The remote South Australian town of Coober PedyCoober Pedy (/ˈkuːbər ˈpiːdi/) is a town in northern South Australia, 846 km (526 mi) north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there.https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Coober_Pedy
Coober Pedy is a small town in the Outback of Southern Australia. Originally an opal mining town, many of Coober Pedy's residents live underground to escape the region's immense heat. Homes, dive bars, a church, and more can be found buried underground in what the locals call "dugouts."
Residents of Coober Pedy live underground to escape the searing heat. The University of South Australia's Stephen Berry says indoor conditions in underground homes are stable.
Coober Pedy is a small town about halfway between Adelaide and Alice Springs. It is situated on the edge of the erosional scarp of the Stuart Ranges, on beds of sandstone and siltstone 30 metres (98 ft) deep and topped with a stony, treeless desert.
Today, the inhabitants of Coober Pedy live in comfortable "dugouts" underground. Carved into the earth, these homes are built at much the same cost as comparable aboveground structures — but they're not vulnerable to sandstorms and they don't require air conditioning.
The cities of Özkonak, Derinkuyu, and Kaymaklı in Cappadocia, Turkey, are some of the most complete (and most underground) of our underground cities. Denrikuyu is estimated to have once been capable of housing 20,000 people, and actually connects to Kaymakli via an underground tunnel, eight kilometers long.
The ancient city of Elengubu, known today as Derinkuyu, burrows more than 85m below the Earth's surface, encompassing 18 levels of tunnels.
Coober Pedy is at the centre of Australia's opal mining industry. Now, 60% of its residents live underground, and the town is becoming a leader in sustainable living.
Today, more than 90% of the world's precious opals are found in Australia and Coober Pedy is known as the opal mining capital of the world.
The golf club is located on the outskirts of Coober Pedy and the famous opal fields, 850 kilometres north of Adelaide. The course is a par 72, 18 holes and you use a piece of artificial grass when you hit the fairway with your ball, we use scrapes, sand soaked with sump oil.
Coober Pedy has the highest rate of domestic violence offences in SA, and its community is fighting back. The remote South Australian town of Coober Pedy is best known for the opals mined underground, but scratch beneath the surface and there is a far more heartbreaking claim to fame.
The District Council of Coober Pedy estimates the population to be around 2,500. Approximately 60% of the people are of European heritage, having migrated from southern and eastern Europe after the Second World War. In all, there are more than 45 nationalities represented creating a very ethnically diverse community.
Average annual rainfall at Coober Pedy is very low: just 175 millimetres (6.8 inches), although this varies. February is usually the wettest month of the year, and April the driest. However, rain can occur at anytime during the year.
Today, the Mount Gambier and Limestone Coast area is home to an extensive subterranean network of over 50 sinkholes. Among the most impressive of these sites is the Umpherston Sinkhole, also known as The Sunken Garden.
Derinkuyu, Cappadocia, Turkey
Cappadocia city, located in central Turkey, is home to no less than 36 underground cities, and at a depth of approx. 85 m, Derinkuyu is the deepest.
In fact, around 3,500 people live there. It's just that most of them (60 per cent) live below the surface – in homes burrowed out of caves. Coober Pedy was established in 1915 following the discovery of opal there.
Opal is a type of hydrated silica, most of which was formed during the Cretaceous period between 65 -140 million years ago, in an inland sea called The Great Artesian Basin. It occurs to a depth of around 90 feet (30 metres) underground, in veins of about 3 feet (1 metre) called "The Opal Level".
It can range from $1 to $135 per carat!
There are various factors (or qualities of opal) that determine opal stone worth. The type, brilliance, origin, color, patterns, fire, scarcity, and transparency are significant reasons to bring such a deviation in the price range of this brilliant gemstone.
There is more stability in indoor temperatures than in traditional homes. With less temperature variability, interior rooms seem more comfortable. The earth's average underground temperature ranges between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit, with some variability based on your location.
The remote South Australian town of Coober Pedy takes its name from the Aboriginal words "kupa-piti," meaning "whitefella hole." And that's accurate—the township is full of holes dug by eager white fellas. In fact, most of the town still lives in those holes.
The density of soil makes it difficult to breathe, and less air is found below ground, which explains why you suffocate shortly after being buried alive. This little problem and the need for sunlight are addressed through the atrium or courtyard design of earth-sheltered homes.
It is virtually impossible for any city to exist without buried power and information networks; underground water transmission, sewerage pipes, malls, basements, pedestrian tunnels, and motorways; sometimes a subway system, etc.
"They're very common," he said. "You find people making cave dwellings all over the world." Even in modern day Australia, in a town called Coober Pedy, about half the population lives in "dugouts," or holes carved into the sides of hills, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
London Underground
Only 45% of the network actually runs underground, mainly in the city centre, with lines in the suburbs mostly running overground. The network handles approximately five million passengers a day, with as many as 540 trains operating throughout the network at peak times.