Coober Pedy, (pronounced Coober Peedy), is a small town in South Australia, 846 km (526 mi) north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway with a population of 3,500.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons contributors.
It is self-described as the "opal capital of the world" and the opals are the only reason why there is a town. Located in the Outback, it is hundreds of kilometres from the nearest settlement. The harsh summer temperatures and the dominant industry mean that most residents live underground, that is, in caves bored into the rock of the hills around the town. There are houses and other buildings on the surface but the advantage of being in a cave is that the temperature remains fairly constant. Surface living requires air conditioning. 1 Coober Pedy Tourist Information Centre, LOT 773 Hutchison St, ☏ +61 8 8672 4600. Mon-Fri 9AM-5PM, Sat Sun 9AM-1PM. (updated Sep 2021)
Coober Pedy is small, with most shops on Hutchison St and everything else fairly close by. You can generally walk around town from hotels, as long as you can handle the heat. Fuel costs around 30c/litre more than on the coast.
Some of the interesting attractions in Coober Pedy include: Mines It is dangerous to wander among the diggings. You could fall down a shaft or be mistaken for a thief. Miners in Coober Pedy are a secretive lot and suspicious of interlopers. It is much safer to go to a worked out mine that has been opened as a tourist attraction. The owner collects bras and one of the attractions is his collection of bras together with photographs of the donors.
Many restaurants are located underground. The Opal Inn serves many tourists with unique food. 1 John's Pizza Bar and Restaurant, 1/24 Hutchison St, ☏ +61 8 8672 5561. 9AM-10PM. A classic "everything" eat-in and takeaway restaurant, with pizza, pasta, burgers, and many other foods done fairly well at reasonable prices for the outback. This is one of the most popular places in town. As a result, the wait times can get long at times. As an example, one weeknight the wait time was estimated to be an hour long. $30 for a 12-inch pizza with a glass of red wine.
There is the Opal Inn, the Desert Cave Hotel, the licensed restaurants and bottle shops next to both of the supermarkets, including Cellarbrations bottle shop at the IGA Fresh Supermarket. Coober Pedy has a major problem with alcohol and various restrictions apply to sales. As of 2023, liquor can only be sold after midday, you can only make one purchase per day, you are only allowed to buy one bottle of wine per person per day to take-away, and you will have to provide ID for scanning. Of course, you can buy unlimited beer (or maybe only a case, still a lot more than wine). You can also drink in the pub with no problem.
There are many signs in the area warning visitors to avoid falling into an abandoned mineshaft. Never walk backwards. Coober Pedy suffers from a high crime rate, with frequent break-ins targeting cash and alcohol. These target businesses more than tourists though, and street crime is rare. Beware of the high temperatures, especially in summer. If you're not used to hot temperatures, pace yourself and reduce your time in sunlight.
Guide content from Wikivoyage contributors (CC BY-SA) — abridged; the full article has much more.
In Nov, Coober Pedy typically sees ~31°C daytime highs and 6 rainy days.
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