Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy is a small village with about 1,700 inhabitants in South Australia, and is located about 840 kilometers northwest of Adelaide right on the Stuart Highway and is the starting point of the Anne Beadell Highway. The name " Coober Pedy " is an English spelling of the Aboriginal concept Kupa piti, which means as much as " white man in a hole".
The opal mines
The town calls itself the Opal Capital of the World and is actually the largest source of these gems. About three-quarters of all white opals are found in the vicinity of Coober Pedy world. Nowadays, it is forbidden to dig within the city limits for opals. Situated in the southern part of the Australian outback, it is hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement.
Life below the surface
The extreme summer temperatures and the opal mining have meant that most residents living in underground caves, called dugouts, living and working in mine shafts. Originally still dug by hand in the clayey soil or blown up in the rock, these caves are now milled from so-called tunneling machines within a short time out of the earth or even extended spatially. The inputs are mostly above ground on the street side and the actual living area in underlying mounds. A typical cave house with three bedrooms, lounge, kitchen and bathroom can be created for a price that is comparable to that of an approximately aboveground house. She has a pleasant and constant temperature, while life requires expensive air conditioning systems on the surface. Especially in summer, temperatures can rise to over 40 ° C.
Additional points of interest
Worth a visit are the mines, the cemetery and the underground churches. Similarly, there are several underground hotels of varying standards. At the golf course, there is no grass and the golfer wear small patches of grass as destinations around with you. At an old warning sign in front of the local cinema hall can be still the absurdity of the original pioneer times read: The capacity of the dynamite sticks in the projection room is strictly prohibited!
From the airport Coober Pedy from flights to the Anna Creek Painted Hills can be undertaken.
A cave dwelling in Coober Pedy
Typical work unit
Unsecured mine shafts
Warning sign in Coober Pedy
Opalised Belemnitenrostrum from the Upper Cretaceous of Coober Pedy, about 95 million years old
Famous people
By far the most legendary figure in Coober Pedy was the German -born Crocodile Harry (real name: Baron Arvid Blumental ). His cave is located just outside of Coober Pedy. Women with red and men must enter with blue pin in the guestbook. On the walls and ceiling hanging lingerie and countless photos are evidence of his troubled youth. Arvid Blumental died on 13 October 2006.
Movies with Coober Pedy as a filming location
- Fire in the Stone
- Where the Green Ants Dream
- Ground Zero
- Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome
- The Jugger - Battle of the Best
- Stark - The Dark Half
- Priscilla - Queen of the Desert
- To the ends of the earth
- Siam Sunset
- Pitch Black - Planet of Darkness
- Red Planet
- Kangaroo Jack
- The Opal Dream