Half of the Inhabitants of This Australian Opal Capital Live Underground

Rather than move to a cooler locale, the town’s earliest residents learned to adapt to the hellish environment. They found inspiration on the very ground they stood on: Using mining tools, hardy prospectors did what they did best and dug holes into the hillsides to make underground dwellings or “dugouts.” Today about half of the population lives in dugouts where the temperature stays at a constant 75 degrees year round.

Seeking relief from the heat—and the desert’s chilly winter nights—the townsfolk continued building underground. The result is a subterranean community that includes underground museums like the Umoona Opal Mine & Museum, a sprawling former opal mine located alongside the town’s main drag, and churches like the Serbian Orthodox Church, whose sandstone walls are decorated with intricate carvings of saints. Many of the local watering holes and half of the Desert Cave Hotel’s rooms sit underground, letting guests experience the strange peace of life beneath the surface.

“The beauty of living underground is that it’s very quiet and very still,” Coro says. “There’s no air movement or rush of air from the air conditioner, and since there are no windows or natural light, you get a very peaceful night’s sleep.”

Over the years, Coober Pedy’s residents have become extremely adept at building their own dwellings underground, too, creating customized subterranean houses that go beyond just one or two rooms into sprawling labyrinths that stretch out like spiders’ webs.

“People will carve out their own bookshelves into the sandstone walls,” Michelle Provatidis, the mayor of Coober Pedy and owner of Michelle’s Opals Australia, a jewelry shop, tells Smithsonian.com. “I even know someone who has an underground swimming pool in her home.”

But it’s not just what’s going on beneath the surface that makes Coober Pedy so unique. Above ground, there are hints of the city’s strong mining roots and eccentricities around every turn. For instance, at the Coober Pedy Drive-in Theatre, the management requests that guests leave their explosives at home, while signs around town warn people to beware of unmarked holes, the remnants of previous opal digs. There’s also the annual Coober Pedy Opal Festival, which this year will be held on March 26.

Even the thin veil of red dust that settles on roadways, cars and buildings serves as a constant reminder of Coober Pedy’s strange charm. There really is no other place like it on—or below—Earth.