First of all – Happy Birthday Lisa!
I was quite surprised that there was so much of Coober Pedy above ground. The mystique of the place where everyone lives underground had me thinking there wasn’t much on top. All of the main street, most businesses, and many houses (most with a minimum of two derelict car bodies in each front yard) on the surface make it look a lot like a regular town.

You can see in the photo above that houses sort of nestle into the hillside. About 80% of the locals live in “dug outs”. They are quite cheap to “build” and it only takes a week or so with the right equipment.
The land surrounding the township is covered in piles of discarded dirt from mine shafts.

We visited an opal mine where we learnt heaps about the industry.

I was surprised to hear that only one person can have one claim (50m x 50m) at any time, for an outlay of just $60. No big companies, no unions, and probably no tax being paid. It’s every man for himself. Don’t even mention OH&S. Coober Pedy has been the source of many innovative mining practices. Below is a picture of the “vacuum cleaner” thingy that sucks all the dirt up to the surface – same stuff that makes all the piles in the picture above. Clearly. What I like is the technical on-off lever system. The blue striped ropes (commonly known as Telstra rope) are pulled to start and stop the motor (up on the surface).

Miners who aren’t cashed up enough to buy the machinery to excavate, still use homemade bombs to make headway underground. Harry was particularly interested in the concise instructions on making bombs – being the Mythbusters fan that he is.

No visit to Coober Pedy would be complete without a visit to an underground house. A lovely couple showed us round their home. It has three bedrooms, kitchen dining and living rooms. The bathroom and laundry is above ground. It even has a pool!