A city in Australia that lives underground. Opal underground city of coober pedy

In one of the driest corners of Australia, where instead of rain there are sandstorms and there is no water even underground, Australians have equipped underground city with all the attributes of social life.

The town of Coober Pedy is located in the state of South Australia on the eastern border of the Great Victoria Desert. It got its name from the Aborigines, who called the settlement of new Australians in their ancestral lands “the white man’s hole.” And the city itself arose as a miners' village. In 1915, noble opal was discovered in the Stuart Range, and it later turned out that there were layers of gemstone, amounting to 30% of world reserves.

From the heat to the ground

Coober Pedy's climate is very harsh. The sweltering heat during the day gives way to a sharp drop in temperature at night. The temperature difference reaches 20 degrees. On the surface of a person there are clouds of flies. In addition, sandstorms often occur. To escape the heat and the pervasive sand, the first settlers of the mining village began to build their homes in the exhausted mines. The peculiarities of the development of the opal deposit required the construction of shallow horizontal mines in the form of tunnels with branches. Miners and their families began to settle in such sleeves.

Real apartments with several rooms were equipped underground. To keep things cool, they usually cut one or two windows near the front door, so the air temperature was naturally maintained around 22-24 degrees.

Churches, shops, workshops, and a cemetery were built underground.

Nowadays, the few residents of the city live in both underground and above-ground dwellings, with air conditioning installed to create a comfortable atmosphere. The dug houses are fully equipped with modern means of comfort - sewerage, electricity, running water. There is even a choice in the decoration of the premises - natural, when the walls of the rooms cut into the stone are simply coated with a special composition for cleanliness, and modern - the stone walls are sheathed with plasterboard, and such a house is indistinguishable from other houses in Australia.

The main treasure

As already mentioned, the city arose from an opal deposit. There is a museum, shops, hotels, and a small local airport. Feature films are often shot in the fantastic surrounding landscapes. In the city and surrounding areas, the preserved remains of decorations, various mechanisms and aircraft remind of this.

But the main treasure in these desert lands is water. The nearest artesian well was dug 25 km from Coober Pedy. No matter how close we looked, there was no water. In former times, water was delivered here by pack caravans and it was worth its weight in gold. Modern city residents receive water from a piped water supply system, but its price is much higher than in other regions of the country.

Iron trees grow in the city - artistic decoration with familiar forms
The most common form of vegetation is cacti.
Dug underground houses are called Dugout
Churches are open for free visits, the main thing is not to forget to turn off the lights when leaving, as the signs at the entrance ask you to do.
The city's small population consists of 45 nationalities
Blower - a vacuum cleaner machine for sucking rock from a mine to the surface

How to get there

Coober Pedy is located next to the Stuart Highway, between Adelaide and Alice Springs. The nearest city, Port Augusta, is 500 kilometers away.

Coober Pedy is a convenient place to visit on an excursion on the way to the Red Center from Adelaide. If you wish, you can stay overnight in the underground city at a local underground hotel. If you are traveling around Australia, you will certainly use the Stuart Highway, which crosses the mainland from south to north, passing through the states of South Australia and the Northern Territory; it is simply impossible to drive past Coober Pedy.

Finally I got to the photos of the city of Coober Pedy. We passed it earlier when we were still traveling around the state of South Australia.

To virtually walk around the city, click on the green “View Larger Map” in the lower left corner. When the map opens, drag the little yellow man onto the city streets.

This amazing city. We have very pleasant memories of him.

Coober Pedy is called the "opal capital of the world" and is an Aboriginal word for "white man in the hole."

Up to 90% of the world's precious opal production comes from Australia, and about three-quarters of this comes from the state of South Australia.

At first glance, Coober Pedy is not much different from other mining towns. Dirt roads cross the entire territory and waste rock dumps are visible. But there are no towers or lifts over the mines and there are no buildings.

Strange round mounds with a hole in the middle give the impression of a volcanic area dotted with small ash cones.

Each of these small hills is connected by a shaft to an entire underground world.

The soft, sandstone rocks of the desert are not at all difficult to dig with a pick and shovel, although explosives are also used. Most opals are found at depths of up to 24 m, but many workings are much shallower. Each miner is allocated a small area in which he works. The technique is mostly traditional. A prospector digs up his plot of land, hoping to find a large vein that will bring him a fortune.

In addition to this beautiful mineral, the houses of local residents, dugouts - underground dwellings in which natural temperature control is carried out - are also extremely popular.

Even the first prospectors realized that they could settle relatively comfortably underground, in dwellings that cost almost nothing. As for their successors, their families live in modern underground comfort. Many of their houses are very large and simply luxurious, and some even have underground swimming pools.

These areas are for underground dwellings. Such areas are located on the outskirts of the city. You can buy and dig your own house or motel. During the season, all motels and hotels here are occupied. As everywhere else, you need to book a room in advance.

It should be noted that there is absolutely no water in Coober Pedy - no matter how much they drilled, they have not yet reached the water. When you consider that this is one of the rainiest regions of Australia, it becomes clear that water was initially very expensive because it was transported many kilometers by pack animals, mainly camels. Currently, there is running water, but water is still relatively expensive ($5 per 1000 liters).

Coober Pedy is one of the hottest places on the planet. And in the underground house the temperature all year round stays at 22-26 degrees. We were invited to visit one of these houses. 60% of the city's population live underground.

The owner of the house is named George Russell. He's the owner tourist park Oasis

A good person, very sociable. Gave him a decent discount when we stayed at his motel the first night.

The next morning, George showed his house.

This is the living room.

Indeed, a very pleasant coolness after the scorching sun.

This is a guest house. On the right along the stairs, there is a kitchen and 2 rooms of the owner of the house.

To the left of the stairs are 3 guest bedrooms, a toilet and a bathroom.

All underground rooms are spacious, with high ceilings and well ventilated.

Very cozy and comfortable.

I wanted to have a house like this here. Sometimes we come to live in absolute silence, without radio and electromagnetic waves that surround us everywhere.

The town has not only underground houses, but also numerous underground hotels, restaurants, shops and even churches.

In 1988, the world's first underground hotel was inaugurated. This hotel became so popular that many local residents began opening large and small motels throughout the city, as well as guest houses with 3 and 4 bedrooms.

One of the first underground motels that we saw was “Radeka down under motel”, it is located on main street cities.

This is a mid-range motel.

It’s 11 am, and it’s already +36.

We were greeted by the owner of the Martin Motel.

A very colorful guy.

There are rooms that are located in the rock, and rooms that are 6.5 meters underground.

We chose a room, of course, underground. It's much more interesting to sleep there.

It was an active opal mine until the 1960s.

And in the mid-80s the mine was converted into underground complex- motel.

The cost of living in a motel starts from $32.

This is our number. We rented it for $70 (they gave us a $10 discount).

Everything is very simple. Everything you need is here. The very fact that you sleep underground already sounds unusual. And most importantly, it’s cooler here than at the top. And this was one of the reasons why we went underground.

Overall, I slept well in this room. The only inconvenience is strong audibility. You can hear all the neighbors. Therefore, those with nerves of iron and good sleep should settle here. Gabriel, for example, slept well. And I listened half the night to my neighbor’s snoring and the crying of a small child. So, if anyone needs to sleep, live up in the rock.

These rooms are mainly used by students who do not have money for a room, or lonely tired travelers who quickly fall asleep and hear nothing.

And you can move into this room with a large group and remember the pioneer camp. It would be fun.

To be continued…

To view photos in large size, click on them 1-2 times.

Coober Pedy - small town in the central part of the Australian state of South Australia.

The estimated population in 2008 was approximately 2 thousand people.

Uber Pedy is approximately 800 km away. from Adelaide, not far Railway from Adelaide to Alice Springs. Immediate big cities— Port Augusta (500 km to the south) and Alice Springs (600 km to the north).

The city is famous for its opals; it is the capital of the opal stone, cast in all the colors of the rainbow.

Opal mining is just under 100 years old, and its deposits were accidentally discovered while searching for water in 1915.

Noble opal is distinguished by a rainbow play of colors, the reason for which is the diffraction of light on a spatial lattice and its value is determined not by its size, but by the unique play of color.

The more rays, the more expensive the opal. One of the Aboriginal legends says that “long ago, spirits stole all the colors from the rainbow and put them in a stone - opal,” according to another - that

The Creator came down from heaven to earth and where his foot stepped, stones appeared, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow.

Opal mining is carried out only by private entrepreneurs. However, this industry brings about $30 million annually to the Australian economy.

The city is known as the Opal Capital of the World because it has one of the richest opal deposits, containing about 30% of the world's reserves.

The name Coober Pedy is translated from the Australian Aboriginal language as “white man’s hole” or “white man underground.”

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Due to the harsh temperature regime and the prevailing mining industry, people constantly live in underground caves, in mine shafts remaining after mining.

Even the first settlers realized that due to unfavorable weather conditions, when the earth is heated by the sun during the day and the heat on the surface reaches 40 degrees Celsius, and at night the temperature drops sharply to 20 degrees (and sandstorms are also possible) - you can live underground in mine shafts after mining opals.

The constant temperature of underground houses is around +22-24 degrees at any time of the year. Today, the city is home to more than 45 nationalities, but the majority are Greek. The population of the city is 1,695 people.

Water comes from a drilled site 25 km away. artesian well from the city and relatively expensive. There is no public power grid in Coober Pedy.

Electricity is produced by diesel generators, and heating is provided by solar water heating panels.

At night, when the heat subsides, residents play golf with glow-in-the-dark balls.

Previously, opal mining was carried out manually - with picks, shovels, and the rock was pulled out in buckets until an opal vein was found, along which they then crawled on their bellies.

Almost all the mines are shallow and the main passages in them are made by drilling machines that break through horizontal tunnels the height of a man and from there are branches in different directions. These are practically homemade devices - the engine and gearbox from a small truck.

Then the so-called “blower” is used - a machine with a powerful compressor installed on it, which, through a pipe lowered into the shaft,

like a vacuum cleaner, it sucks rock and boulders to the surface, and when the compressor is turned off, the barrel opens and a new mini-mound is obtained - a waste heap.

At the entrance to the city there is a huge sign with a blower machine.

One of the city's attractions is the iron tree - the children of the first settlers asked their dad for a tree, so he made a tree from iron.

Even the first prospectors realized that they could settle relatively comfortably underground, in dwellings that cost almost nothing.

As for their successors, they and their families live in modern underground comfort.

Many of their houses are very large and simply luxurious...

Some even have underground pools, while just a short distance away, on the surface, the sun mercilessly beats down on the earth.

However, life in the opal mines remains difficult, and many miners eventually return with their families to easier lives elsewhere.

By the way, an article about an underground city and the people living in it, which appeared in Great Britain in 1927, prompted J. R. R. Tolkien to create in 1937, the second most popular literary work after the Bible, “The Hobbit,” and then, and “ Lord of the Rings"…

Coober Pedy is one of many tourist routes across Australia. People come here to see the underground churches and cemetery.

The first trees that could be seen in the city were welded from pieces of iron. The city has local golf courses with movable grass and golfers lay out small pieces of "turf" around the hole to tee off.

The landscape of Coober Pedy is very conducive to location shooting extraterrestrial civilizations… Movies such as Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Pitch Black were filmed here.

The Amazing Race is in its second season in Coober Pedy.

In the Coober Pedy area, around 2012, they are going to conduct an experimental exercise for an expedition to Mars...

Among the local attractions, local historians highlight the world's largest livestock farm and the world's longest "Australian" fence.

Standard home cave bedrooms with a lounge, kitchen and bathroom are located in caves drilled inside the mountain, similar to houses on the surface.
This maintains a constant optimal temperature, while on the surface it reaches 40 °C (maximum 55 °C), at which temperature many Appliances. But relative humidity rarely reaches 20% on hot days.

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Much of Coober Pedy's attraction lies within the mines, such as the cemetery and underground churches. The first trees that could be seen in the city were welded from pieces of iron.

The city has local golf courses with movable grass and golfers lay out small pieces of "turf" around for tee shots.

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Coober Pedy is included in many tourist routes in Australia. Coober Pedy was the backdrop for films such as Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and The Black Hole. Around 2012, they are planning to conduct an experimental exercise for an expedition to Mars.

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What do these celebrities have in common?

— Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones)

— Ricky Martin (Ricky Martin)

— Alanis Morissette (Alanis Morissette)

— Janet Jackson (Janet Jackson)

— Billy Joel (Billy Joel)

— Neil Diamond (Neil Diamond)

— Fleetwood Mac (Fleetwood Mac)

— Matchbox Twenty (Matchbox Twenty)

— Acey Disi (AC/DC)

Well, it is clear that they are all world-class musicians, fame, recognition, money, fans... but we are not interested in this now.

They all visited Melbourne. It's already warmer...

What you and I really need to know is that all these stars (and many more), while on tour in Australia, selected and bought famous Australian precious opals from the same absolutely fantastic person and good friend of mine (of which I am immensely proud) — Nicholas Le Suef.

Nick Le Suef in front of himself at the age of 25. The photo was taken in Coober Pedy - the underground city of miners and the capital of Australian opals

Believe me, THESE people could afford to buy opals in ANY other store in Melbourne or Sydney, but they all chose Nick.

Autographs and tributes Rolling Stones - Ricky Martin - Alanis Morissette - Janet Jackson - Billy Joel - Neil Diamond - Fleetwood Mac) - Matchbox Twenty - Acey DC (AC/DC) and other famous Nick customers.

At the age of 25, Nick already knew perfectly well how to look for precious opals

But the years take their toll, and when it became physically difficult for Nick to mine opals, he opened a store and began selling them.

That's another 20 years :))

At 70 years old, Nick knows exactly how to take care of his customers. target="_blank">https://www.factroom.ru/facts/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/10-300x225.jpg 300w" style="border: 0px; width: 730px; height: auto;" width="550" />

The underground art gallery is dedicated to Aboriginal art. There are exhibitions here about the opal mining process. Visitors are given the opportunity to dig up their own gemstone.

Historical site Bagheera - secrets of history, mysteries of the universe. Mysteries of great empires and ancient civilizations, the fate of disappeared treasures and biographies of people who changed the world, secrets of special services. The history of wars, mysteries of battles and battles, reconnaissance operations of the past and present. World traditions, modern life Russia, the mysteries of the USSR, the main directions of culture and other related topics - everything that official history is silent about.

Study the secrets of history - it's interesting...

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Australia. What do we know about the “Green Continent”? Cute koalas and kangaroos, aborigines, boomerangs, plastic banknotes... But Australia is also a country of opals. A small town Coober Pedy in South Australia is its opal capital. It is believed that the opal stone calms the nerves, heals the heart, warns the owner about the presence of poison in food and even gives the gift of prophecy!..

COOBER PEDI, AUSTRALIA: A unique boulder opal found by miners in Coober Pedy. Coober Pedy is the capital of Australia's opal rush. © Dmitry Chulov.

The man who first called Australia the “Green Continent” was probably joking. It is green only along the coast, and in the center there is a barren desert, the bottom of a dry ancient inland sea. Right in the middle of it is Coober Pedy.

Center the map

Movement

By bike

While passing through

South Australia is one of the driest regions of the Fifth Continent. Most of its territory is covered with endless deserts, scrub and salt marshes. But it is in its depths that the country’s real underground storeroom is located.

COOBER PEDI, AUSTRALIA: The picturesque hills of the Brayways Nature Reserve at sunset. The bowels of the earth under these hills hide enormous wealth. © Dmitry Chulov.

The mining town is lost in the endless desert. Instead of trees, grass and flowers there are stones, sand and heat above 50 degrees. Episodes of films about life after a global catastrophe have been filmed here more than once. Even the inscriptions on the fences here correspond: “Welcome to Hell!”, which means “ Welcome to Hell!»

It is 10 hours' drive north of Adelaide. Seekers of happiness and adventurers from all over the world come here to this sun-scorched, dusty city. After all, Coober Pedy is the capital of the ongoing “opal rush” in Australia.

COOBER PEDY, AUSTRALIA: A miners' car parked in the desert at the entrance to the capital of Australia's opal rush. © Dmitry Chulov.

There are signs all around Coober Pedy, like a minefield. " Do not approach the mines!” read the stern warnings. The region of opal mines stretches for tens of kilometers around. Over the years of fever, about one and a half million mines! The locals themselves call the local landscape “ moon valley».

Coming to Australia was his childhood dream. Two years after arriving at " Green continent" Gennady Karpenko found himself in scorched desert. He is a carver: he looks for opals and processes them in his workshop.

Australia produces 95% of all opals in the world. This stone has been familiar to local residents since time immemorial. True, Australian aborigines have always avoided opals - they believe that a spirit with the head of a man and the body of a snake lives underground, luring people with the magical shine of multi-colored stones.

Opals were found here by accident in 1915. Now Coober Pedy is the richest deposit in the country. Its name comes from a corruption of “Kupa Piti”, which in the language of the Australian Aborigines means... “white people in the hole”.

COOBER PEDY, AUSTRALIA: A sign warning that the surrounding desert has been spontaneously torn apart by opal miners. © Dmitry Chulov.

There is a battery on his belt, a flashlight on his forehead, and an ultraviolet lamp in his hands - the standard equipment of a local miner. Gennady agreed to show us the places where he had recently managed to find large opals. There are no security guarantees. Any mine here could collapse at any moment. Searching for opals is a dangerous business in which everyone works at their own peril and risk!

Gennady, opal carver: “The crack is on this side, see? Sometimes it can be dangerous, everything can collapse here.”

Opals in Coober Pedy are searched for in mines at a depth of 25-30 meters. Some people rise to the surface with nothing for years, while others can become a millionaire in one day...

In the face, Gennady knows every turn of the adit - he spent more than one day here, underground, with a lantern and a pick.

Gennady, opal carver: “I found some opals in the rock up there, a little here…”

His favorite sound in the mine is the crunch of breaking glass. With this, opals are removed from the rock. After all, opal, in fact, is glass sintered by nature, thanks to the presence of various elements and inclusions, playing with bright sparks in the light. This stone is better visible in ultraviolet light. Therefore, Gennady every now and then turns on a blue lamp in the darkness of the mine.

Gennady, opal carver: “Sometimes when people blast rock in a mine, then they can miss some of the opals. And you, following them, through their waste, can find a vein that will bring 3, 5, 10 thousand dollars ... "

From this one of the niches, having planted explosives, his neighboring miners recently removed opals worth... 380 thousand dollars!

Gennady, opal carver: “No one here asks anyone how much you found, how you sold it - this is not customary in Coober Pedy. There is a lot of cash in this business!”

There are not many places left in the world where you can legally get rich in just one day! Some call it “opal fever,” others call it fortune, and others call it a game of roulette. In the face you can walk a few centimeters from the most valuable stone and not find it. Or you might accidentally stumble upon an opal vein!

Gennady, opal carver:“When from the wall, where there is nothing, from a small crack suddenly this opal, this thick, opens up! When they are with color, you just stop breathing! You just forget how you breathe!”

Dust, wind and an excavator that consumes tens of liters of diesel fuel per day. Many opal seekers, having arrived not for long, spent in Coober Pedy all life. All you need to do is stake out a plot of land - anyone can do it. Father and son Rade and Roger open-pit mine opals. My son has been masterfully handling an excavator bucket since he was 12 years old (!). The father, who came here in search of happiness back in 1967, is now over 70. He carefully examines the stones below, so as not to miss the cobblestones, which may contain opal, relying on experience and intuition.

Rade, opal hunter:“I found black, pink, green, crystalline – all kinds of opals. True, I was not as lucky as other prospectors. I had enough to pay the bills and live on. I must be the biggest loser of all the old people who work in Coober Pedy!”

COOBER PEDI, AUSTRALIA: The famous boulder opal found in Coober Pedy. Boulder is a type of opal in the form of a layer in the rock. The world's largest boulders are found in Coober Pedy. © Dmitry Chulov.

The pride of Rade and Roger is the huge “ boulder" - opal, which they keep at home. There is no other thing like it in the world! They are in no hurry to sell it and show it only on special occasions.

In small Coober Pedy there are several dozen shops that sell opals. The most valuable of them are pink and black. Depending on the size and quality, the price of processed opals can reach several tens of thousands of dollars!

Dubica works in one of the opal shops in Coober Pedy. Prices here are lower than in big cities Australia: stones are sold here by those who find and process them themselves.

Dyubica, seller: “This stone is crystal opal, big size, transparent and clean. Look, you can see all the colors of the rainbow in it, and the more red there is in the opal, the more valuable it is.”

This stone glows devilishly in the light, its flickering is enchanting. But during processing, opal loses up to 2/3 of its volume, and may even crack, losing its value. Opal is as fragile as glass. It is enough to drop it, and the holographic beauty can break into thousands of fragments. Therefore, only experienced craftsmen can work with opal.

Gennady, opal carver: “If the stone is very expensive, sometimes up to $1,000 per carat, it is very difficult to cut it...”

Cutting is the most critical stage of opal processing. Sometimes a master stares at a stone for hours, not knowing how to approach it.

Gennady, opal carver:“Opal processing is always a surprise, a lottery. You can just cut it and get a colorless stone in two parts, and sometimes you see how the stone begins to play in your hands!”

Carvers say that opal must be felt with your hands, only then will the master have success in his work. And luck is exactly what the Australian town of Coober Pedy, gripped by the “opal fever” of our time, needs!

You can watch the video version of this article in the form of a report about Coober Pedy, filmed by me for the program “Their Morals” (NTV) here:

Write in the comments what you would like to know about Australia in more detail?