Can you believe that we have spend the past 48 hours underground? Coober Pedy is an opal mining town where most of the residents live and work in a hole in the ground! The Aboriginals gave the area the name because it translates to "white man's hole." The average air temperature in the shade is usually about 35/98, so the early settlers dug their mines, and when they were empty, turned them into homes because the underground temperature is only about 25/76 degrees. We arrived yesterday with enough time to walk around town. However, only about 3200 people live here so town isn't very big! This morning we took a tour and saw the world class sand golf course (water is too expensive to maintain grass fairways), even the *greens* are sand mixed with oil so the sand doesn't blow away. There is no need to worry about water hazards though! We also got to tour a few of the underground shops, pottery, bookstores, everything but grocers are dug into the side of a mountain or just underground! We also got to tour an old opal mine and even saw where they left some of the less valuable opal in the wall. When the area of about 50 square miles produces more than 85% of the worlds precious opal, they can afford to be choosey! Tonight we are living it up in the underground hotel. Our room has been dug out of the sandstone and the walls are just bare rock. It is amazing to see how the early settlers adapted without air conditioning, and tonight will be our first night without it in about 3 weeks. Let's hope this dugout stuff works as well as they say! Miss you loads so keep in touch! Kate and Rob