population: 3,000 (1995)

15.12.96.
Coober Pedy is one of Australia's best-known outback towns. The name Coober Pedy is Aboriginal and is said to mean white fellow's hole in the ground. This aptly describes the place, as about half the population lives in dugouts to shelter from the extreme climate: daytime summer temperatures can soar to over 50 degrees Celsius (as I experienced on this one day!) and the winter nights are freezing cold. Apart from the dugouts, there are over 250,000 mine shafts in the area! Keep your eyes open when you're walking around.
Coober Pedy is in an extremely inhospitable area and it's hardly surprising that much of Mad Max III was filmed here - the town looks like the end of the world!
Book a bed in an underground hostel to experience, how men live in this area. I felt like a mole ...

What you can do: Half day tour: opal searching, opal shops, bleak surrounding...

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	Bleak surrounding ...	Crocodile Harry's underground domicile. Parts of Mad Max III were filmed in his sleeping room.
	Parts of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert were filmed here.	The large Dog Fence.
	Underground church.	Typical flower of this area.