The story of this place
Coober Pedy is the world's opal capital, producing over 70% of the world's opal supply. The extreme summer temperatures (regularly exceeding 45°C) drove residents to build homes underground in 'dugouts' carved from the sandstone. The underground homes, churches, hotels and shops create an extraordinary subterranean cityscape. The above-ground landscape is a moonscape of opal mining shafts, mullock heaps and rusted equipment. The Breakaways Reserve 30 km north provides extraordinary desert landscape photography with colourful escarpments and flat gibber plains. Night skies are pristine due to zero light pollution.