Living in Coober Pedy

If you want to settle in Coober Pedy, don't think about building a brick or wooden shelter but find yourself a rock and dig out as many rooms as you like. An average three-bedroom house will cost you some 35 000$ (out of which 25 000$ is the bulldozer rent).

The summer daytime temperature may be as high as 50*C, the winter nights are freezing cold, but a dig-out house keeps the temperature of 26*C all year round – think of all the money you’re saving on heating and air-con! (And, as always, there's a small print: the amount of ground that is allowed to be dug out in search for opals is legally limited but if you find an opal streak in your house, you can always add one more room! That's legal.)

Since there are no streets or house numbers in Coober Pedy, if you want people to remember your house, you have to put something barking mad in front of your entrance door. (There is no postman going from door to door - people pick up their letters from the post office in the middle of the town.)

The population of Coober Pedy is about 3,000 and 65 nationalities ("your guidebook may list 66 but the Eskimo died last year" - that's the local joke that everyone will kindly share with you) and most of the permanent inhabitants came here to become millionaires. 58 different languages are spoken in the local school, the Croatian club can be found just next door from the Serbian club and there used to be a brothel as well,

but it was closed down when the ratio of men:women reached 400:1 (which is another local joke).

The picture show a top - and a bottom of the local catholic church.