For our arrival in Coober Pedy we were expecting to see nothing but hills and air vents as the town is reputed to be built mostly underground. This is due to the extremes of temperature and frequent dust storms on the barren desert surface. We were surprised to find (as surprised as you can be at 05:30) that much of the town was above ground. We hadn't booked accommodation but since a Backpackers Hostel pickup bus was there to collect some others we decided to jump in and go there too. It turned out to be the only underground Hostel in Coober Pedy and a very reasonable price, as well as being fairly comfortable. Dug out of the small rock hills in the area, habitations enjoy a year-round day and night temperature of around 23 degrees Celsius. It was the same for our hostel so once we'd found our bunks we were soon asleep and catching up on the few hours of sleep that we'd missed thanks to the bus.

By 10 am we were up, showered and determined to make the most of our one day in this unique place. We took a tour that promised to visit the key places in the area for the afternoon. Being an opal mining settlement, the first port of call was of course to a shop selling opals and jewellery! Here our miner-cum-guide Guntar from Germany explained to us the intricacies of Opals, their varieties and qualities. It was very interesting for a while, but he did go on a about an hour longer than actually necessary. Its clear that Opals are his life!

When we eventually got out and about, our first stop was to see the Coober Pedy Golf club. Now this doesn't sound too impressive until you realise that we were in the middle of a desert and all the fairways were sand, grit, rocks and crud and the greens were made by mixing sand with old sump oil and bitumen. Apparently the course is a full 18 holes nd a par 70 with a lot of people taking their game very seriously on this unique course.

After this brief stop we were taken north about 20km to an area that has been mined intermittently for decades. For a huge area surrounding the town is nothing but new and old mines that have been mined and mined again, before being abandoned for a while. Then someone comes along and "fossicks" or "noodles" the slag heaps. The consequence of all of this is that the land is mostly out of bounds other than to those currently leasing, because of all the 100 ft deep prospecting holes just waiting for someone to tumble into!

Guntar drove us into one of the mining areas and although we weren't allowed to get out and walk around we got a good look at the deep holes, slag heaps, and various homemade machinery that the miners use. This was accompanied at all times by our guides' unique style of dialogue. Apparently there are 52 nationalities established in tiny Coober Pedy, the draw of finding your fortune in Opals bringing people from far and wide.

The next stop was to the Breakaway Range where we were treated to beautiful views of the surrounding desert, with a clear view of up to 50km in some directions. A short drive from here brought us to "The Dingo Fence" which is a literal fence that stretches 5400km across the country preventing dingos from coming south to raid farmland as this was a serious problem in the past. The fence apparently works a treat so is now electrified in some areas and patrolled.

Back in the town our last stop was to the Serbian Orothodox church which was built by the Serbian community of miners who's wives apparently wanted a church of their own. They've done an amazing job of digging this underground church complete with a domed ceiling and intricate carvings.

The tour over, we relaxed the rest of the evening and had an