The Curious Town of Coober Pedy

The Aboriginal People called this place Kupa Piti which means White Man in a Hole and it describes Coober Pedy exactly!

The big boring machines can dig out a four-bedroom home in a day.

The cost is 30-50 percent less than conventional housing, but the real saving comes in energy.

While several air conditioners struggle to cool a normal house to under 30 degrees C (86 F) in summer, Coober Pedy's dugouts remain a comfortable 25 degrees C (77 F) year-round, free of charge.

There's something extraordinary about Opal. What causes this fantastic chameleon of a thousand colours? Colours in crystal clear translucent blues or greens, in sharp lemon, and dull gold. Colours of warm and deeper pinks to blood red and black. Colours that roll, flicker and shimmer into change as the Opal is moved.

Technically, small spheres from silica gel, arranged in more or less compact structures, dissect and refract the light on its passage through the gemstone. Silicon dioxide (SiO2) in gel form contains millions of tiny pores that can absorb about 40 percent of its weight in moisture.

Silica gel is essentially porous sand. .

You can catch The Ghan from Adelaide or Darwin, and experience one of the most fascinating great train journeys of the world across the spectacular Australian landscape.

From the fertile countryside surrounding Adelaide to the rusty hues of the Red Centre, onto the tropical splendour of the Top End, The Ghan is the ultimate journey through the heart of the continent.

Journey to Coober Pedy on the Ghan from Alice Springs to Manguri, transfers from the Ghan to Coober Pedy, 2 nights at The Desert Cave Hotel, breakfast daily, and tours to the Painted Desert and working Opal Mines. Board the Ghan at Alice Springs