Coober Pedy: Where Clothes Dry on the Line at Night

Approximately half way between Adelaide and Alice Springs is a small mining town called Coober Pedy. It's run on dreams of opals and tourism. Both are realized in limited quantities these days.

Trees are rare. Sandy dirt is prevelent. Television arrived in 1980.

3,500 people of 42 different nationalities live here - half in underground homes that maintain a fairly constant temperature of 21 degrees celsious. Above ground it is hot and flies feast on the sweat and saliva of dogs and humans alike. It is the kind of place clothes dry on the line at night.

The main street is lined with opal dealers. Just outside the main street large pieces of rusted out machinery litter the road. It seems to be where old mining equipment goes to die. There is a drive-in that shows second run movies every other Friday during the winter and spiratically during the oppressive summer months. Open signs are displayed in storefronts that are closed and there seems to be little urgency in the heat and dust.

People are friendly and hospitable. They have their routines and seem to enjoy the simplicity of life. There are few rules in town, but similarly few people unwilling to find ways around them. Example: There is no mining allowed within the town limits, but "renovations" to underground homes are common and opal is often found while digging out the 5th, 6th, 7th...11th, 12th room.

It's a frontier town. Everyone is a gambler of sorts - betting that tomorrow they'll find and opal vein or that enough tourist will pass through to keep their shop afloat. Fascinating.