From above, everything looks rather nondescript. Image: Wikipedia
Living in the underground city of Coober Pedy
Life in Coober Pedy — this is a real test for a person. There are no trees, the air is filled with clouds of annoying flies, and the summer heat reaches an unbearable 50 ° C. It is not surprising that it is not easy to live here. Even just getting there for tourist purposes is also quite difficult. The harsh conditions and unique landscape have attracted the attention of filmmakers.
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Where was Mad Max filmed
Director George Miller immortalized the surreal landscapes of Coober Pedy, pitted with holes and strewn with rusty cars, in his the 1985 cult film Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. It is noteworthy that to create a post-apocalyptic atmosphere, the film crew needed almost no additional scenery — Coober Pedy already looked like a place from a distant, dystopian future.
Movie «Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome» Filmed in Coober Pedy. Image: Afisha.ru
How many people live in Coober Pedy
However, under the sand lies a completely different world, full of life and amazing solutions. Today, about 1,800 people live in Coober Pedy, and the town still retains its eccentric mining character. Here you can find a drive-in cinema, where viewers are warned about the ban on transporting explosives — a reminder that the city still lives on opal mining.
There are even such large spaces underground. Image: Disgusting Men
There's a golf course here too, but it is not at all like traditional green lawns. Due to the lack of grass, players carry small pieces of turf with them, and the game is often played at night using glowing balls to escape the scorching heat of the day. Throughout the city there are warning signs warning visitors to be careful not to fall into the numerous holes — traces of past excavations.
This is what golf looks like in Coober Pedy. Image: burabai.ru
Millions of solar panels in the desert need to be cleaned of sand: how this happens
But the most amazing feature of Coober Pedy — it is thatabout 80% of the inhabitants spend a significant portion of their time underground. The city is a real underground community where people live in something like dugouts. These underground dwellings provide a comfortable temperature of around 24°C even on the hottest days, making them an ideal refuge from the extreme desert climate.
Underground swimming pool and golf course
The underground life in Coober Pedy is striking in its ingenuity and coziness. Some homeowners are getting really creative by building bookshelves directly into the sandstone walls of their homes, for example. The city even has an underground church, the walls of which are decorated with elaborate carvings of saints. This is a real work of art, hidden from the scorching sun. And one of the residents went even further, arranging a real pool in her living room — a luxury that seems incredible in the arid desert.
Pool in the desert — This is very unusual. Image: Nochi.com
For tourists who want to experience the unique lifestyle of the inhabitants of Coober Pedy, the town has several hotels and guest houses with underground rooms. This makes it possible to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of an underground city and experience all the benefits of such unusual housing.
Sand from the Sahara has even reached the United States – as it travels 8 thousand kilometers.
Coober Pedy &# 8212; This is not just a city, but a real monument to human ingenuity and perseverance. Despite the harsh conditions, the people here not only survive, but also create a unique culture and community. This desert town has become a testament to how people can adapt to the most extreme conditions, turning the disadvantages of the environment into advantages.
TodayCoober Pedy attracts tourists from all over the worldwho want see this amazing underground world with your own eyes and perhaps try your luck in search of opals. The city has become not only a center for gemstone mining, but also a unique cultural phenomenon that demonstrates how human resourcefulness can overcome the harshest challenges of nature.