Coober Pedy, a town in South Australia, is situated in an extremely inhospitable environment.
The temperatures in the summer reach over 40 degrees. And the nights are often cold.
In Coober Pedy you have to watch your step… You can see warning signs like this everywhere.
That is because you can see holes like this everywhere. I wonder what went through the photographer’s mind when he saw this…
Yeah, the place is full of these kinds of holes. This photo is from high above in the sky.
1915 they found the rare gemstone Opal in the area. Coober Pedy contains over 70 opal fields. That’s why it’s called “opal capital of the world”.
It could be just one of many mining towns.
But when you see this, you wonder. What’s down under?
An underground city!
Several years ago mine workers stumbled upon a genius solution to handle the extreme heat in the area; build everything underground. They started to build homes. That was also the most efficient way to get to work…
In the underground homes, there is a pleasant temperature. A normal apartment contains a couple of bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom. The stone walls are painted to prevent them from collecting dust.
Imagine living here!
Most of the homes, companies and buildings in Coober Peedy are in holes in the caves.
There’s also a church. Pretty awesome, right?
A jewellery store…
And a bookstore.
In the underground pub you can cool down with beverages.
And play pool.
Most of the 2000 inhabitants in Coober Peedy continue to build and live underground. The name of the city, Coober Peedy, comes from the aborigine term “kupa-pit”. Which means “white man’s cave”.
If you visit the town you can live in an underground motel. But I think it’s good if you’re not calustrophobic…
There are some special attractions above the earth as well… They have a nine hole golf range where there’s no grass.
Because of the daily temperatures, it’s best to play golf during the night. Coober Peedy Golf Club also have a partnership with the classic golf club St Andrews in Scotland. Today known as the hometown of golf.
As you can see there are plenty of exciting things here. Among others, a spaceship from the Sci-Fi movie “Pitch Black”.
If you don’t find any of that interesting it’s pretty awesome to watch the desert landscape.
Source: Wikipedia / hufftingtonpost.com