Coober Pedy is derived from the Aboriginal words ‘kupa piti’ assumed to mean ‘white man is a hole’.  Assumed? Assumed? Is aboriginal having another joke here and it means something else?  Anyway, this is one of the hottest places in Australia, summer temperatures often reach 45C, and ground temperatures as much as 65C.  Cooper Pedy not only famous for its opal mines but also for its underground, homes, churches and hotels.  In the opal shops it turns out that a lot of people go south in the summer.  Central Australia in now in its busy tourist season, whereas the rest of Australia is in its down time.  An underground sitting room

This is the Catacomb Church, carved in the shape of a cross out of the sandstone.

The sign of the fish – there are a lot of Greeks here.  Actually, there are a lot of nationalities here.

Teeth marks in the wall made by the diggers carving out the rock.

This is venting hole of Saint Peter and Paul’s Catholic Church, which was the first to start the underground trend.  Inside these structures the temperature is always 23C to 25C, so you don’t need heating or cooling.

Has to be Catholic, here’s the bell for the call to church.  The front and bell tower are made from stones that you can pick up off the desert surface.

The Big Winch has 360 degrees views of the town.  We thought we were going into the car park of it.  Some helpful signs

Not particular scenic.  Coober Pedy sits on top of beds of sandstone and siltstone which are about 30m deep.  The whole lot is topped by a stony treeless desert.  Not much plant life in the town so it all looks a bit grim.  The plants that do grow have been watered by waste water. 

And

Again not particularly scenic

It turns out that we in Hong Kong Harry’s little area.  Did we want to see a mine? Follow me, follow me – look down a hole.  You want opals? Follow me, follow me. Bracelets from Hong Kong.  Que?

These were taken from the real Big Winch area.  Again not so scenic.  The flat area in the top middle of the picture is entrance to underground hotel.

The big advertising board and the flat area in front of it is actually the outdoor cinema, the board is the screen.  It was closed and looks like not been open in a while. To the left of the BULLS building is the caravan park where we stayed.

Looking out towards a set of hills called The Breakaways.  It’s all pretty dry now:

Lot of dust kicked up as you drive along the roads now.  This is off-road but you still get the dust on the tarmac.