Encyclopedia > Coober Pedy

  Article Content

Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy, population 3,500, is a small town in South Australia, 846 kilometres north of Adelaide. It is self-described as the "opal capital of the world" and is indeed the largest source of this precious stone.

An abandoned space ship in downtown Coober Pedy
Larger version
Located in the Australian outback, it is hundreds of kilometres from the nearest settlement. The harsh summer temperatures and the dominant industry mean that most residents live and work underground. A standard 3 bedroom home with lounge, kitchen and bathroom can be drilled out of the rock in the hillside for a similar price to a house on the surface.

Some of the interesting attractions in Coober Pedy include the mines, the graveyard and the churches. The first tree ever seen in the town was welded together from scrap iron. The golf course is completely free of grass and golfers take a small piece of "turf" around to use for teeing off.

It is a popular tourist destination and the countryside around Coober Pedy has featured as a backdrop to some movies including Mad Max Beyond The Thunderdome[?] and Priscilla Queen of the Desert[?].

External link

  • Coober Pedy (http://www.opalcapitaloftheworld.com.au/)



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Ocean Beach, New York

...     Contents Ocean Beach, New York Ocean Beach is a village located in Suffolk County, New York. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 35.3 ms