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Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy (Australia)

Practical information on Coober Pedy

  • Encounters with locals
  • Desert
  • Place or Religious Monument
  • Museums
  • Handicraft
4 / 5 - 2 reviews
How to get there
539km drive from Port Augusta
When to go
From April to October
Minimum stay
1 to 2 days

Reviews of Coober Pedy

Olivia Merlen Seasoned Traveller
20 written opinions

Coober Pedy is a mining town in South Australia. Down Under, they call it the world's opal capital.

My suggestion:
If you arrive from the north, stop at Breakaways. To drive across flat hilltops, in the middle of the desert, gives you amazing views of the region's colourful, arid landscape.
My review

Coober Pedy remains one of my favourite memories from my trip to Australia. I stopped there during my 17,000km road trip and I loved its atmosphere.

The town seemed a bit inhospitable at first, but in fact its residents are really welcoming! To avoid the scorching heat of the day, its buildings are constructed underground! When touring Coober Pedy, make sure you visit its churches, the basement of the Desert Cave Hotel, as well as the local library. The cinema is one of the few attractions that's open air.

After having spent a great day looking around, I pitched my tent in an underground campsite. An unusual adventure, but normal for Coober Pedy, which is full of surprises!

The entrance to Coober Pedy
Lisa Gaillard Seasoned Traveller
49 written opinions

Coober Pedy, called "the white man's hole" in the aboriginal language, is atroglodyte mining village in South Australia. It is the world opal capital and is the place where Mad Max 3 and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert were filmed.

My suggestion:
Visit the opal shops; chat with the miners/tradesmen; visit one of the underground churches and the Umoona museum. Spend the night in an underground hotel!
My review

From the road that leads to Coober Pedy, you can see the mounds of stones and drilling machinery. At first glance, the city did not seem very hospitable: there were wrecked cars abandoned under a blazing sun and I felt a little uncomfortable under the aimless stare of a few aborigines. But what would you expect of a mining town in the Australian desert?! 

Yet, it is such a unique place that it is certainly worth a visit! If you enter the shops, museums or churches, you will discover the reasons for visiting this city, while benefiting from a little bit of cool. The museum will inform you on the origins of the city, but also on the ancestral traditions of the aborigines, and of course on the opal mines. I learned a lot about the region, such as the fact that it was located below the level of the sea during the secondary era and that they have discovered fossils of marine dinosaurs there, including one called Eric, which is encrusted with opals.

The main street is crammed with opal shops run by people from around the world trying to make it rich (Croatian, Polish, etc.). Chatting with an Australian tradesman in one of the shops, I learned that he was the owner, that he manufactures his own jewellery, and that he had just returned from 9 months of prospecting, during which he had found nothing. He had been a miner for 25 years. One day, he fell on a lode that brought him 50,000 dollars! Talk about a lucky strike! Today, opals do not sell well. At the museum, I learned that the main problem in Coober Pedy is the water supply. At the very beginning, it was transported on camel back. According to the shopkeeper, the problem today is electricity, which remains the most expensive in Australia. That is why, as you leave the underground Catholic church, there is a sign that says: "Please turn out the lights".

For a journey in Australia that will be full of new encounters, don't hesitate to go to Coober Pedy and talk with the shopkeepers to learn about the life of an opal minor. Personally, I found the experience rewarding, not thanks to the opals, but from the human point of view.

Wall painting in Coober Pedy