The Underground World Of Coober Pedy

The town of Coober Pedy boasts a population of about 4,000 people of 48 nationalities, and while you may see some of them strolling around on any given day, it will be hard to spot where they reside - That's because most of them live under the ground!

Founded in 1915, following the discovery of Opal a precious stone used for jewelry, Coober Pedy is located in the Australian Outback, about 846km north of Adelaide, Australia's fifth largest city. When people flocked to mine the precious stone, they realized that while working under the ground was easy, living above it was not, thanks to the Outback's extreme temperatures.

Therefore, they decided to live where they worked - under the ground, converting old mines into homes, and giving birth to the unusual 'underground' world of Coober Pedy!

As years have gone by, the homes (and hotels!) have become bigger and more sophisticated - But the location has remained the same - Under the ground. Not only are the homes cooler in summers and warmer in the winters, they are also a lot cheaper and faster to build.

The extreme weather patterns have also resulted in other unusual landmarks, which include the town's solo tree that is not grown, but constructed out of scrap metal.

And then there is Coober Pedy's famous golf course - one that has no green grass or trees, but is simply a huge sand trap and nine holes dug in mounds of sand, diesel and oil. Golfers tee off using a small piece of turf they drag around with them and in the summers, when it's too hot to play during the day, they play at night using 'glow in the dark' golf balls.

While Coober Pedy continues to be the Opal capital of the world, it is now also a popular tourist destination and thanks to the unusually beautiful landscape, the location of choice for many movies. The town was also featured in the second season of the CBS television show 'The Amazing Race', where the contestants were asked to either play three rounds of golf on the world's hottest course or, go underground in search of Opal!

Sources:Gluckman.com, wikipedia.org,cooperpedy.sa.gov.au