Coober Pedy: is derived from the Aborigines language and means „white man in the hole“. During approach flight to Coober Pedy airport one gets the impression, here must be a massive mole plague. For nearly 100 years adventurers from 45 nations try to find here opals according to the by chance principle. It appears like everybody here has spent too little time in the sandpit during childhood.

People in Coober Pedy partly still live in so-called Dugouts, subterranean flats which not only protect against wind and sandy storms, but also are always pleasantly warm (23°C) at outside temperatures between 5-50°C. The value of such a flat is measured not according the building cost (essentially the rent costs for the drill machine), but what is brought in: Living room 10000 AUS $, but storeroom opal findings of 70000 AUS $.

Sleeping in the absolute silence and darkness of an underground hotel, however, is a special experience.

No 4-wheel drive course can take up it with the roads of the Australian "Breakaways". Along the Dog Fence (a 5600-km-long fence which separates "dingo country" in the north from "sheep country" in the south of Australia) we discover the weird sceneries which one describes here affectionately as follows: "There is really no place like home - except on Mars".

The local 18-hole golf course also seems to be from another planet. The only "greens" on tee offs is artificial. In Coober Pedy everywhere you’ll find a little bit to smile about. No wonder one meets many people here with lots of humor.