Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy, South Australia

...is about 600 miles inland from Adelaide in a boundless, flat, barren, dusty, baking plain.

The name means "White Man in a Hole" in the local Aboriginal language,

appropriately, as it's populated by independent opal miners

working deep narrow pits. Many homes and businesses are dug

into the ground due to the heat (120 F in summer). The Coober Pedy area has stood in for

post-apocalyptic and  otherworldly  landscapes in various sci-fi films.

An all-night bus brought me there at 5 am.

Photos

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